[Geany] autocomplete terminology confusion

[John Gabriele]

On 10/18/07, Enrico Tröger <enrico.troeger at uvena.de> wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:19:33 -0400, "John Gabriele" <jmg3000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > It seems like Geany offers 2 ways of helping complete what you're in
> > the middle of typing:
> >
> > 1. Autocomplete construct -- where you hit Tab and get completion of
> > the preceding construct, which is defined in your autocomplete.conf
> > file, and
> >
> > 2. Complete word -- where you hit Ctrl-Space and get completion of the
> > preceding partial word, which is a symbol somewhere else in the file
> > which Geany knows about via its built-in understanding of tags.
> >
> > Is that correct?
>
> No. I just realized this issue today, nice accident ;-).
> I think we should separate these two features more clearly because they
> are two different kinds of helpers. The question for me is, how. You
> know, English isn't my mother tongue and right now I have no idea how
> to improve it by keeping its meaning.
> Any ideas?

No, because I don't know what the incorrect thing is to which you're
referring. :)

My first stab at it, though, would be to clearly separate what you mean by:

1. autocomplete vs. complete, and
2. word vs. symbol vs. construct

Then explain how, with autocomplete, you don't need to do anything,
since either a popup will guide you while you're typing, or else the
completed text will just show up automatically (like when "xml tags
autocomplete" is enabled).

And then tell the user specifically what Geany can and cannot do. That is:

Completion features:

* word complete -- no, not yet
* symbol complete -- yes, using built-in tag info. Usage: Ctrl-Space.
* construct complete -- yes, using ~/.geany/autocomplete.conf. Usage: Tab.
* xml tag complete -- no

Autocomplete:

* word autocomplete -- no, not yet
* symbol autocomplete -- yes. Preferences --> Editor tab -->
Autocomplete --> Symbol autocompletion. Usage: popup comes up.
* construct autocompletion -- yes. Preferences --> Editor tab -->
Autocomplete --> Construct autocompletion. Usage: Tab... hmm... XXX
* xml tag autocomplete -- yes

Is that above summary correct? If so, it sounds like "Construct
autocomplete" is misnamed, since it's not automatic (you have to hit
Tab to get it).

---John