Re: Emacs completion matches selection UI

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:22:27 -0500 Stefan Monnier <address@hidden> wrote: 

>> That, and to also highlight the portion of the selected entry that
>> matches if the match is partial.

SM> Hmm... don't we do that already?

Not from in-buffer completion AFAICT.  Yes from minibuffer completion.

>> Good points, I don't know what's the best approach here.

SM> We can start with: `up' goes to the last displayed line of the
SM> *Completions* buffer (on the assumption that it's displayed above the
SM> minibuffer) and `down' goes to the first displayed line.

On Wed, 20 Nov 2013 07:57:35 -0800 Josh <address@hidden> wrote: 

J> Many people access `previous-history-element' in the minibuffer through
J> the up arrow, so I hope it is not commandeered for this purpose.  Instead,
J> what about entering the mode from the minibuffer via C-f and right arrow,
J> but only when the point is at the minibuffer's point-max (i.e. when
J> `forward-char' would currently complain "End of buffer")?  Besides being
J> less disruptive for users than changing the behavior of <Up>, using
J> C-f/<right> for this purpose has the mnemonic benefit of suggesting
J> "go beyond what I've typed".  WDYT?

After thinking about it, I agree with Josh.  Proposal:

1) in minibuffer completion:

`right' or `C-f' at minibuffer point-max enters completion candidates
buffer (where then `up' and `down' are remapped, we have the user captive)

`left' in the completion candidates buffer goes back to the minibuffer

2) in-buffer completion:

enter completion candidates buffer immediately (where then `up' and
`down' are remapped, we have the user captive).  Make it easy to get out
and back to the original buffer.

Ted