completeopt+=popup might be too narrow

[habamax]

Steps to reproduce

I am yet to come up with the minimal repro steps, for now just documenting the issue:

When completion item is too long, popup info window appears on the left being too narrow.

Expected behaviour

There is enough space to make it wide to present additional information.

Version of Vim

9.1.1868

Environment

debian13,bash

Logs and stack traces

[habamax]

@girishji fyi, not sure if you did anything related.

[habamax]

repro steps:

smallpopup.vim

vim9script

set complete=Fg:Popup
set completeopt=popup
set autocomplete

def g:Popup(findstart: number, base: string): any
    if findstart > 0
        var prefix = getline('.')->strpart(0, col('.') - 1)->matchstr('\S\+$')
        if prefix->empty()
            return -2
        endif
        return col('.') - prefix->len() - 1
    endif
    var items = [
        { word: 'apple aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb cccccccccccccccccccc dddddddddddddddddddd eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff gggggggggggggggggggggggggg hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj', kind: 'F', info: 'A fruit' },
        { word: 'banana', kind: 'F', info: "Another fruit description with a bit of text.\nShould fit into popup window.\n" },
        { word: 'carrot', kind: 'V', info: 'A vegetable' },
        { word: 'date', kind: 'F', info: 'A sweet fruit' },
        { word: 'eggplant', kind: 'V', info: 'A purple vegetable' },
    ]
    return items->matchfuzzy(base, {key: "word"})
enddef

1. vim --clean -S smallpopup.vim +"normal 20o"
2. type i<tab><tab>b<C-n>

https://asciinema.org/a/gmnFm5WHhO37zatfRkPQKm8my

additionally if you don't provide enough space on the left, there would be no popup at all:

https://asciinema.org/a/NHRQ95h0IDDlfE0g0ANUJIYQ0

[girishji]

I didn’t make any fundamental changes to the positioning logic of the info window — only adjusted the dimensions to account for the border. You can take a look at pum_position_info_popup() in popupmenu.c to see if the positioning logic can be improved. I might not be able to dig into this myself for a few days until I get some time.

[girishji]

In your screenshot, do you expect the info window to sit above the cursor, while menu is below the cursor? That is the only way we can make info window wider.

[habamax]

In your screenshot, do you expect the info window to sit above the cursor, while menu is below the cursor? That is the only way we can make info window wider.

Indeed, there is a space above that could be used for that. Not sure if in some cases it could be displayed below.

[girishji]

In your screenshot, do you expect the info window to sit above the cursor, while menu is below the cursor? That is the only way we can make info window wider.

Indeed, there is a space above that could be used for that. Not sure if in some cases it could be displayed below.

I don't know if other people will complain. We do not know the width needed for info window from popupmenu.c (rendering happens in popupwin.c). So you may end up with small info window above cursor. Can you check how other editors/IDEs handle this situation?

[habamax]

Hm, I was thinking I remember it worked in emacs back in a day, resurrecting it, I am not able to even get the help preview for the candidates with corfu/company modes:

[habamax]

I don't know if other people will complain. We do not know the width needed for info window from popupmenu.c (rendering happens in popupwin.c).

I didn't mean to change current layout algorithm completely, I was thinking about if resulting popup window couldn't be showed (not enough horizontal space) or too narrow, it could be repositioned either above or below completion candidates depending on available space.

I was thinking as a workaround I would be able to set max width of the completion popup menu, but it doesn't help much 🤷

[habamax]

Or maybe preview could be allowed to overlap popup completion when there is not enough space with possibly an option?

[girishji]

There’s quite a lot of content in your info window. You could use 'preview' window instead of info popup. It might be worth improving the 'preview' window behavior — for example, automatically choosing whether to display the top or bottom half, or making it easier to dismiss (currently, Ctrl+C doesn’t close the preview window), or dismiss automatically.

At the moment, the info popup works best when displaying a limited amount of information. Showing it above the cursor only really makes sense when there’s a large amount of content to display. However, since the position is decided before the contents are known — and some LSPs only send the info after an item is selected in the menu — this can lead to awkward positioning.

[habamax]

I see, let’s close it then.