[Solved] The Difference between Several AutoComplete MenuItems in Scite Lite

[Zohar]

Hi all

in Scite Lite, the Edit menu looks has these MenuItems:

What is the difference between these 4 MenuItems?

And another question: for some reason Ctrl-Space does not appear there,
so what is the difference between these 4, and Ctrl-Space?

 

Thank you

Edited March 26, 2021 by Zohar

[Jos]

Could you please stop opening all these topics on SciTE/SciTE-lite just because you are wondering things and not seem to be able to do a little research yourself first?

I am using the Standard SciTE SC1 build for SciTE-lite so try figuring things out yourself and just open one topic with your questions when you really can't find it.

[Zohar]

10 hours ago, Jos said:

and not seem to be able to do a little research yourself

I actually did a research first,
and could not get any answers via it.

Trying to press the first 3, did not show a difference.
The 4th, tho, displayed a small Window, so that's the only one that indeed was different.

And Ctrl-Space, (a fifth, which for some reason does not appear in that menu, or in any other menu), is also not clear regarding its difference from the previous ones,
so I have 4 Shortcut Keys (and MenuItems), that I would really like to understand the difference between them.

If this (and the other) topic is any hassle for you, I appologize, simply ignore it.
But I really like to understand it, and I was curious about this for years, yet I put it aside,
and now, I finally decided to clear this once and for all..

Edited March 26, 2021 by Zohar

[pixelsearch]

2 hours ago, Zohar said:

so I have 4 Shortcut Keys (and MenuItems), that I would really like to understand the difference between them.

Hi Zohar,
I'm also using Scite-Lite and some google search about these 4 items explains the behavior of each one (all search links at the end of this post)

1) Complete Symbol (Ctrl+I)

The "Complete Symbol" command looks at the characters before the caret and displays the subset of the API file starting with that string.

2) Complete Word (Ctrl+Enter)

SciTE command "Complete Word" searches document for any words starting with characters before caret.

3) Expand Abbreviation (Ctrl+B)
You need 1st to create a couple of abbreviations in the abbreviations file (menu Options => Open Abbreviations file) and Save the abbreviation file when you are done

Later, when you type hi in your script, then Ctrl+B, your "hi" will expand to "hi, this is a long sentence"
Typing bye, then Ctrl+B would expand to "bye for now"

4) Insert Abbreviation (Ctrl+Shift+R)

Links used for this post :
https://www.scintilla.org/SciTEDoc.html
https://www.scintilla.org/ScintillaHistory.html   (takes a long time to appear)
https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/scite/docs/SciTE4AutoIt3/SciTE4AutoIt3-AbbreviationHowTo.html
https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/scite/docs/SciTE4AutoIt3/abbrev-manager.html

[Zohar]

Hi pixelsearch

Really thank you for this!

OK so to summarize this:
(and also include the fifth - Ctrl-Space, which was not mentioned)

Complete Symbol (Ctrl-I, and also the same as Ctrl-Space):
Completes an AutoIt Symbol, as defined in the file C:\Program Files\AutoIt3\SciTE\api\au3.api

Complete Word (Ctrl+Enter):
Completes from the dynamically formed list of terms, in the current Code Editor screen (useful for Variable Names, Function Names, and more - it can be any word (or space-less string) that appears in the current file, before or after the location of the cursor)

Expand Abbreviation (Ctrl+B), and it's Windowed version Insert Abbreviation (Ctrl+Shift-R):
Completes an Abbreviation as defined in a list stored in the file (Menu: Options\Open Abbreviations file)

 

I must say that the second one - Complete Word (Ctrl+Enter), is really useful, and new to me.

It enables completing names of Variables/Functions, which Ctrl-Space doesn't cover.

Coming from Visual Studio, I was missing this.
In Visual Studio, Ctrl-Space covers everything, combined,
both language/framework terms, and also dynamically created words/terms, like Variable and Class/Method names.

I really thank you for explaining this.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Zohar

[Jos]

19 minutes ago, Zohar said:

I must say that the second one - Complete Word (Ctrl+Enter), is really useful, and new to me.

Use the  FUll version of SciTE4AutoIt3 and it will give you automatically a prompt to complete any of the words typed before without having to do the Ctrl+Enter.... 

... but I guess that version was too full. 

[Zohar]

1 hour ago, Jos said:

... but I guess that version was too full. 

So that's why you're pissed at me?
Because I prefer the Lite version over the Full one?
(you developed the adaptations to AutoIt in both, no? so in any case I am using what you developed..)

[Jos]

Just now, Zohar said:

So that's why you're pissed at me?

No worries, I don't get pissed over somebody that doesn't want to use an much more useful version when doing a lot of coding, but rather find that shortsighted.  
The only reason I get annoyed ( so not mad or pissed as you call it) is when people simply dump questions here that are rather easy to figure out yourself...

I have indeed maintain the our SciTE source version, and have together with many others made the full version to really assist script developers making their lives much easier.  

[Zohar]

BTW,
I planned to create a thread with 2 questions about AutoIt Window Info tool.
Again it's something there that I wondered about for years, but kept putting aside, and finally decided to clear it out once and for all..

Do you get notifications for newly created topics that their title contain AutoIt Window Info tool too?

If yes, maybe I should wait a month or 2 for things to cool down, before creating another thread..

Edited March 26, 2021 by Zohar

[Jos]

5 minutes ago, Zohar said:

If yes, maybe I should wait a month or 2 for things to cool down, before creating another thread..

Again...  no worries, just ask your questions... 

[Zohar]

OK