[GNC-dev] Ideas for account type-ahead modification

[Geert Janssens]

Op woensdag 11 maart 2020 22:03:13 CET schreef Jean Laroche:
> People,
> I have a version you can test here:
> https://github.com/jeanlaroche/gnucash.git , fix_autocompletion branch.
> A couple notes:
> - I worked off of maint, which I shouldn't have since this is probably a
> new feature. I'll fix that eventually.
> - The feature is fully functional, as far as I can tell.
> - I added an option in the preferences to use type-ahead-search
> (register), but at this point, it's not working right (it does not hold,
> so I must be missing some code).
> - I tested on accounts with large number of accounts (> 8000), and as
> far as I can tell it works OK. When you start typing there are
> potentially thousands of matching accounts but I only display the first
> 30 to avoid making the UI horribly sluggish, I think that's a good
> compromise.
> 
> Give that a shot and let me know what you think. The code is not ready
> for a PR as I still have lots of comments that would need to go.
> 
> PREFERENCES:
> If someone can point me in the right direction for preferences, it would
> be great. I essentially replicated the code for "Enter moves to blank
> transaction" (by searching all references of the defines for that pref,
> and adding the ones needed for the new option) but I must be missing
> something because the code says the preference key is invalid. The new
> option shows in the preferences, but the rest isn't working.
> 
> On 3/10/20 11:14 AM, Robert Fewell wrote:
> > Jean,
> > That patch was for register2 which is stalled, it has no bearing on the
> > current version.
> > 
> > Bob
> > 
> > On Tue, 10 Mar 2020 at 16:53, Frank H. Ellenberger
> > <frank.h.ellenberger at gmail.com <mailto:frank.h.ellenberger at gmail.com>>
> > 
> > wrote:
> >     Jean,
> >     
> >     Am 10.03.20 um 17:41 schrieb Jean Laroche:
> >      > Frank,
> >      > I tried reviving this patch, but git patch failed. I recreated
> >     
> >     the patch
> >     
> >      > manually (which wasn't very hard given that it contains few
> >     
> >     changes) but
> >     
> >      > I don't see any effect (not breakpoint is hit). So I'm wondering
> >     
> >     whether
> >     
> >      > this patch is still useful.
> >     
> >     I believe, Bob will faster understand, what is happening there.
> >     
> >     ~Frank
> 
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How hard would it be to use a more intelligent algorithm that combines the best of the two 
search modes (or even three if you include the account number search) ?

By that I mean this:
- as long as no account separator is entered, roughly use your new search algorithm which will 
list all accounts that match part of what's typed
- interpret typing of the account separator as a request to complete the string so far to a 
matching partial account
- more typing after that will again trigger free search on any subaccount name
- ...

It's just a rough first idea and may need some more refinement.

Regards,

Geert