AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

A forum for AmigaOne XE and MicroA1-C specific issues.
Post Reply
User avatar
saimo
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:37 pm
Contact:

AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

Post by saimo »

I have noticed a few minor defects in AOS 4.1 FE that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere, so I have decided to report them. Eventually I went for separate threads to avoid confusion.
If the problem described below is already discussed elsewhere, please feel free to just point me to the right place. Thanks.

My system:
* A1 XE G4
* 512 MB RAM
* Radeon 9000 with 64 MB RAM
* SoundBlaster Live!
* IDE HD on a1ide.device (normally turned off at the beginning of the startup-sequence)
* SATA SDD on Sil5312ide.device
* all partitions formatted with SFS/00

Probably this is not really a bug, but still very annoying.
The completion popup list is almost always unnecessarily short, thus making it necessary to scroll to see the hidden entries. By "unnecessarily" I mean that its height is greatly limited even when there is lots of available space:

Here is an example (to avoid posting a large image I have cropped the screenshot, but there was also the rest of the 1920x1080 screen available:

Image

This example makes it even more obvious: I created 3 files so that there would be just 3 entries, and then tested the popuplist, which ended up displaying only 2 of the 3 results.

Image
User avatar
tonyw
AmigaOS Core Developer
AmigaOS Core Developer
Posts: 1479
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 1:36 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

Post by tonyw »

The popup completion list should be about one-third the height of the screen. This allows it to appear above, in line with, or below the current line.

The popup completion list can overlap the top, bottom or both edges of the console window.

What sort of theme are you using? Can you try switching off the theme and just using the default GUI?

What font are you using? What font size? The spacing of the lines of test in the popup window should be the same as in the console window. It seems they are not using the same font.

I've had problems in the past with themes that somehow give problems, but once they were regenerated, the problems disappeared.
cheers
tony
User avatar
saimo
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:37 pm
Contact:

Re: AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

Post by saimo »

I'm using a theme of my own, a very basic one. If you want, I can pass it to you (or anyone else) for testing.

My fonts setup (nothing fancy, and even simpler and more regular than the default theme setup):
* Workbench icon font: DejaVu Sans/15
* Drawer icon font: DejaVu Sans/15
* Drawer text font: DejaVu Sans Mono/15
* System default font: DejaVu Sans Mono/15
* Screen font: DejaVu Sans/15

The font used by both the shell and the completion list is DejaVu Sans Mono/15. The spacing of the popup list differs from the shell's (as shown in the examples in my initial post).

With the default theme, the 3-item test case gives a good result (same spacing):

Image

However, if I use the default theme font settings with my theme, the result is still affected by the same problems (different spacing and short list). Therefore, this is not related to the fonts setup.

Since there is nothing in the GUI/Console preferences related to this sort of spacing, it seems that, at best, the console is making some guess according to some unrelated parameter (at worst, it would be just a bug). I'll try to fiddle with the GUI preferences to find out which parameter that might be (if any). But the point is that, of course, the behaviour should be correct regardless of the theme.
BTW, I'm not sure what you mean by "regenerated", but maybe this is related to that: I have saved this theme I'm using with the current GUI preferences program.

Regarding the maximum height and the alignment of the list...

I have made some other tests and measured the maximum height of the list, and I confirm that it is about 1/3 of the screen height. However, I have to admit I fail to see the logic there, as, regardless of the list height, it is always possible to align one of its lines to the shell line.
I have made a few tests to understand the currently implemented logic, which seems to be the following:
* if there is enough room below, the list is aligned 2 lines above the shell line (like in the image above);
* if there is not enough room below, the bottom of the list is aligned two lines above, as shown in the picture below.

Image

I must say that such logic isn't (heh) too logical, nor user-friendly. nor good-looking.

Here's a suggestion for a better logic:
a. align tentatively the topmost (and initially selected) item of list with the shell line;
b. if a. is not possible because there is not enough room below, align the bottom of the list with the bottom of the screen, with a minor upward correction so that the list text is aligned perfectly with the shell text.

Point a. mockup:

Image

Point b. mockup:

Image

(Note: to make it really clear, I finally got around to change the prompt color; in the previous screenshot I posted, the prompt is white, so hardly visible against the bright background).

Also, it would be great if the user could specify a custom maximum percentage.

How about it? ;)
User avatar
tonyw
AmigaOS Core Developer
AmigaOS Core Developer
Posts: 1479
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 1:36 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

Post by tonyw »

The console generates the Shell display using the font selected in its Prefs, or (if that is blank), the System font.

The con-handler generates the popup window using the same font that the console is using. Neither accesses any of the GUI preferences.

I don't understand how the choice of a Theme can affect the console's reading of the font details. Perhaps you could PM me and send me your theme so that I can test it here?
cheers
tony
User avatar
saimo
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:37 pm
Contact:

Re: AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

Post by saimo »

Sure - the only problem is that I'll be able to do it only tomorrow afternoon/evening (sorry!).
User avatar
saimo
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:37 pm
Contact:

Re: AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

Post by saimo »

I couldn't find a way attach a file to a PM, so I thought I could just make the theme public and let more people fiddle with it... here it is.
Attachments
classimple II.lha
(22.78 KiB) Downloaded 1650 times
User avatar
tonyw
AmigaOS Core Developer
AmigaOS Core Developer
Posts: 1479
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 1:36 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

Post by tonyw »

Certainly I can reproduce your popup list problem when I "Try" that theme. The spacing of the list is quite different from that of the console itself.

I'll investigate it as soon as I can. At least I can make it happen, thanks for your help.

(edit)

I've raised BZ #9104 for this problem.
cheers
tony
User avatar
saimo
Posts: 94
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:37 pm
Contact:

Re: AOS 4.1 FE defect - shell completion list too short

Post by saimo »

tonyw wrote:Certainly I can reproduce your popup list problem when I "Try" that theme. The spacing of the list is quite different from that of the console itself.

I'll investigate it as soon as I can. At least I can make it happen, thanks for your help.
You're welcome!
I've raised BZ #9104 for this problem.
Nice, thanks!
Any chance to get also the positioning revised as well? :roll:
Post Reply