Automatic String Completion

Automatic String Completion — support for automatic completion using a group of target strings.

Synopsis


#include <glib.h>


            GCompletion;
GCompletion* g_completion_new               (GCompletionFunc func);
gchar*      (*GCompletionFunc)              (gpointer);
void        g_completion_add_items          (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             GList *items);
void        g_completion_remove_items       (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             GList *items);
void        g_completion_clear_items        (GCompletion *cmp);
GList*      g_completion_complete           (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             const gchar *prefix,
                                             gchar **new_prefix);
GList*      g_completion_complete_utf8      (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             const gchar *prefix,
                                             gchar **new_prefix);
void        g_completion_set_compare        (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             GCompletionStrncmpFunc strncmp_func);
gint        (*GCompletionStrncmpFunc)       (const gchar *s1,
                                             const gchar *s2,
                                             gsize n);
void        g_completion_free               (GCompletion *cmp);

Description

GCompletion provides support for automatic completion of a string using any group of target strings. It is typically used for file name completion as is common in many UNIX shells.

A GCompletion is created using g_completion_new(). Target items are added and removed with g_completion_add_items(), g_completion_remove_items() and g_completion_clear_items(). A completion attempt is requested with g_completion_complete() or g_completion_complete_utf8(). When no longer needed, the GCompletion is freed with g_completion_free().

Items in the completion can be simple strings (e.g. filenames), or pointers to arbitrary data structures. If data structures are used you must provide a GCompletionFunc in g_completion_new(), which retrieves the item's string from the data structure. You can change the way in which strings are compared by setting a different GCompletionStrncmpFunc in g_completion_set_compare().

Details

GCompletion

typedef struct {
  GList* items;
  GCompletionFunc func;
 
  gchar* prefix;
  GList* cache;
  GCompletionStrncmpFunc strncmp_func;
} GCompletion;

The data structure used for automatic completion.

GList *`items`;	list of target items (strings or data structures).
GCompletionFunc `func`;	function which is called to get the string associated with a target item. It is `NULL` if the target items are strings.
gchar *`prefix`;	the last prefix passed to `g_completion_complete()` or `g_completion_complete_utf8()`.
GList *`cache`;	the list of items which begin with `prefix`.
GCompletionStrncmpFunc `strncmp_func`;

g_completion_new ()

GCompletion* g_completion_new               (GCompletionFunc func);

Creates a new GCompletion.

`func` :	the function to be called to return the string representing an item in the GCompletion, or `NULL` if strings are going to be used as the GCompletion items.
Returns :	the new GCompletion.

GCompletionFunc ()

gchar*      (*GCompletionFunc)              (gpointer);

Specifies the type of the function passed to g_completion_new(). It should return the string corresponding to the given target item. This is used when you use data structures as GCompletion items.

`Param1` :	the completion item.
Returns :	the string corresponding to the item.

g_completion_add_items ()

void        g_completion_add_items          (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             GList *items);

Adds items to the GCompletion.

`cmp` :	the GCompletion.
`items` :	the list of items to add.

g_completion_remove_items ()

void        g_completion_remove_items       (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             GList *items);

Removes items from a GCompletion.

`cmp` :	the GCompletion.
`items` :	the items to remove.

g_completion_clear_items ()

void        g_completion_clear_items        (GCompletion *cmp);

Removes all items from the GCompletion.

cmp : the GCompletion.

g_completion_complete ()

GList*      g_completion_complete           (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             const gchar *prefix,
                                             gchar **new_prefix);

Attempts to complete the string prefix using the GCompletion target items.

`cmp` :	the GCompletion.
`prefix` :	the prefix string, typically typed by the user, which is compared with each of the items.
`new_prefix` :	if non-`NULL`, returns the longest prefix which is common to all items that matched `prefix`, or `NULL` if no items matched `prefix`. This string should be freed when no longer needed.
Returns :	the list of items whose strings begin with `prefix`. This should not be changed.

g_completion_complete_utf8 ()

GList*      g_completion_complete_utf8      (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             const gchar *prefix,
                                             gchar **new_prefix);

Attempts to complete the string prefix using the GCompletion target items. In contrast to g_completion_complete(), this function returns the largest common prefix that is a valid UTF-8 string, omitting a possible common partial character.

You should use this function instead of g_completion_complete() if your items are UTF-8 strings.

`cmp` :	the GCompletion
`prefix` :	the prefix string, typically used by the user, which is compared with each of the items
`new_prefix` :	if non-`NULL`, returns the longest prefix which is common to all items that matched `prefix`, or `NULL` if no items matched `prefix`. This string should be freed when no longer needed.
Returns :	the list of items whose strings begin with `prefix`. This should not be changed.

Since 2.4

g_completion_set_compare ()

void        g_completion_set_compare        (GCompletion *cmp,
                                             GCompletionStrncmpFunc strncmp_func);

Sets the function to use for string comparisons. The default string comparison function is strncmp().

`cmp` :	a GCompletion.
`strncmp_func` :	the string comparison function.

GCompletionStrncmpFunc ()

gint        (*GCompletionStrncmpFunc)       (const gchar *s1,
                                             const gchar *s2,
                                             gsize n);

Specifies the type of the function passed to g_completion_set_compare(). This is used when you use strings as GCompletion items.

`s1` :	string to compare with `s2`.
`s2` :	string to compare with `s1`.
`n` :	maximal number of bytes to compare.
Returns :	an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the first `n` bytes of `s1` is found, respectively, to be less than, to match, or to be greater than the first `n` bytes of `s2`.

g_completion_free ()

void        g_completion_free               (GCompletion *cmp);

Frees all memory used by the GCompletion.

cmp : the GCompletion.