menu-select doesn't work with zle -C/_describe

menu-select doesn't work with zle -C/_describe

[Julius Plenz]

Hi!

While writing a completion function, I noticed the following problem:
I have included the zsh/complist module and wanted to make a
completion widget bound to a specific key combination. My approach
looks like this:

_x () {
    local -a x
    x=(one two three four)
    compadd -a x
}
zle -C x menu-select _x
bindkey '^Xx' x

If I press Ctrl-X x at any point, the completion axpands to any of the
four arguments or presents a menu (with the selected entry being
reversed).

Now I want to add a describtion, so I change the function to:

    local -a x expl
    x=(one two three four)
    _description files expl 'xxx'
    compadd "$expl[@]" -a x

When I press Ctrl-X x now, the menu is printed with a caption and the
prompt is re-printed below it, but I am not able to select anything
from the menu (no entry is highlighted). The same effect occurs when I
use

    _wanted files expl 'xxx' compadd -a x

or

    _describe -t files 'xxx' x

The only way to insert a caption and still get the menu-select
behaviour is to use `compadd -X ".."' and insert the format-code used
for descriptions by hand. But this can't be it, right?

I greatly appreciate any hint on what I'm doing wrong here! :-)

Julius

Re: menu-select doesn't work with zle -C/_describe

[Peter Stephenson]

Julius Plenz wrote:
... abbreviated to the following effect ...
> _x() {
>     local -a x expl
>     x=(one two three four)
>     _wanted files expl 'xxx' compadd -a x
> }
> zle -C x menu-select _x
> bindkey '^Xx' x
> 
> When I press Ctrl-X x now, the menu is printed with a caption and the
> prompt is re-printed below it, but I am not able to select anything
> from the menu (no entry is highlighted).

The function is OK (the _wanted form is the preferred one) but
entering the completion system directly at menu-select is likely to do
odd things---most of the controls assume the completion system itself is
in charge of setting up menus etc.

Try using the function in the following manner (this replaces your "zle
-C" line):

zle -C x complete-word _generic
zstyle ':completion:x:*' completer _x
zstyle ':completion:x:*' menu select

Now you're entering the completion system the normal way, but with the
styles set to use menu selection.  This should work better.  Obviously,
if you use a more descriptive name, the "x"s in the style context need
to change, too.

See the description of the _generic completer in the zshcompsys manual.

-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com>                  Software Engineer
CSR PLC, Churchill House, Cambridge Business Park, Cowley Road
Cambridge, CB4 0WZ, UK                          Tel: +44 (0)1223 692070