Reference fields autocomplete – feature suggestion

[tonywatkins]

Autocompletion of reference fields is wonderful. However, there is one thing about it with respect to keywords that I find frustrating. Many of my keywords have multiple words, and the first words may well be the same as for other keywords. In particular, I have something of a hierarchical structure with a subcategory following a /. For example, I have "Theology" as a general category and 15 subcategories which start "Theology /". I can only use autocomplete with these if I type as far as the beginning of the subcategory word after the slash. If I press the right arrow to autocomplete "Theology", I then have to manually type the rest of the keyword (or delete back until Bookends identifies possible alternative keywords and offers to autocomplete again). Obviously, I don't expect to complete an entry with TAB or ENTER as that would take me to a new field or a new line. But it would be really nice if I could use the right arrow to complete the first word and then the autocomplete suggestions kicked in again.

[Jon]

Did you know that you can scroll through the list of terms that begin with the letter you have typed by pressing the up and down arrows?

Jon
Sonny Software

[tonywatkins]

Oh! No, I didn't realise. Never occurred to me to try that. Thanks!

[tonywatkins]

This is very useful! Thanks again for pointing it out, Jon. I have just run into an issue with it, though. At first I can only use the up arrow to start scrolling through keywords that have the same beginning as I've just entered, which makes sense, and I can subsequently use the down arrow. However, if I have already used one of the matching keywords, I can't scroll beyond it. An example may help to clarify what I mean:

If I enter "Theology / Cultural Theology" into my keywords field, but then want to enter "Theology / Systematic Theology" as well, I can start typing "Theo . . . " and the first match is suggested. However, I can only scroll as far as "Theology / Cultural Theology". To be able to scroll to "Theology / Systematic Theology", I need to enter text as far as "Theology / S . . . " This may well be the intended behaviour, but it surprised me, so thought I'd mention it.

[Jon]

Yes, that's how it would work. BTW, in case you didn't know, another possibility for rapid entry of complex terms is to keep open the Keyword Term List window. You can scroll through that, or use the filter, and quickly insert terms by drag and drop or right-clicking.

Jon
Sonny Software

[tonywatkins]

Ah, yes. I'd forgotten all about that. It's one of those (probably many!) things that I knew about at the start of my time using Bookends, but which weren't obviously useful with a small database. Now it's large with complex keywords, it would very much come into its own. Many thanks!