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| <!DOCTYPE concept PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Concept//EN" | |
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| <concept id="csrcedt006" xml:lang="en-us"> | |
| <title>Content assist</title> | |
| <shortdesc>Content assist helps you insert or finish a tag or function or | |
| finish a line of code in a structured text editor. The placement of the cursor | |
| in the source file provides the context for the content assist to offer suggestions | |
| for completion.</shortdesc> | |
| <prolog><metadata> | |
| <keywords><indexterm>content assistance<indexterm>overview</indexterm></indexterm> | |
| <indexterm>structured text editors<indexterm>content assistance</indexterm></indexterm> | |
| </keywords> | |
| </metadata></prolog> | |
| <conbody> | |
| <p>Most of the structured text editors have content assist. For a list of | |
| editors that have content assist, see <xref href="csrcedt004.dita" type="concept">Structured | |
| text editors for markup languages</xref>. For information on how to get content | |
| assistance, see <xref href="tsrcedt005.dita" type="task">Getting content assistance | |
| in structured text editors</xref></p> | |
| <p>The sections below describe specifics of HTML content assist, <tm tmclass="special" | |
| tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." tmtype="tm" trademark="JavaScript">JavaScript</tm> content | |
| assist, and JSP content assist.</p> | |
| <section><title>HTML content assist</title><p>HTML is flexible in that some | |
| HTML elements allow end tags to be optionally omitted, such as <codeph>P</codeph>, <codeph>DT</codeph>, <codeph>DD</codeph>, <codeph>LI</codeph>, <codeph | |
| >THEAD</codeph>, <codeph>TR</codeph>, <codeph>TD</codeph>, <codeph>TH</codeph>, | |
| and so on. Other HTML elements that are defined to have no content may require | |
| the end tag always be omitted, such as <codeph>BR</codeph>, <codeph>HR</codeph>, <codeph>LINK</codeph>, <codeph>META</codeph>, | |
| and <codeph>IMG</codeph>. This flexibility makes the content assist function | |
| within the HTML source page editor less precise than it might be with a more | |
| rigidly constrained markup language.</p><p>HTML content assist is most beneficial | |
| when you need to complete a tag name, add an attribute name-value pair within | |
| a start tag, or select from an enumerated list of attribute values.</p><p>Although | |
| content assist only shows attribute names that have not already been specified | |
| in a start tag, it does not take into account grammar constraints for tags. | |
| For example, the <codeph>HEAD</codeph> element in HTML only permits zero or | |
| one occurrences of a <codeph>TITLE</codeph> tag in its content. If you prompt | |
| for content assist within a <codeph>HEAD</codeph> content that already contains | |
| a <codeph>TITLE</codeph> tag, content assist will still show <codeph>TITLE</codeph> in | |
| its proposal list.</p><p>However, if an attribute is required according to | |
| the DTD/Schema, that attribute will show up at the top of the list, with a | |
| yellow circle indicator on its icon.</p><p>If your cursor is in a position | |
| where content assist is available, a pop-up list of available choices is displayed. | |
| The list is based on the context. For example, if you use content assist directly | |
| after an opening paragraph tag (<codeph><p></codeph>) , the first item | |
| in the content assist list will be the corresponding closing paragraph (<codeph></p></codeph>) | |
| tag.</p><p>The content assist list displays all available tags for the current | |
| cursor position, including templates. The picture below shows the default | |
| content assist list for a paragraph tag example:<image alt="HTML Content assist" | |
| href="../images/ncontass.gif" placement="break"></image></p><p>Tag proposals | |
| are listed alphabetically. If you type a <codeph><</codeph> (to begin a | |
| new tag) before prompting for content assist, and begin typing the first one | |
| or two letters of the tag that you want to add, the proposal list automatically | |
| refreshes to reflect proposals that match the pattern you have typed. If you | |
| do not type a <codeph><</codeph> before prompting for content assist, you | |
| can click within the proposal list and then type the letter that the tag begins | |
| with, to reduce (somewhat) the amount of scrolling to locate the desired tag.</p><p>As | |
| you type the first one or two letters of the attribute names or enumerated | |
| attribute values that you want to add to a tag, the list automatically refreshes | |
| to reflect proposals that match the pattern you have typed.</p><note type="restriction"><image | |
| alt="For Linux." href="../images/nlinux.gif"></image> When using Linux (Motif | |
| or GTK) and a DBCS locale, double-clicking on the content assist list can | |
| sometimes cause the <tm tmclass="special" tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." | |
| tmtype="tm" trademark="Java">Java</tm> VM to terminate. Instead of double-clicking | |
| on the list, use the arrows and Enter keys to make the selection from the | |
| list.</note></section> | |
| <section><title><tm tmclass="special" tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." tmtype="tm" | |
| trademark="JavaScript">JavaScript</tm> content assist</title><p>Items in the <tm | |
| tmclass="special" tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." tmtype="tm" trademark="JavaScript">JavaScript</tm> content | |
| assist list are preceded by an Internet Explorer icon, a Netscape icon, or | |
| both, to indicate whether specific <tm tmclass="special" tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." | |
| tmtype="tm" trademark="JavaScript">JavaScript</tm> objects, methods, or functions | |
| are supported by one or both browsers. If the Internet Explorer icon is present, | |
| it indicates that the object, method, or function is supported by Internet | |
| Explorer Version 5.0 or higher. If the Netscape icon is present, it indicates | |
| that the object, method, or function is supported by Netscape Navigator Version | |
| 4.7 or higher. A question mark icon (<image alt="Question mark icon" href="../images/nquest.gif" | |
| placement="inline"></image>) in place of one of the browser icons indicates | |
| that it is unknown whether the browser supports the object, method, or function.</p><p>The | |
| picture below shows the default content assist list within a <tm tmclass="special" | |
| tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." tmtype="tm" trademark="JavaScript">JavaScript</tm> file:<image | |
| alt="JavaScript content assist" href="../images/njscdast.gif" placement="break"> | |
| </image></p><p>Code proposals are listed alphabetically. If you type a <codeph>. </codeph> (include | |
| the space) before prompting for content assist, and begin typing the first | |
| one or two letters of the code that you want to add, the proposal list automatically | |
| refreshes to reflect proposals that match the pattern you have typed, to reduce | |
| (somewhat) the amount of scrolling to locate the desired code.</p></section> | |
| <section><title>JSP content assist</title><p>You have many options for embedding <tm | |
| tmclass="special" tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." tmtype="tm" trademark="Java">Java</tm> and | |
| HTML code in your JSP pages by using content assist.</p><p>All of the JSP | |
| tags are included both in the template list and in XML format (for example, <codeph><jsp:expression></codeph>). | |
| To add JSP scriptlet tags, for example, move the cursor to the appropriate | |
| position in the file and press Ctrl+Space to use content assist. Select <image | |
| alt="JSP scriptlet content assist" href="../images/nmacscrp.gif" placement="inline"> | |
| </image> from the proposal list to insert <codeph><% %></codeph> in the | |
| document.</p><p>Scriptlets are inserted in a tag <codeph><% %></codeph>. | |
| For example: <codeblock><% System.currentTimeMillis() %></codeblock></p><p>This | |
| example will evaluate the <tm tmclass="special" tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." | |
| tmtype="tm" trademark="Java">Java</tm> statement to get the current time in | |
| milliseconds.</p><p>To have the result of the statement inserted in the file, | |
| put an equals sign (=) in the front of the statement. For example: <codeblock><b>This is the time : <%= System.currentTimeMillis()%></b></codeblock | |
| ></p><p>When you are within a scriptlet you are writing pure <tm tmclass="special" | |
| tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." tmtype="tm" trademark="Java">Java</tm> code. | |
| Therefore, content assist works exactly the same as it does for the <tm tmclass="special" | |
| tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." tmtype="tm" trademark="Java">Java</tm> editor. | |
| For example, if you request content assist after <codeph>System</codeph>, | |
| content assist displays a list of methods. <note><tm tmclass="special" tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." | |
| tmtype="tm" trademark="Java">Java</tm> content assist works only in a Web | |
| project, because it requires a buildpath to find the appropriate <tm tmclass="special" | |
| tmowner="Sun Microsystems, Inc." tmtype="tm" trademark="Java">Java</tm> classes.</note></p><p>There | |
| are also special tags such as useBean. For example: <codeblock><jsp:useBean id="useBean" class="java.lang.String"/></codeblock></p><p>The | |
| useBean tag enables you to create a bean called <codeph>aString</codeph> of | |
| type <codeph>String</codeph>. Then when you use content assist, this is recognized | |
| as a declared variable. For example, if you use content assist after <codeph>aString</codeph>, | |
| as follows:</p><p> <codeblock><% aString. %> </codeblock>the content assist | |
| list shows available methods. This is because <codeph>aString</codeph> has | |
| been declared as a bean of type String.</p><p>If you use content assist after | |
| the <codeph>a</codeph>, as follows: <codeblock><% a %> </codeblock>content | |
| assist knows that <codeph>aString</codeph> exists, and it is shown in the | |
| content assist list.</p></section> | |
| </conbody> | |
| <related-links> | |
| <linkpool type="concept"> | |
| <link href="csrcedt004.dita"><linktext>Structured text editors for markup | |
| languages</linktext></link> | |
| </linkpool> | |
| <linkpool type="task"> | |
| <link href="tsrcedt005.dita"><linktext>Getting content assistance in structured | |
| text editors</linktext></link> | |
| <link href="tsrcedt024.dita"><linktext>Adding and removing HTML templates</linktext> | |
| </link> | |
| </linkpool> | |
| </related-links> | |
| </concept> |