How to get TAB autocomplete to work? And general confusion over how to use

[todbot]

I was very excited to find this extension (I'm an old Emacs guy), I already like it much more than the standard VSCode file browser. But I am unclear how to get autocomplete to work. I also have the vscode-emacs-mcx extension.

The workflow I am used to: Let's say I'm after a file called file2.txt in a directory containing file1.txt, file2.txt and adirectory)

• Ctrl-x-f to open file browser in current working directory
• Type a few characters that begins filename ("fi")
• Press TAB to autocomplete filename/directory as much as possible ("file")
• Press TAB again to see a list of files that complete ("file1.txt, file2.txt")
• Type 2 and TAB to complete to file2.txt
• Press ENTER to open file.

When I try the same action with this extension installed, the TAB toggles between the file select region and two other regions I don't understand. Video demo below.

Screen.Recording.2023-08-30.at.1.32.18.PM.mov

And it doesn't autocomplete the part of the filename that matches (e.g. expand "fi" to "file"). It also does not complete directory names (e.g. typing "adirectory" in the example above yields "no matching results") . Also, I would expect just pressing TAB in a blank file browser would show me all files (e.g. matching all files)

What am I doing wrong?

[aguynamedben]

I'm also confused

I start here:

Then I hit Tab to try to attempt to complete "hornet" and land in apps/hornet/, but instead it puts me in apps/hornet/hornet which is a directory that doesn't even exist.

I was trying to get to apps/hornet/. Things seem to work as expected if I hit Enter, but my muscle memory is so hard on Tab for file navigation from Emacs+Helm. It seems like there's a bug, or that I'm missing something with how to set this up. It's soooo close though!

Also, I'm used to hitting Ctrl-l to go "up" a directory, that would be a sweet addition, i.e. if I hit Cmd-l it just does "../" for me.

[wojtyniak]

@aguynamedben I have the same problem with TAB completion repeating the directory name. Have you perhaps figured it out?

[aguynamedben]

@wojtyniak No I have not figured it out, but would like to! Along with Ctrl-l for clearing back a directory. Haven't made time to dig into the code here.

[todbot]

I'm trying to get into VS Code and I still can't figure out how to open files purely with the keyboard. And I can't figure out how this extension does anything useful. Hitting TAB just moves the currently selected control, and does nothing in the file list. What am I doing wrong?

[aguynamedben]

@wojtyniak @todbot Took me forever to figure out

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mogelbrod.quickopener

In keybindings.json

  /**
   * Emacs file open simulation using Quick Opener extension
   */

  // (only if you're using emacs-mcx extension...)
  // Remove emacs-mcx binding
  {
    "key": "ctrl+x ctrl+f",
    "command": "-workbench.action.quickOpen"
  },

  // Add Quick Opener binding
  {
    "key": "ctrl+x ctrl+f",
    "command": "quickOpener.show"
  },

  // Simulate C-l in Emacs to go "up"
  {
    "when": "inQuickOpener",
    "command": "quickOpener.popPath",
    "key": "ctrl+l"
  },

With this setup you can also specify the path to a new file then hit "Cmd-N" to create a new file there, avoiding VS Code's GUI "New File" flow.

[todbot]

@aguynamedben thank you!