[BUG] Interaction between autocomplete option and ctags-search

[mzanibelli]

Version of Kakoune

v2024.05.18

Reproducer

Given the following Go file with multiple symbols having the same name (should work in any language):

package main

func Foo() {}

type Foo struct{}

• Run kak -n
• Run :source <rc>/autoload/tools/menu.kak
• Run :source <rc>/autoload/tools/ctags.kak
• Run :ctags-generate

Now, given tags were successfully generated, run :ctags-search Foo.

Outcome

If set-option global autocomplete insert is set, the prompt stays empty. Press <Tab> twice to see the autocomplete list appear.
If default options are set, the autocomplete list appears correctly.

Expectations

Even when set-option global autocomplete insert, the autocomplete list should appear without needing to press <Tab> even once.
Rephrasing this to be less confusing: I think the bug occurs when autocomplete does not contain prompt.

Additional information

Reproduced on MacOS + Kitty.

[Screwtapello]

Looking at the code, :ctags-generate uses the menu module, which is built on the :prompt command, which only shows its completion menu by default if prompt is in the autocomplete option.

That behaviour makes sense to me, but I guess you expected that prompt should only control the autocomplete menu for Kakoune commands, not for other things that prompt for input in the same way?

[mzanibelli]

It makes sense indeed and I wouldn't want to introduce deep inconsistent changes for this minor inconvenience but leaving an empty prompt is really weird.
Since this particular prompt is highly unlikely to ever receive user-entered input, we could try to set the -init switch to the value of the first available entry just to hint the user that there might be more and they can press <Tab> for more?
Why do I need to press <Tab> twice to see the prompt BTW? This is still unclear to me.
That said, if we go the long way to introduce a new switch to the :prompt command to override the global autocomplete option, that might be the best approach from a user-experience point-of-view.

Edit: looking at the code I understand that ctags.kak never calls :prompt directly so any customization for this particular scenario is not as easy as I imagined it.

[mzanibelli]

I guess from a functional stand there is a slight difference between auto-completing (I want the freedom to type stuff and might need some more choices displayed to me) and selecting (I want to chose between complex options that I might not be able to guess nor type). menu.kak kind of merges both for convenience but it shows its limits here.