Autoindent missing?

Jane Whittaker

I’m new to NPP and need to stop autoindenting. My understanding is that I should be able to disable it from SETTINGS/PREFERENCES/MISC, but there is no Auto-Indent option to toggle there. I’m using v7.8.5 and just downloaded it this morning, so I think it should be the most recent version. This is what I’m seeing on my screen. Am I missing it someplace? Is it called something else? Thanks.

PeterJones

in v7.8.5, that option is in the auto-completion page (not sure why)

Alan Kilborn

This post is deleted!

PeterJones

Did some research: it was changed in v7.8.3 (the January 2020 release), with PR#7885 – unfortunately, that didn’t give a “why”, just an “it happened”.

That new location doesn’t make sense to me, since auto-indent and auto-completion have nothing in common but the first five characters (auto-) in English.

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones

Maybe the blue box on the left should have been changed to say Auto-... things

PeterJones

@Alan-Kilborn ,

@PeterJones

Maybe the blue box on the left should have been changed to say Auto-... things

Hehe. Probably not going to happen (and not the most user-friendly phrasing, either).

For now, I’m working on an PR for the documentation. (It’s hard to keep documentation up-to-date when no one notifies the documentation team that a dialog has changed. sigh I’m going through the other preference screens, to make sure they didn’t sneak anything else in.)

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones said in Autoindent missing?:

and not the most user-friendly phrasing, either)

:-(

Well, I implemented it for me and only me:

PeterJones

@Alan-Kilborn said in Autoindent missing?:

@PeterJones said in Autoindent missing?:

and not the most user-friendly phrasing, either)

:-(

Okay, maybe my phrasing wasn’t the nicest. Sorry. I think for non-native speakers, that isn’t the most clear. It’s more confusing to have it as it currently is, with Auto-indent settings on the Auto-completion page, but so it goes.

Well, I implemented it for me and only me:

:-)

@PeterJones said in Autoindent missing?:

I’m working on an PR for the documentation

submitted PR#77: Should be in the master with a week (depending on how long it takes to be reviewed). It will be in the next release of GitHub->website that Don makes after that (probably within a week of the next Notepad++ release – at least, that seems to be his documentation-release cycle… which means, I really need to get better at checking for potential documentation changes immediately after the RC1 and/or final version release)

[edits] rephrased and re-paragraphed a couple times. I wish the preview window were could be made wider, not just taller… [/edits]

PeterJones

@PeterJones said in Autoindent missing?:

that didn’t give a “why”, just an “it happened”.

After more research, while doing the PR#77, I at least saw that in v7.8.1, the SQL backslash option was moved to the Languages section, and the Monospaced Find font option was added to MISC; similarly, in v7.8.3, the Auto-indent setting was moved from MISC to Auto-completion section, and the Don’t Fill Find Field option was added to the MISC settings. This leads me to conclude that there was no more physical space for options on the MISC section, so they were moved to the “next best” location. (I think the SQL-backslash goes well in the Languages page; the Auto-indent might go better on General or Editing, but both of those look full, too.)

Alan Kilborn

This post is deleted!

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones and others:

Regardless of where things are, the NppMenuSearch plugin reveals all.

Example when searching with it for “auto”:

Example when looking for “indent”:

guy038

Hello, @jane-whittaker, @peterjones, @alan-kilborn and All,

Regarding the absence of the Auto-indent option in the Settings > Preferences.. > MISC menu, I suppose it’s because of the addition of the option Don't fill find field in Find dialog with selected word and of the resulting lack of space, in this dialog !

Now, I do think that the addition of the Auto-indent option, in the Settings > Preferences.. > Auto-Completion menu, is justified, although I admit that the name of the heading should be modified !

Indeed, what are the common characteristics of the Auto-Indent, Auto-Completion and Auto-Insert mechanisms ? Well, in each of them, N++ automatically inserts character(s)/word(s) in your active document !

Rigorously, these features could also be named :

Blank Chars Completion ( instead of Auto-indent )
Code/Word Completion ( instead of Auto-Completion )
Delimiters completion ( instead of Auto-Insert )

Thus, the heading name should simply be renamed as Completion ( instead of Auto-Completion )

Since American/English is not my mother tongue, what is your feelings about it ?

Best Regards,

guy038

Alan Kilborn

On the topic of some of the Preference areas becoming “too full”:

It sure seems like we are getting to the point where “Find” could be its own area in the Preferences:

move “Used monospaced font in Find dialog” there
move “Don’t fill find field in Find dialog with selected word” there
possibly even move the “Smart Highlighting” items there as well, as they are somewhat find-related

If there were such a “Find” area, it would leave open the possibility for making “Find” even more pref-configurable!

Jane Whittaker

@PeterJones
Many thanks for this!