Question

Hopefully this is an easy question to answer! I am trying to use GtkEntryCompletion (a la the example here) but while this code works I can’t seem to get the GtkEntry to present the autocomplete results when I set the text of the field programatically. What I am trying to accomplish is a semi pre-filled text entry that is already presenting the user with some autocomplete options.

To set the text I have tried using the functions gtk_entry_set_text(…), gtk_entry_buffer_insert_text(…) and even gtk_entry_buffer_emit_inserted_text(…) but to no avail. Is there a way to do this in such a way as to act like regular user input and display the suggestions?

Answer 1

I think you need to call gtk_entry_completion_complete after setting the text.

EDIT

Sorry @Tylter, but wow, this is way more difficult than I imagined. The only way I can figure out how to do it is to actually send the keypress event to the window.

  gtk_widget_grab_focus(entry);

  GdkEvent new_event;
  new_event.key.type = GDK_KEY_PRESS;
  new_event.key.window = gtk_widget_get_parent_window(entry);
  new_event.key.send_event = TRUE;
  new_event.key.time = GDK_CURRENT_TIME;
  new_event.key.keyval = 0x053; // capital S
  new_event.key.state = GDK_KEY_PRESS_MASK;
  new_event.key.length = 0;
  new_event.key.string = 0;
  new_event.key.hardware_keycode = 0;
  new_event.key.group = 0;

  gdk_event_put((gpointer)&new_event);

EDIT 2

Are you using a GtkDialog for your pop-up? I coded this up really quick and it seems to work. Here you would be creating the dialog in a button click event:

static void click_event( GtkWidget *widget,
                     gpointer   data )
{
   GtkWidget* window = gtk_dialog_new ();
   completion = create_completion();
   entry = gtk_entry_new();
   gtk_entry_set_completion(GTK_ENTRY(entry), completion);
   // add entry to dialog
   gtk_box_pack_start (GTK_BOX (GTK_DIALOG (window)->action_area),
                        entry, TRUE, TRUE, 0);

   gtk_widget_show(entry);    
   gtk_widget_show(window);  // you must show the window before sending the keypress event

   gtk_widget_grab_focus(entry);

   GdkEvent new_event;
   new_event.key.type = GDK_KEY_PRESS;
   new_event.key.window = gtk_widget_get_parent_window(entry);
   new_event.key.send_event = TRUE;
   new_event.key.time = GDK_CURRENT_TIME;
   new_event.key.keyval = 0x053; // capital S
   new_event.key.state = GDK_KEY_PRESS_MASK;
   new_event.key.length = 0;
   new_event.key.string = 0;
   new_event.key.hardware_keycode = 0;
   new_event.key.group = 0;

   gdk_event_put((gpointer)&new_event);

}

The only gotcha I saw with this is that your must show the dialog window before sending the keypress event.