AvalonEdit/Documentation/Code Completion.aml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<topic id="47c58b63-f30c-4290-a2f2-881d21227446" revisionNumber="1">
  <developerConceptualDocument xmlns="http://ddue.schemas.microsoft.com/authoring/2003/5" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
      <introduction>
      <para>
			AvalonEdit comes with a code completion drop down window.
			You only have to handle the text entering events to determine
			when you want to show the window; all the UI is already done for you.
		</para>
    </introduction>
    <section>
      <title>Usage of the Code Completion Window</title>
      <content>
<code language="cs">
    // in the constructor:
    textEditor.TextArea.TextEntering += textEditor_TextArea_TextEntering;
    textEditor.TextArea.TextEntered += textEditor_TextArea_TextEntered;
}

CompletionWindow completionWindow;

void textEditor_TextArea_TextEntered(object sender, TextCompositionEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Text == ".") {
        // Open code completion after the user has pressed dot:
        completionWindow = new CompletionWindow(textEditor.TextArea);
        IList&lt;ICompletionData&gt; data = completionWindow.CompletionList.CompletionData;
        data.Add(new MyCompletionData("Item1"));
        data.Add(new MyCompletionData("Item2"));
        data.Add(new MyCompletionData("Item3"));
        completionWindow.Show();
        completionWindow.Closed += delegate {
            completionWindow = null;
        };
    }
}

void textEditor_TextArea_TextEntering(object sender, TextCompositionEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Text.Length > 0 &amp;&amp; completionWindow != null) {
        if (!char.IsLetterOrDigit(e.Text[0])) {
            // Whenever a non-letter is typed while the completion window is open,
            // insert the currently selected element.
            completionWindow.CompletionList.RequestInsertion(e);
        }
    }
    // Do not set e.Handled=true.
    // We still want to insert the character that was typed.
}
</code>
        <para>
        This code will open the code completion window whenever '.' is pressed.
        By default, the
        <codeEntityReference>T:ICSharpCode.AvalonEdit.CodeCompletion.CompletionWindow</codeEntityReference>
        only handles key presses like Tab and Enter to insert the currently
        selected item. To also make it complete when keys like '.' or ';' are pressed,
        we attach another handler to the <codeInline>TextEntering</codeInline> event 
        and tell the completion window to insert the selected item.
    	</para>
    	<para>
    	The <codeInline>CompletionWindow</codeInline> will actually never have
    	focus - instead, it hijacks
    	the WPF keyboard input events on the text area and passes them through its
    	<codeInline>ListBox</codeInline>.
    	This allows selecting entries in the completion list using the
    	keyboard and normal typing in the editor at the same time.
    	</para>
    	<para>
    	Here is the implementation of the MyCompletionData class used in the code above: 
<code language="cs">
/// Implements AvalonEdit ICompletionData interface to provide the entries in the
/// completion drop down.
public class MyCompletionData : ICompletionData
{
    public MyCompletionData(string text)
    {
        this.Text = text;
    }
    
    public System.Windows.Media.ImageSource Image {
        get { return null; }
    }
    
    public string Text { get; private set; }
    
    // Use this property if you want to show a fancy UIElement in the list.
    public object Content {
        get { return this.Text; }
    }
    
    public object Description {
        get { return "Description for " + this.Text; }
    }
    
    public void Complete(TextArea textArea, ISegment completionSegment,
        EventArgs insertionRequestEventArgs)
    {
        textArea.Document.Replace(completionSegment, this.Text);
    }
}
</code>
		Both the content and the description shown may be any content acceptable in WPF,
		including custom UIElements.
		You may also implement custom logic in the <codeInline>Complete</codeInline>
		method if you want to do more than simply inserting the text.
		The <codeInline>insertionRequestEventArgs</codeInline> can help decide which
		kind of insertion the user wants - depending on how the insertion was triggered,
		it is an instance of <codeInline>TextCompositionEventArgs</codeInline>,
		<codeInline>KeyEventArgs</codeInline> or <codeInline>MouseEventArgs</codeInline>.
    	</para>
      </content>
    </section>
    <section>
      <title>Code Completion for C#</title>
      <content>
      <para>
      	Full C# code completion is not in the scope of AvalonEdit.
      	You will need a C# parser, a C# type system, and the ability
      	to resolve C# expressions in your type system.
      </para>
      <para>
        If you want to learn how this is handled in SharpDevelop, please
        see:
        <externalLink>
		<linkText>Code Completion in SharpDevelop</linkText>
		<linkUri>https://github.com/icsharpcode/SharpDevelop/wiki/Code-Completion</linkUri>
		<linkTarget>_blank</linkTarget>
		</externalLink>
      </para>
      </content>
    </section>
  </developerConceptualDocument>
</topic>