Code Completion

Unit: SynEdit.CompletionProposal. Two components are available:

Component	Description
TSynCompletionProposal	A popup list of items (code completion) or of parameter hints, shown by a shortcut, by a timer or by trigger characters.
TSynAutoComplete	Expands a token into a template when the shortcut is pressed (for example ife into an if ... then ... else block).

TSynCompletionProposal

Connect the proposal to the editor with the Editor property (or AddEditor to serve more editors), fill ItemList with the text shown and InsertList with the text inserted, and set the ShortCut (default Ctrl+Space).

SynCompletionProposal1.Editor := SynEdit1;
SynCompletionProposal1.ItemList.Add('begin');
SynCompletionProposal1.InsertList.Add('begin' + sLineBreak + 'end;');

Main properties

Property	Description
Editor	The TSynEdit the proposal works on.
ShortCut	The key combination that shows the proposal.
DefaultType	ctCode (completion list), ctHint or ctParams (parameter hints).
ItemList	The text of the items shown in the list.
InsertList	The text inserted when an item is selected (if empty ItemList is used).
Options	Set of TSynCompletionOption, for example scoCaseSensitive, scoLimitToMatchedText, scoTitleIsCentered, scoEndCharCompletion, scoCompleteWithTab and scoCompleteWithEnter (the last four of these are in the default).
NbLinesInWindow	Number of lines shown by the window (default 8).
Width, ItemHeight, Margin	Size of the window and of the items.
Title, TitleFont, ClTitleBackground	Title of the window.
Font, ClBackground, ClSelect, ClSelectedText	Colors and font of the list.
Columns	Columns for items with more fields (for example the type and the name).
Images	Image list for the items.
EndOfTokenChr	Characters that end the token under the caret.
TriggerChars	Characters that show the proposal as soon as they are typed (for example .).
Resizeable, ShowGripper	The window can be resized with the mouse.
PaintFormShadow	Draws a shadow under the window.
TimerInterval	Milliseconds to wait before showing the proposal in the automatic modes (default 1000).

Events

Event	Description
OnExecute	The popup is about to be shown: fill or filter the items here for a dynamic list.
OnCodeCompletion	An item has been chosen: change the text to insert.
OnAfterCodeCompletion	The text has been inserted.
OnCancelled	The popup was closed without choosing.
OnValidate, OnKeyPress	Control of the keys typed while the popup is open.

Methods

ActivateCompletion and CancelCompletion show and close the popup from your code, AddItem(ADisplayText, AInsertText) adds an item and ClearList removes all of them, AddEditor and RemoveEditor change the editors served.

TSynAutoComplete

AutoCompleteList contains the templates. Each template is a line with the token, an optional line starting with | (the description shown in the lookup list) and then one or more lines starting with = that contain the text to insert, where a | marks the final position of the caret.

ife
|if then else
=if | then
=else

Property	Description
Editor	The editor served.
ShortCut	The key that expands the token before the caret (default Shift+Space).
AutoCompleteList	The templates.
EndOfTokenChr	Characters that end the token.
DoLookupWhenNotExact	When the token is not an exact template, shows a completion list of the templates that start with it.
OnBeforeExecute, OnAfterExecute	Events fired around the expansion.

Demo

See the Code Completion demo.