Idle autocomplete window doesn't show up

[JohnnyNajera]

BPO	38943
Nosy	@terryjreedy, @taleinat, @miss-islington, @JohnnyNajera
PRs	bpo-38943: Fix IDLE autocomplete window not always appearing #17416 [3.8] bpo-38943: Fix IDLE autocomplete window not always appearing (GH-17416) #17548 [3.7] bpo-38943: Fix IDLE autocomplete window not always appearing (GH-17416) #17549

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/terryjreedy'
closed_at = <Date 2019-12-10.01:16:20.078>
created_at = <Date 2019-11-29.21:14:46.311>
labels = ['3.8', 'expert-IDLE', 'type-bug', '3.7', '3.9']
title = "Idle autocomplete window doesn't show up"
updated_at = <Date 2019-12-10.01:17:49.134>
user = 'https://github.com/JohnnyNajera'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2019-12-10.01:17:49.134>
actor = 'terry.reedy'
assignee = 'terry.reedy'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2019-12-10.01:16:20.078>
closer = 'terry.reedy'
components = ['IDLE']
creation = <Date 2019-11-29.21:14:46.311>
creator = 'JohnnyNajera'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 38943
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 6.0
messages = ['357654', '357656', '357753', '358156', '358157', '358158']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['terry.reedy', 'taleinat', 'miss-islington', 'JohnnyNajera']
pr_nums = ['17416', '17548', '17549']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue38943'
versions = ['Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8', 'Python 3.9']

[JohnnyNajera]

In Ubuntu 19.10 and probably earlier versions of Ubuntu, the autocomplete window doesn't show up when expected. This is probably due to wm_geometry called in a context in which it has no effect.

[terryjreedy]

IDLE completes global names, attributes, and file names with various invocation methods. The main problem users have in editor windows is not running the module to update namespaces. But the claim here (and in the PR) is that there is a timing problem.

JN, please post at least one minimal, specific, sometimes reproducible example, with code and user actions, that misbehaves. Do you have any idea why a 1 millesecond delay helps?

(3.5 and 3.6 only get security fixes.)

[JohnnyNajera]

At least this scenario:
Ubuntu 19.10
Open the interpreter
Literally nothing makes the autocomplete window show up.

As mentioned in the PR, it's not about the 1-ms but about being called outside of the event itself.
This can also be fixed by immediately calling update_idletasks, but more about this in the PR.

Thanks, have a nice day.

[terryjreedy]

New changeset bbc4162 by Terry Jan Reedy (JohnnyNajera) in branch 'master':
bpo-38943: Fix IDLE autocomplete window not always appearing (GH-17416)
bbc4162

[miss-islington]

New changeset 1b0e88d by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.7':
bpo-38943: Fix IDLE autocomplete window not always appearing (GH-17416)
1b0e88d

[miss-islington]

New changeset 34d5d5e by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.8':
bpo-38943: Fix IDLE autocomplete window not always appearing (GH-17416)
34d5d5e