AceTab-3.0

AceTab-3.0 provides support for tab-completion in chat edit boxes. It lets you register sets of completions that fire when the user presses Tab in a monitored EditBox, optionally gated behind a "prematch" precondition string, with support for cycling through multiple matches, usage statements, and post-processing of matched words.

API Reference

RegisterTabCompletion

method#

AceTab:RegisterTabCompletion(descriptor, prematches, wordlist, usagefunc?, listenframes?, postfunc?, pmoverwrite?)

Register a tab completion set.

Once registered, pressing Tab in any monitored EditBox will attempt to complete the word before the cursor against the provided wordlist (subject to the prematches precondition, if any). If multiple completions match, the entered text is replaced with the greatest common substring of all matches, and repeated Tab presses cycle through the individual matches.

local AceTab = LibStub("AceTab-3.0")

local greetings = { "hello", "howdy", "hey", "heya" }

-- Complete words that follow "greet " typed in a chat edit box.
AceTab:RegisterTabCompletion("MyGreetings", "greet ", greetings)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
descriptor	string		Unique identifier for this tab completion set.
prematches	string | table | nil		The string match(es) AFTER which this tab completion applies; AceTab ignores tabs not preceded by the string(s). If nil (or an empty string), the set is treated as a fallback that only applies when no more-specific completion has a match.
wordlist	function | table		A table of candidate completion strings, or a function that is passed a table to fill with candidate strings. The function also receives the full editbox text, the start position of the word being completed, and the uncompleted partial word as its second, third, and fourth arguments (for pre-filtering or conditional formatting).
usagefunc (optional)	function | boolean		Usage statement function. Defaults to printing the wordlist, one entry per line. A boolean true squelches usage output.
listenframes (optional)	string | table		The EditFrame(s) to monitor, given as frame references or frame names. Defaults to the chat frame edit boxes (ChatFrame1EditBox … ChatFrameNEditBox).
postfunc (optional)	function		Post-processing function applied to each match after it has been identified, producing the displayed/inserted form of the match.
pmoverwrite (optional)	boolean | number		Offsets the beginning of the inserted completion to overwrite part of the prematch. Boolean true overwrites the entire prematch string; a number overwrites that many characters before the cursor. Useful when the prematch is an indicator character you don't want to keep.

Example

-- Using a wordlist function for dynamic candidates.
AceTab:RegisterTabCompletion("MyPlayers", "to ", function(candidates, fulltext, wordStart, partial)
    for name in pairs(myRosterTable) do
        candidates[#candidates + 1] = name
    end
end)

IsTabCompletionRegistered

method#

AceTab:IsTabCompletionRegistered(descriptor)

Check whether a tab completion set has been registered under the given descriptor.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
descriptor	string		The unique identifier used at registration.

Returns

Type	Description
table | nil	The stored registry entry for the descriptor (a truthy value) if registered, otherwise nil.

UnregisterTabCompletion

method#

AceTab:UnregisterTabCompletion(descriptor)

Remove a previously registered tab completion set. Clears the descriptor's registry entry along with its internal prematch-overwrite, fallback, and non-fallback bookkeeping.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
descriptor	string		The unique identifier used at registration.

OnTabPressed

callback#

AceTab:OnTabPressed(editbox)

Internal handler invoked when Tab is pressed in a monitored EditBox; it builds matches, performs insertion, and drives match cycling. AceTab hooks this onto the relevant frame scripts automatically when you register a completion, so addons normally do not call it directly.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
editbox	table		The EditBox in which Tab was pressed. (Named this in the source, after the legacy WoW convention for the frame in a script handler.)

Returns

Type	Description
boolean | nil	True to let the default/original Tab handling proceed (e.g. when there is no text or a completion could not be applied); otherwise nothing, indicating AceTab handled the key.