Should autocomplete popup close on space?

[trystanclarke]

In the way I use the autocomplete it is better that the popup closes on enter of space character.

For example, typing sql syntax (with live autocomplete on) when I type a whole identifier e.g. 'and' and then a space, the popup stays open and continues trying to match including the 'and' when I have already finished the word. In a desktop editor e.g. visual studio the autocomplete closes at this point.

I have a local fix for this in my completer where I add an additional command binding to the Autocomplete, but thought this might be a behaviour you wish to include by default. This can be achieved with a new command binding to 'Space' in the autocomplete object:

        "Space": function (editor) {
            editor.completer.detach();
            editor.execCommand("insertstring", " ");
        },

here:
https://github.com/ajaxorg/ace/blob/master/lib/ace/autocomplete.js#L207

This may not be appropriate in other cases but thought it was worth a mention.

[nightwing]

Normally autocomplete closes when there are no matching completions, so space should be handled automatically. But for your example from #2463 it might not work since you are adding space for formatting. Is this a problem only for space or for other characters ([ ( ) as well

[trystanclarke]

Hmm, yes you are right, it is due to having spaces in some of the completions I think. Well, the space command mapping fixes this for me.
Yes, it also happens when closing off an identifier with ], the popup remains open as it matches the ] in other suggestions. Could I add a command mapping for this too? Otherwise I may keep the chars () [] out of the display text altogether.

[nightwing]

One possible solution would be to add a check at https://github.com/ajaxorg/ace/blob/master/lib/ace/autocomplete.js#L278 to close popup if last character is one of ending characters specified by autocompleter, however i am not sure how convenient this would be to use.

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