<cat>Dev.Game</cat> # Auto-Complete Auto-complete suggests possible continuations for commands users are typing into their console. This mechanic not only simplifies using commands but also teaches users how they can use them. <br/> ## Completion Function Commands registered with [`concommand.Add`][Register Command] can be supplied with an auto-completion function. ```Lua concommand.Add('my-command',onCommand,onAutoComplete) ``` This function can return an array of suggestions. ```Lua local function onAutoComplete () return { 'my-command OptionA' , 'my-command OptionB' } end ``` The suggestions will be displayed below the input. ![MyCommand OptionA&B] <br/> ### Parameters The completion function also receives 2 parameters that allow you to return more context aware suggestions. ```Lua function onAutoComplete ( command , parameters ) ``` `command` : [String] Name of the command that called the auto-completion function. `parameters` : [String] Anything written behind the commands itself. <note> As command names aren't case-sensitive, the `command` parameter can have any case ( `mY-CoMMaND` ) and should be normalized when used with lookup tables. </note> <note> The auto-completion function is only called if at least 1 character has been written after the command's name, as such `parameters` will always start with a space character. </note> <br/> #### Input Examples ![Input Basic] ```Markdown command : `my-command` parameters : ` ` ``` ![Input Extended] ```Markdown command : `my-command` parameters : ` is useful` ``` <br/> #### Use Cases The `command` parameter can be used to substitude the commands name. ```Lua local function onAutoComplete ( command ) return { command .. ' ' .. 'option' } end ``` The `parameters` string can be process & used for nested suggestions. ```Lua local function onAutoComplete ( command , parameters ) -- Normalizes the string parameters = parameters:Trim():lower() -- Splits the string into an array parameters = string.Explode('%s+',parameters,true) if parameters[ 1 ] == 'is' then return { command .. ' is useful' } end if parameters[ 1 ] == 'was' then return { command .. ' was broken' } end return { command .. ' ' .. 'was' , command .. ' ' .. 'is' } end ``` Only typing the command suggests two possible sub-commands. ![Parameters None] Adding the `was` sub-command displays only options specific to it. ![Parameters Was] Adding the `is` sub-command displays only options specific to it. ![Parameters Is] <br/> ## Examples ### Bot Name List Suggests bot player names based on the current input. ```Lua -- Finds all bot names that match the current input local function matchingBotNames ( input ) local names = {} local bots = player.GetBots() for _ , bot in ipairs(bots) do local name = bot:Nick() if name:lower():find(input) then table.insert(names,name) end end return names end local function onAutoComplete ( command , input ) -- Normalizes the string input = input:Trim():lower() -- Wrap the bot names as suggestions local suggestions = {} local names = matchingBotNames(input) for _ , name in ipairs(names) do local suggestion = command .. ' "' .. name .. '"' table.insert(suggestions,suggestion) end return suggestions end local function onCommand () end concommand.Add( 'bot-command' , onCommand , onAutoComplete ) ``` Spawn some bot players with the `bot` command. ![Names Bots] Their names will be suggested as follows. ![Names Command] <br/> ## Console command replication Console commands are not replicated. If you'd like to replicate a console command, you'll have to use <page>Global.AddCSLuaFile</page>, or create custom behavior on both the server & the client. Special thanks to old-time contributors for the images. The code was written by shawnjbragdon. [MyCommand OptionA&B]: https://files.facepunch.com/wiki/files/b5604/8dc50ee732dcd4b.png [Register Command]: https://wiki.facepunch.com/gmod/concommand.Add [Register Command]: /gmod/concommand.Add [Input Extended]: https://files.facepunch.com/wiki/files/b5604/8dc50f193f3e756.png [Input Basic]: https://files.facepunch.com/wiki/files/b5604/8dc50f17fc22663.png [Parameters None]: https://files.facepunch.com/wiki/files/b5604/8dc50f9dbd184a4.png [Parameters Was]: https://files.facepunch.com/wiki/files/b5604/8dc50f9f4a47a0e.png [Parameters Is]: https://files.facepunch.com/wiki/files/b5604/8dc50f9fe248845.png [Names Command]: https://files.facepunch.com/wiki/files/b5604/8dc5103cec1b54a.png [Names Bots]: https://files.facepunch.com/wiki/files/b5604/8dc5104416b723d.png [String]: https://wiki.facepunch.com/gmod/string [String]: /gmod/string