org.eclipse.jface.text/src/org/eclipse/jface/text/contentassist/IContentAssistant.java

/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2000, 2007 IBM Corporation and others.
 *
 * This program and the accompanying materials
 * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
 * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
 * https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
 *
 * SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
 *
 * Contributors:
 *     IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation
 *******************************************************************************/
package org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist;

import org.eclipse.jface.text.ITextViewer;


/**
 * An <code>IContentAssistant</code> provides support on interactive content completion. The content
 * assistant is a {@link org.eclipse.jface.text.ITextViewer} add-on. Its purpose is to propose,
 * display, and insert completions of the content of the text viewer's document at the viewer's
 * cursor position. In addition to handle completions, a content assistant can also be requested to
 * provide context information. Context information is shown in a tool tip like popup. As it is not
 * always possible to determine the exact context at a given document offset, a content assistant
 * displays the possible contexts and requests the user to choose the one whose information should
 * be displayed.
 * <p>
 * A content assistant has a list of
 * {@link org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist.IContentAssistProcessor} objects each of which is
 * registered for a particular document content type. The content assistant uses the processors to
 * react on the request of completing documents or presenting context information.
 * </p>
 * <p>
 * In order to provide backward compatibility for clients of <code>IContentAssistant</code>,
 * extension interfaces are used to provide a means of evolution. The following extension interfaces
 * exist:
 * </p>
 * <ul>
 * <li>{@link org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist.IContentAssistantExtension} since version 3.0
 * introducing the following functions:
 * <ul>
 * <li>handle documents with multiple partitions</li>
 * <li>insertion of common completion prefixes</li>
 * </ul>
 * </li>
 * <li>{@link org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist.IContentAssistantExtension2} since version 3.2
 * introducing the following functions:
 * <ul>
 * <li>repeated invocation (cycling) mode</li>
 * <li>completion listeners</li>
 * <li>a local status line for the completion popup</li>
 * <li>control over the behavior when no proposals are available</li>
 * </ul>
 * </li>
 * <li>{@link org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist.IContentAssistantExtension3} since version 3.2
 * introducing the following function:
 * <ul>
 * <li>a key-sequence to listen for in repeated invocation mode</li>
 * </ul>
 * </li>
 * <li>{@link org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist.IContentAssistantExtension4} since version 3.4
 * introducing the following function:
 * <ul>
 * <li>allows to get a handler for the given command identifier</li>
 * </ul>
 * </li>
 * </ul>
 *
 * <p>
 * The interface can be implemented by clients. By default, clients use
 * {@link org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist.ContentAssistant} as the standard implementer of this
 * interface.
 * </p>
 *
 * @see org.eclipse.jface.text.ITextViewer
 * @see org.eclipse.jface.text.contentassist.IContentAssistProcessor
 */
 public interface IContentAssistant {

	//------ proposal popup orientation styles ------------
	/** The context info list will overlay the list of completion proposals. */
	public final static int PROPOSAL_OVERLAY= 10;
	/** The completion proposal list will be removed before the context info list will be shown. */
	public final static int PROPOSAL_REMOVE=  11;
	/** The context info list will be presented without hiding or overlapping the completion proposal list. */
	public final static int PROPOSAL_STACKED= 12;

	//------ context info box orientation styles ----------
	/** Context info will be shown above the location it has been requested for without hiding the location. */
	public final static int CONTEXT_INFO_ABOVE= 20;
	/** Context info will be shown below the location it has been requested for without hiding the location. */
	public final static int CONTEXT_INFO_BELOW= 21;


	/**
	 * Installs content assist support on the given text viewer.
	 *
	 * @param textViewer the text viewer on which content assist will work
	 */
	void install(ITextViewer textViewer);

	/**
	 * Uninstalls content assist support from the text viewer it has
	 * previously be installed on.
	 */
	void uninstall();

	/**
	 * Shows all possible completions of the content at the viewer's cursor position.
	 *
	 * @return an optional error message if no proposals can be computed
	 */
	String showPossibleCompletions();

	/**
	 * Shows context information for the content at the viewer's cursor position.
	 *
	 * @return an optional error message if no context information can be computed
	 */
	String showContextInformation();

	/**
	 * Returns the content assist processor to be used for the given content type.
	 *
	 * @param contentType the type of the content for which this
	 *        content assistant is to be requested
	 * @return an instance content assist processor or
	 *         <code>null</code> if none exists for the specified content type
	 */
	IContentAssistProcessor getContentAssistProcessor(String contentType);
}