Tab key ignores empty autocomplete

[idea4IT]

Hi guys,

 

In order to implement a "Back" button in my workflow, I've tried to use an item with an empty autocomplete attribute.

Unfortunately, Alfred seems to just ignore these kind of items instead of applying the empty attribute.

 

Here's an example:

Alfred value: "gmail INBOX"

Item selected: "Back" with empty autocomplete attribute

 

Expected behavior:

Alfred value changed to: "gmail "

 

Current behavior:

Alfred value: "gmail INBOX" -> nothing happens

 

Alfred version & build number: v2.5.1 (308)

OS X version: Yosemite 10.10

 

Is there a good reason why Alfred ignores this?

 

 

Cheers,

Fabio

[Andrew]

 

Hi guys,

 

In order to implement a "Back" button in my workflow, I've tried to use an item with an empty autocomplete attribute.

Unfortunately, Alfred seems to just ignore these kind of items instead of applying the empty attribute.

 

Here's an example:

Alfred value: "gmail INBOX"

Item selected: "Back" with empty autocomplete attribute

 

Expected behavior:

Alfred value changed to: "gmail "

 

Current behavior:

Alfred value: "gmail INBOX" -> nothing happens

 

Alfred version & build number: v2.5.1 (308)

OS X version: Yosemite 10.10

 

Is there a good reason why Alfred ignores this?

 

 

Cheers,

Fabio

 

 

Sorry about the slow reply on this... I'm going to have to do a bit of analysis to see what's going on here. Essentially, tab auto-complete only forward completes, not backwards which is why an empty auto complete is treated as ignored.

 

I am going to look into treating empty and nil differently to see if I can allow empty autocompletes to clear out a field.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[deanishe]

This would be a pretty cool feature.

 

In fact, I'd like to see a standard keyboard shortcut for "clear query, but leave keyword".

 

Admittedly, ALT+BACKSPACE (delete last word) usually works, but it'd be cool to have, say, CTRL+BACKSPACE assigned in Alfred to "delete to keyword".

[Andrew]

This would be a pretty cool feature.

 

In fact, I'd like to see a standard keyboard shortcut for "clear query, but leave keyword".

 

Admittedly, ALT+BACKSPACE (delete last word) usually works, but it'd be cool to have, say, CTRL+BACKSPACE assigned in Alfred to "delete to keyword".

 

That's a good idea! I've added a note

[Andrew]

 

Hi guys,

 

In order to implement a "Back" button in my workflow, I've tried to use an item with an empty autocomplete attribute.

Unfortunately, Alfred seems to just ignore these kind of items instead of applying the empty attribute.

 

Here's an example:

Alfred value: "gmail INBOX"

Item selected: "Back" with empty autocomplete attribute

 

Expected behavior:

Alfred value changed to: "gmail "

 

Current behavior:

Alfred value: "gmail INBOX" -> nothing happens

 

Alfred version & build number: v2.5.1 (308)

OS X version: Yosemite 10.10

 

Is there a good reason why Alfred ignores this?

 

 

Cheers,

Fabio

 

 

I've just been playing with this a bit, and it works as originally intended. If you leave out the autocomplete flag, autocomplete is ignored. If you set autocomplete to "" then it clears it back to just the keyword when you try to autocomplete.

 

Can you show me the XML you are having an issue with?

 

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[moving to investigating]

[deanishe]

I suspect it's due to the way Alfred-Workflow (on which I think the Gmail workflow is based) works.

 

If autocomplete is an empty string, it doesn't add the autocomplete attribute.

 

Have you tried changing Alfred-Workflow's behaviour, Fabio?

Edited December 22, 2014 by deanishe

[deanishe]

Had a wee poke around, and I'm pretty sure it's Alfred-Workflow's "fault".

 

I've been testing what happens when various elements/attributes are set to empty strings and the behaviour is a little unpredictable.

 

@Fabio: What do you think Alfred-Workflow should do if handed empty strings?

[idea4IT]

Sorry Andrew for not checking it myself.

I think this can be closed now. Thanks!

 

Happy holidays