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samaursa
Senior Member
Canada
47 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 29 2011 : 11:17:35 AM
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When the VA auto-complete(auto-suggest/intellisence) pops-up while I type, most of the time it auto-selects the first item in the list so I can just press enter. Some times however it is not auto-selected and pressing enter performs a carriage return. This breaks the flow of my code (and thought) as the new line created must be undo'ed or I press backspace to correct (which takes a while since it is a new line).
This is a minor or major annoyance depending on when I am coding!
My VA version is 10.6.1848 built 2011.05.04
*moved to the Visual Assist X section by feline* |
Edited by - feline on Jun 30 2011 12:34:36 PM |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
19024 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2011 : 12:36:06 PM
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There is a registry key to turn this behaviour off, so that suggestion listboxes always have focus:
http://docs.wholetomato.com?W350
Suggestion listboxes can appear without focus when Visual Assist X thinks you are adding a new variable or function, so the suggestion may not be valid. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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rittjc
Ketchup Master
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - Apr 30 2013 : 5:13:22 PM
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Hi feline.
I want to state an opinion on this, but you should brace yourself because I know you guys have never had to deal with an opinion stated by a user! :)
This "feature" as it is documented in your link, it completely wrong and actually backwards as a default. This did fix mine too but after many moons of grief having no clue what changed in VAX. This is why this is the wrong default to not default to having the item selected in suggestions. 99.999999% of time we want to hit tab or space or whatever one has selected to do. We don't want to stop and do a Ctrl + Down but to hit our key and keep moving. Sure every once in a blue moon when you see hen's teeth, you need to do a real tab or space, but that rare occasion is when the extra key is needed for a simple and instinctive "escape" key press which happens without us realizing it. That rarity is why I didn't say 100%. I think it is important enough to make an immediate change. I have been beating my head against the wall trying to figure out how this annoyance started happening and the only think I could think is it was VS Gallery Addin's doing it and have spent a lot of time trying to find out which one (unsuccessfully) and running out of the track this down time that I didn't have anyway. At least you guys have great support...but...Grrr! :) The thought that other Vassians out there could be suffering from the same issue is even more frustrating. If you can't default it to what, at least I think is reasonable, then at least put it in the options so the user can realize this is a new "feature" behavior so he can switch it off there. Even a warning comment would have helped.
Any, that's my opinion for whatever its worth. At least this agony is behind me and I don't have to Resharper that is the worlds most intrusive spamming busybody addin! :) |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
19024 Posts |
Posted - Apr 30 2013 : 5:24:57 PM
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This is a good point, and I do tend to agree with you. The way this is supposed to work is that focus is not in the listbox only when VA thinks you are creating a new symbol name. Since you are creating a new variable or function, any suggestions stand a good chance of being invalid, so we don't want them getting in the way.
When you were fighting with this, do you remember if this sounds about right? Was this happening on new variables and functions? Or was it happening elsewhere as well? If VA is not applying focus where it should, by default, then this is a bug that should be fixed.
We are trying to avoid overloading the options dialog, the IDE options dialog shows why. But it is a balancing act, which options should be public, and which are OK as registry keys. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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rittjc
Ketchup Master
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2013 : 12:47:55 AM
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Well the operative issue to me is not adding more "features or choices" if you are afraid to do so for fear of over complicating, but leave the past behavior alone so you don't end up wrecking users who cannot afford to see what your "developers" decided for them was their preferred way for you as an individual to work and threw the dice that you would not be upset when you were screwed with deviant (deviant form the norm) behavior. If you want to extend capability through registry hacking (much more complicated than dialog screen navigation if you ask anyone else) then let the default behavior stand at let the ones desiring alternate behaviors go hunting because they wont think it was not VAX that changed that they cannot find new behavior. To top it off, Ctrl+DownArrow is a two stroke combination that requires both hands to do the rare behavior instead of a pinky tap on the escape key. I am surprised the guy in the meeting that assumed that users are disappointed that they are not pressing enough keys that do not affect text didn't suggest Ctrl+Alt+Shift + NPAD-Down to make it more of a distraction.
Ok, so satisfied at work where have a company owned VAX license where my needless weeks of frustration are over, wishing I had been at the meeting when the silent but radical change in the most primitive feature was suggested, I come home to my own copy. Having also been frustrated there for all these weeks, I quickly make the fix, update to the same version.
But! Guess what? The user does not get off that easy! Its not that predicable. Something else affects this where I see others "tried that and it didn't work". Still, no default selection. I am sure this is a nightmare of sorts but you really need to tell your developers that some of the users are really pissed about this change and how bad it was made that just changing the single setting that is supposed to control this has no affect.
Why can't things be left alone? Let the people that do not use VAX very much and want to just always type, toggle VAX off with Ctrl+Down when they don't want their eloquent though flow out on a series of spaces and tabs to be interrupted by intelli-sense? If they are writing a novel or know all methods parameter, options and closing of parens and curly braces, why do they need a code assist tool anyway? That's what the "assist" part implies to those who are not Shakespeare writing the next tragedy in C#. I thought you wrote novels and spec with Word. At least let them chase down the hacks that would then be put in to change it from how it has always worked. I am considering going back to a very old version but I am not sure how far to go back. I just know this is so very needless and the developers should never have so apathetically subjected the users to such a hodgepodge hack if they don't know enough about how the code works to make such a change and not have the product go into bug-whack-a-mole mode.
So, here is proof that it is not the user not understanding how to make this registry "feature selection" not worthy of a dialog entry:
Look, tell them, the users are all tapped out of test time, and they really need to debug these things on their own. Changing this in a stealthy manner was an affront, but then wanting users to debug it for them is over the top. If you go out of your way to frustrate people because you are someone that knows better what a default for everyone should be, then you shouldn't expect others to want to keep digging out of a hole. My alt-backspace and the 20 second clean ups from getting code sprayed on lines below from parsers that have no idea why you put in such an illogical sequence of characters, is exhausting. At least I have it fixed at work, but I do a lot of work at home too.
I know it isn't your fault feline but your boys need to be a bit more responsible. They put you into holy hell by "playing around" with things too. Your the one that has to bear the wrath.
Know what I mean? You are a good sport feline. It takes thick skin to deal with users who had their cheese moved.
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rittjc
Ketchup Master
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2013 : 12:15:29 PM
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Correction, feline, I spoke too soon. I had not done a thorough beta test cycle to determine if selections are working correctly. It appears that Tab works fine for my work machine but Enter does not work for selecting (inserting a new line where you didn't want one!) even though both are checked in the VAX settings. Do you know what registry settings in addition to feature settings in the dialog it takes to get the Enter key to accept the current selection when typing?
Is there a way to completely blow away registry settings and reinstall and reconfigure VAX so we as users can decide what is the best way for us to work and what is not? I don't care how many registry features I have to enable, if you can just get the developers to tell you the list of them that can make it dependable.
I never quite realized knew how addicted to the behaviors and nuances I am. Its subconscious and when something changes your productivity go through the floor and your though train is constantly being dumped so you can focus on fixing up the edit that has been messed up by the wrong sequence of control keys. I am desperate. |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
19024 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2013 : 12:38:10 PM
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Something odd is happening for you, we need to find out what is causing the problem so we can fix it. Your sample line of code is using "in", so I am assuming you are entering a foreach line in C#, in VS2010.
Do you have:
IDE tools menu -> Options -> Text Editor -> C# -> IntelliSense -> Show completion list after a character is typed
turned On or Off? I am assuming it is turned Off, given your screen shot. So I have turned this off, and I am using the following C# test code:
class feline_test_general
{
void testingForeachSuggestionFocus()
{
List<string> felineRanges = new List<string>();
foreach (string felineTest in |)
{
}
}
}
typing fe where the caret is indicated, with the registry key ListboxSelectionStyle = 1, I am getting a suggestion without focus. Setting the registry key to 2, and the suggestion listbox always has focus.
There is a bug here, since this is not declaring a new variable:
case=73981
Since the registry key is working for me, I assume you are doing something different. Can you try this test code, and see what results you get please?
As for the more general question of this change, speaking from a support point of view, we used to get a lot of upset customers who were having problems entering new variable names, since they were getting suggestions with focus even when they were typing a new, unknown symbol name. So to them the change that happened was a bug fix. Which illustrates the problem quite well, one person's bug is another person's feature. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
19024 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2013 : 12:43:03 PM
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In the screen shot you have posted the suggestion does not have focus, so I would not expect Tab OR Enter to accept it. When you are seeing Tab work but Enter not work, does the suggestion have any focus at all? Perhaps a dotted line?
The IDE options may well be a factor here, along side the VA options. If we can figure out a simple code sample that will trigger these odd effects on demand then I can work through a set of tests here to try and find out what is going on, and going wrong. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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rittjc
Ketchup Master
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2013 : 7:32:14 PM
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feline, you are right on my selections having intellisense turned off in the IDE. It was this way as a result of trying anything and everything before 2ing the ListboxSelectionStyle. This does correct that behavior. But, there as at one time a situation where both VAX and the IDE were popping up their low intellisense menus cover tool tip help that led me to believe that if it does not help, turn it off because VAX will source better intellisense than Visual Studio. And that is both why it was off and the impression the users get from the way MS worded that box. Of course, when MS worded that option, it would certainly not assume that you would be using a second intellisense provider that would be the primary. Ok, that is solved. Great job!
Now as to your second question, yes indeed, Tab would work but Enter would not with both turned on. That behavior is on my work machine and I am at home now so I don't know if this latter suggestion will have anything to do with it. If I have the time or inclination I will check it. But, with it working now, based on the last suggestion, I am very inclined to cut and run until such a time another problem arises. My nobility for discovering perhaps a bug that gets covered up by the change the IDE options is fading fast. But, if I see a different behavior tomorrow that does not have it fixed like I need it to work, then I will post it. Otherwise just assume there is an odd bug lurking where Tab works but Enter does not out there but that it has a work around of sorts.
Thanks for staying on this. As I have said for years now WT has two things going for it. 1) quick response and inclination to support customer requests, and 2) very good support. That is not just wise for WT but all companies should consider such approaches. It really does create a lot of goodwill capital with customers. We all need that.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
19024 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2013 : 10:46:34 AM
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I am glad changing this IDE setting has helped, hopefully this will fix things on your work machine. Obviously if you have any more problems with this then please let me know, and I will do what I can to fix the problems.
There are a lot of settings to consider, and its not always obvious how they interact and effect each other. You get a feel for this over time, but it still sometimes requires a bit of experimenting to find the answer.
Quality support is very important to us as a company, and its something I believe in very strongly. We may not be able to fix all problems, but we always try  |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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support
Whole Tomato Software
5566 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2013 : 2:09:21 PM
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| case=73981 is fixed in build 1940 |
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Sometimes VA does not auto-select suggestion
