[GNC] How to revert to previous input mode?

[Geert Janssens]

Op zondag 2 juli 2023 20:01:53 CEST schreef Pierre Fortin:
> On Sat, 1 Jul 2023 18:30:44 -0700 Vincent Dawans wrote:
> >Pierre:
> >
> >On this point in particular:
> >> Worse, typing "Pens<TAB>" auto-populated an old "Camper expenses" entry
> >
> >which
> >
> >> now had to be canceled and restarted.
> >
> >This was an issue in early 5 releases but as far as I know 5.3 no longer
> >does a mid-word match so it should no longer happen in 5.3. In fact a lot
> >of the old 4.x behavior such as giving priority to recent matches and start
> >of string matches has been brought back in 5.3 so I would give it a try.
> 
> Version: 5.3
> Build ID: 5.3+(2023-06-26)
> 
> pens<TAB>  is my test; there are many entries displayed when I type 'p';
> at 'pe', it's down to just 'Amazon - pens' (at least 'Camper expenses' is
> no longer in the list; but at 'pens', 'Amazon - pens' is still available
> and it get auto-filled on TAB -- not what I expected...  At TAB, the entry
> should be considered a match if the entire typed string is a match,
> otherwise it should be considered a new unique entry.  If a visible
> selection is what is desired, then that can be selected directly.
> However, it's still forcing a change to the user's years long muscle
> memory actions...
> 
> Stated differently:  if the user enters 'pens' and 'Amazon - pens' is in
> the list, TAB should assume the entered characters are the complete
> entry, not what's in the list, even if it's the only match; that should be
> explicitly selected. Otherwise, creating a new unique entry becomes
> convoluted...

Unfortunately that's not how autocomplete works. It didn't in the old days and it still doesn't. 
The only difference between the old way an the new way is the new way now extends 
autocompletion to matches on all word boundaries in previous descriptions, where in the old 
days it only matched on beginning of description. So it's true the old method would not have 
autocompleted to "Amazon - pens" if you typed "pens", but it for sure would also have 
autocompleted to "Amazon - pens" if you only typed "ama", and did not behave as you 
described above.

If you want what you have typed to be unique, you have to tell the autocomplete system you 
don't want the suggestion. In the old days you did so by typing backspace. In the new 
system you can do so by either typing ESCAPE when you're done with your full description or 
selecting "Don't autocomplete" from the list.

Note that for your next transaction, if you type "pens" again, it will then autocomplete to 
"pens" only as at that point it will be the most recent possible match, rather than "Amazon -
pens" (assuming the date for your "pens" transaction is more recent that the earlier entered 
"Amazon - pens" transaction.

I accept that it requires to retrain your muscle memory and that can trigger some initial 
frustration. On the other hand the new system can potentially save you even more 
keystrokes once you master it, because it is able to offer more suggestions to choose from.

Regards,

Geert

> 
> HTH,
> Pierre
> 
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >Vincent
> >
> >On Sat, Jul 1, 2023 at 4:17 PM Pierre Fortin <pf at pfortin.com> wrote:
> >> On Sat, 1 Jul 2023 16:31:55 +0000 Gyle McCollam wrote:
> >> >Pierre,