select-on-multiple-characters

Arguments: item-list

Returns the value of the select-on-multiple-characters property of an item-list (that is a single-item-list, or a multi-item-list) or an outline control. The value may be specified at creation time by passing the select-on-multiple-characters initarg to make-instance, or any time later by calling (setf select-on-multiple-characters).

This property provides an alternate way to select a value in an item-list or outline with the keyboard, where the user can type the first few characters of the value to select rather than the first character only. The value may be nil or true.

If the value is nil, which is the default, then the widget has the usual keyboard behavior where typing a character will always move to the next value in the list that begins with that character. If there are many values that begin with the same character, then the only way to select some of those values is to type that first character many times.

If the value is true, then the user can type additional characters beyond the first one in the string to be selected. As each additional character is typed, the first value that matches all characters that have been typed so far will be selected.

The associated property select-on-multiple-characters-time-limit specifies how many milliseconds must elapse after a keystroke for the substring that's being typed to be reset. To search for a different string just after another search, the user must wait that amount of time before typing a new sequence of characters.

For outline controls only: this property has an effect only when the select-on-typing property is true. When enabled, the user can press the Backspace key or Control-H to remove characters from the search string. The user can jump to additional matches by typing Shift-Space, or by pressing Enter if there is no default-button on the parent window. To be notified as the user types each character (also for an outline control only), see select-on-multiple-characters-callback. To skip some matching outline items, see select-on-multiple-characters-item-test.

This property is nil by default, mostly for backward compatibility.

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This page was not revised from the 9.0 page.
Created 2015.5.21.