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Re: [nebula-dev] Re: Search and auto-complete widgets 
I filed an enhancement request under

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=149055

Sascha

Chris Gross wrote:
I think it would be best if this were contributed to JFace. Perhaps someone could open a bug against the JFace field assist asking for a simpler API and attach a patch. Since JFace now 'owns' auto completion that seems like the best route. I would think they'd be amenable to the addition. As a matter of style I'd create the wrapper seperate from the Text. So the wrapper simply took the Text in the constructor. This would allow existing code to more easily adapted to use the field assist. 

-Chris

Sascha Zelzer wrote:
I agree at some point, that if you want a simple text-field with auto-complete functionality, implementing an IContentProposalProvider and supplying an IContentProposal object for each possible completion feels like a little overkill - especially when the proposals are fixed for a given text-field. I guess, that is the price you have to pay for having a much more general framework.
But considering the following lines of code, which are necessary to set-up an auto-complete text-field, I think that price is not too high ;-) 

// --------------- [ code ] ------------------------------------------
Text text = new Text(shell, SWT.NONE);

ContentProposalAdapter adapter = new ContentProposalAdapter(text,
new TextContentAdapter(), new TextProposalProvider(), null, null); adapter.setProposalAcceptanceStyle(ContentProposalAdapter.PROPOSAL_REPLACE); 

class TextProposalProvider implements IContentProposalProvider {
public IContentProposal[] getProposals(String contents, int position) { 
       // return possible proposals / completions
   }
}
// ------------------ [ end code ] -----------------------------------
But, of course, there is place for a wrapper for the simplest cases. Maybe something like 

// ------------------ [ code ] -------------------------------------
class AutoCompleteText  {
   private String[] proposals;
   ...
   public AutoCompleteText(Composite parent, int style) {
       ContentProposalAdapter adapter = new ContentProposalAdapter(text,
new TextContentAdapter(), new TextProposalProvider(), null, null); adapter.setProposalAcceptanceStyle(ContentProposalAdapter.PROPOSAL_REPLACE); 
   }

   public void setProposals(String[] proposals) {...}
   public Text getControl() {...}
   ...

   class TextProposalProvider implements IContentProposalProvider {
public IContentProposal[] getProposals(String contents, int position) { 
           // filter proposals
       }
   }
}
// --------------------- [ end code ] -----------------------------------------------------
I don't know if this would qualify for a Nebula widget, though. But I agree that it would be nice to have a simpler API for the trivial auto-completion cases, although the wrapper classes seem to be quite straight-forward to implement. 

Sascha



Michael Krkoska wrote:

I really like the features of jface field assist. But to be honest I
am not very happy with the corresponding API. It seems rather
cumbersome, just look at the sourcecode of the example plug-ins. (You
get a "FieldAssist" menu in Eclipse with a single entry, if you
install these plug-ins, which shows-off the features.)

It seems to me that you need to implement a lot of stuff on top of the
jface field assist API to get your auto complete. That's why I'd still
favor a nebula API which enables you to implement such a common
use-case much more easily.

Currently I am using the autocomplete API of the SWTPlus alpha
version, the predecessor of nebula, which I find easy to use.

What about another wrapper API on top of jface field assist, to make
it more usable? I guess not in nebula, because of the reference to
jface, but I'd like it :)

Bye,
  Michael




ditto :)

can I use it to do auto-completion similar to OpenOffice.org (best
example I can think of) where, rather than dropping a selection list, it 
completes the word in place?
can I also use it with multiple, character delimited, fields per text box? 

thanks!


Chris Gross wrote:
> Hi Sascha,
>
> You bring up a good point. I wasn't aware of the new field assist added 
> to JFace.
>
> -Chris
>
> Sascha Zelzer wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am very excited about the Nebula project and am looking forward to 
>> some great contributions.
>>
>> The only thing which irritates me is the constant mentioning of
>> "auto-complete" widgets, be it text-fields, combos or others. I am
>> just not sure if the creators of such widgets (and the Nebula team)
>> are aware of the package org.eclipse.jface.fieldassist which allows, 
>> in a very general way, to attach auto-complete functionality to any
>> widget.
>>
>> I do not want in any way to diminish the efforts of people who
>> implemented such widgets themselves, but for the sake of consistency >> and not duplicating functionality, these "widgets" can (at least now 
>> in Eclipse 3.2) easily by implemented by programmers themselves.
>>
>> If those widgets should be available for Eclipse < 3.2 then, of
>> course, one has the create them "by hand".
>>
>> Just some thoughts...
>>
>>
>> Sascha

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