Code completion

Invoke basic completion

1. Start typing a name.

2. Press Ctrl+Space or choose Code | Completion | Basic from the main menu.

3. If necessary, press Ctrl+Space for the second time (or press Ctrl+Alt+Space).

1. Start typing.

2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Space.

   The most suitable suggestion for the current context is highlighted.

3. If necessary, press Ctrl+Shift+Space once again.

Expand a string at caret to an existing word

1. Type the initial string and do one of the following:

   • Press Alt+/ or choose Code | Completion | Cyclic Expand Word to search for matching words before the caret.

   • Press Shift+Alt+/ or choose Code | Completion | Cyclic Expand Word (Backward) to search for matching words after the caret and in other open files.

   The first suggested value appears, and the prototype is highlighted in the source code.

   

2. Accept the suggestion, or hold the Alt key and keep pressing / until the desired word is found.

• To view a full list of available postfix templates, in the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General | Postfix Completion.

• Select Tab, Space, or Enter to expand postfix templates.

Transform a statement with a postfix

• Type an expression and then type a postfix after a dot, for example, .if:

  function m(arg) { arg.if }

  The initial expression gets wrapped with an if statement:

  function m(arg) { if (arg) { } }

Configure completion options

1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), select Editor | General | Code Completion.

2. Do the following:

   • To automatically display the suggestions list, select the Show suggestions as you type checkbox. If the checkbox is cleared, you have to call code completion explicitly by pressing Ctrl+Space for basic completion or Ctrl+Shift+Space for smart completion.

     You can also choose to automatically insert suggestions when there's just one option: select the completion type under Automatically insert single suggestions for.

   • To sort suggestions in the alphabetical order, instead of sorting them by relevance, select the Sort suggestions alphabetically checkbox.

     You can also toggle these modes by clicking or respectively in the lower-right corner of the suggestions list.

   • If you want the word case to be taken into account when suggesting completion options, select Match case and choose whether you want to match case for first letters only, or for all letters.

   • If you want the documentation popup to be displayed automatically for each item in the suggestions list as you scroll it, select the Show documentation popup in option. In the field to the right, specify the delay (in milliseconds), after which the popup should appear.

Narrow down the suggestions list

You can narrow down the suggestions list by typing any part of a word (even characters from somewhere in the middle) or invoking code completion after a dot separator. MPS will show suggestions that include the characters you've entered in any positions.

This makes the use of wildcards unnecessary:

In case of CamelCase or snake_case names, type the initial letters only. MPS automatically recognizes and matches the initial letters.

Accept a suggestion

You can accept a suggestion from the list in one of the following ways:

• Press Enter or double-click a list item to insert it to the left of the caret.

• Press Tab to replace the characters to the right from the caret.

• Use Ctrl+Shift+Enter to make the current code construct syntactically correct (balance parentheses, add missing braces and semicolons, and so on).

You can also use specific keys to insert the selected completion suggestion: in the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) choose Editor | General | Code Completion and select the Insert selected suggestion by pressing space, dot or other context-dependent keys option. These keys depend on the language, your context, and so on.

View reference

• You can use the Quick Definition View by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I when you select an entry in the suggestions list:

• You can use the Quick Information View by pressing Ctrl+Q when you select an entry in the suggestions list:

View code hierarchy

You can view code hierarchy when you've selected an entry from the suggestions list:

• Ctrl+H: view type hierarchy

• Ctrl+Shift+H: view method hierarchy.