RE: migrating from ido to icicles

[Jeff Weiss]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> >> "M-SPC runs the command icicle-prefix-word-complete, which is an
>> >> interactive compiled Lisp function in `icicles-mcmd.el'."
>>
>> I was able to successfully bind M-SPC to 
>> icicle-prefix-word-complete by
>> customizing icicle-word-completion-keys.
>
> It is already bound to M-SPC, as you indicated above.
> Perhaps you meant M-TAB.

Sorry yes I meant M-TAB.

>> However the docs for icicle-word-completion-keys suggest that 
>> I can also bind SPC if I wanted.  That actually sounds better
>> because I can't remember the last time I tried to complete a
>> filename with a space in it.
>
> I don't recommend that, but you are welcome to do it.  Icicles completion 
> works
> for all kinds of things, many of which contain space chars.
>
> The point of binding SPC to self-insertion is to, well, make it easy to 
> insert a
> space, rather than having to use `C-q SPC'.  Likewise, for `?' and `C-j'
> (newline).

Ok, maybe it won't work out, but I definitely use actual space
characters very rarely in the minibuffer for completion.

>> But no matter what I put in that field, SPC wouldn't trigger
>> icicle-prefix-word-complete, it was still bound to icicle-self-insert.
>
> You need to do three things:
>
> 1. What you did: add the SPC binding for `icicle-word-completion-keys'/
>
> 2. Remove the SPC binding to `icicle-self-insert' from option
> `icicle-completion-key-bindings'.
>
> 3. Toggle Icicle mode twice (exit and re-enter): M-x icy-mode M-x icy-mode.  
> (Or
> restart Emacs.)

I'll try that, thanks.  In general do I need to cycle icy-mode off/on
when I change these bindings?  I've noticed sometimes changes don't seem
to take effect immediately, it's hard to tell which ones require restart.

> Vanilla Emacs binds SPC to prefix word completion.  Icicles binds it, in the
> default value of `icicle-completion-key-bindings', to self-insertion 
> insertion.
> Likewise, `?' and `C-j'.
>
> As I said, Icicles is used for completing lots of things besides just commands
> and file names, and it generally makes sense to have ` ', `?', and `C-j' be
> self-inserting.  But you can easily customize this away.
>
>> There's one other odd behavior I've been noticing.  Even though I have
>> icicle-expand-input-to-common-match-flag
>
> That option name should be without the `-flag'.  Long ago the option was a
> Boolean and its name had the suffix `-flag'.  Since you mention a value of `1'
> you clearly do not have an older version of Icicles where the option had that
> former name.

Ok, I copy/pasted that from the wiki page, I guess the actual variable
doesn't have "-flag" in it.  Makes sense since it isn't a boolean value.

>> set to 1 (only expand when
>> using tab or s-tab), I am finding that I do get input inserted for me
>> as I'm trying to type, and it ends up mixing my input with its own,
>> resulting in bad input in the minibuffer.
>> 
>> For example, if the directory I'm completing in has 3 files, fop fob bar
>> if I quickly type 'fo' what appears in the minibuffer is 
>> 'foo'.
>>
>> I think that's because it's trying to expand the common match, since all the
>> files that have 'f' also have 'fo'.
>
> That is not what Icicles calls expansion to the common match.  It is what
> Icicles calls incremental completion.
>
> This explains common-match expansion:
> http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Expanded-Common-Match_Completion.
>
> This explains incremental completion:
> http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Icompletion
>
> You can cycle/toggle either of these during completion, to see the 
> differences.
> See the doc strings of `icicle-expand-input-to-common-match' and
> `icicle-incremental-completion'.
>
> HTH.

Ok now I'm confused.  I've read the docs, they seem clear enough.  I
thought incremental completion means "when I type a character, the
*Completions* buffer updates immediately to reflect what I just typed"

And I thought common-match expansion meant "when all the completions
have common characters beyond what's already in the minibuffer, they're
automatically added to the minibuffer".

Which one affects what's in the minibuffer?  I could have sworn that's
the common-match expansion, which I have turned off.  And yet, somehow
what I'm typing in the minibuffer ends up with extra characters that
I didn't type, and ultimately there are 0 matches because I've got "foo"
with an o that I typed, and an o that was added automatically, but there
are no completions starting with 'foo'.

-Jeff