Re: Tab completion in gmc

[Simon Murcott <simonmu optimation co nz>]

On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, James M. Cape wrote:

> Marcus Brubaker wrote:
> > 
> > On Thu, 28 Jan 1999, James M. Cape wrote:
> > 
> > > Marcus Brubaker wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Just a thought, but could we make a "double tab" do completion?  This
> > > > might be harder than it's worth, but I think it would be ideal.
> > >
> > > Tab completion should work in gnome as it does in nearly every other
> > > directory-oriented typein (i.e. bash, csh?, etc.), which means tab-once
> > > to complete, tab twice to show further options (perhaps in a modal
> > > dialog).
> > 
> > Unfortunately, bash and csh are console apps.  We are dealing with a GUI
> > here and things are going to change, that's just the way it'll have to be.
> > I would love to be able to keep the tab key for completion on GNOME, but
> > unfortunately, in the name of keeping with general GUI standards, tab is
> > already claimed for manuevering around widgets.  I think the best thing we
> > can do is make it as close to the console default as possible.  Perhaps we
> > could define a standard metakey key combo to add to common console
> > shortcuts in GNOME?
> > 
> Well, since SHIFT+TAB is already taken for backwards widget switching,
> and most WM's have ALT+TAB as the default for switching windows, this
> leaves CTRL+TAB as a comfortable default (But allowing the user to
> change this is always a good idea).

I think you all might be missing the glaringly obvious here. Please 
forgive me for suggesting this but has anyone noticed the way IE4 handles 
this issue?

It will simply put the characters that it has completed AHEAD of where 
the user is typing and these characters are selected. If the user keeps 
on typing then the suggested characters will be typed over.

This would allow us not to even worry about what to assign the tab key to.

Regards

Simon Murcott