Re: Looking for universal completion with simple UI

[Eric Abrahamsen]

dont.spam.earl@gmail.com writes:

> Drew - thanks for the response. Yes, Icicles is the most comprehensive
> package for completion I've found, particularly for the mini buffer. I
> found it especially helpful to read you explaining the philosophy
> here:
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2100166/making-sense-out-of-emacs-completion-mode-choices
>
> It appears Icicles is focused on mini-buffer completion though. Any
> tips for the various forms of in-buffer completion: searching, cycling
> through killed text, etc.?

I think "helm" is becoming the standard response to this question -- it
does all the minibuffer stuff, and provides a unified completion
mechanism over find/grep/kill-ring/mark-ring, etc etc. People have made
backends for an astonishing amount of stuff. You can also use it for
in-buffer text completion by using the auto-complete backend.

> On Sunday, October 5, 2014 8:28:54 PM UTC-7, Drew Adams wrote:
>> > I'm posting to ask about a completion model I have in mind. Before I
>> 
>> > code it up myself I'm trying to find any packages that already
>> 
>> > implement most or all of this functionality.
>> 
>> > 
>> 
>> > The Emacs Wiki Category page for Completion lists packages for
>> 
>> > minibuffer completion and text completion:
>> 
>> > http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/CategoryCompletion
>> 
>> > 
>> 
>> > I want a package for completion both INSIDE and OUTSIDE of the
>> 
>> > minibuffer with a universal UI:
>> 
>> > - Minibuffer Input Completion:
>> 
>> >   - finding files
>> 
>> >   - switching buffers
>> 
>> >   - apropos for functions and variables
>> 
>> >   - and any other minibuffer history lists
>> 
>> > - Text Completion in a Buffer:
>> 
>> >   - code completion
>> 
>> >   - executables/commands at a comint prompt
>> 
>> >   - i-searching in the current buffer
>> 
>> >   - cycling through killed text for yanking
>> 
>> > 
>> 
>> > Further, I want to navigate via a couple "dimensions" of context,
>> 
>> > both historical (previous inputs I've entered), and alphabetical
>> 
>> > (previous and next alphabetically, as in files in a directory).
>> 
>> > 
>> 
>> > The UI model and keybindings for this might be as simple as:
>> 
>> > - show prefix candidates with TAB
>> 
>> > - show substring candidates with S-TAB
>> 
>> > - with candidates already shown, the second TAB/S-TAB would select
>> 
>> >   the first candidate
>> 
>> > - navigate candidates alphabetically with C-r, C-s
>> 
>> > - navigate candidates historically with C-p, C-n
>> 
>> > 
>> 
>> > Do any packages implement this already?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I think you will find that several packages support much or even
>> 
>> all of what you request.  Even vanilla Emacs supports much of it.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I can't speak for other packages (others will), but Icicles
>> 
>> supports pretty much all of what you mention.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Icicle features apply mainly to the minibuffer.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> For in-buffer text (code) completion, whenever there are
>> 
>> multiple candidates matching the buffer text to be completed,
>> 
>> Icicles extends some vanilla commands to let you use its
>> 
>> minibuffer completion features (regexp or substring matching,
>> 
>> multiple-pattern matching, candidate sorting, cycling, etc.)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> So for text completion, instead of cycling among multiple
>> 
>> candidates in place, Icicles uses the minibuffer and shows
>> 
>> the candidates in `*Completions*'.  When there is only one
>> 
>> candidate, text completion in Icicles reverts to vanilla,
>> 
>> in-place completion.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Apart from Emacs Lisp, Icicles offers nothing particular for
>> 
>> code completion that is language-specific.  But its completion
>> 
>> features are automatically available for any code-specific
>> 
>> completion that uses `completing-read'.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> You can download Icicles from Emacs Wiki or MELPA, to try it.
>> 
>> http://www.emacswiki.org/Icicles