Eclipse Ganymede - keeps autoselecting function name as I type!

[Eli Wood]

This is really annoying. Tried google but didn't know the correct search terms.

Basically as I type out a function, for example:

public String test(){return "";}

Eclipse keeps trying to highlight/auto-select function name (in this case the word "test"). So if I'm being thoughtful or considering a problem and not typing very fast, I end up having to wait, then use the arrow keys to change the focus back where I want it so I don't type over my function name repeatedly.

Anybody know how to fix this?

Thanks for your help and consideration.

[Ilja Preuss]

I have never seen this happening. Sounds mysterious to me...

[Campbell Ritchie]

You must have the autocomplete on. It usually works after a . ; that produces a drop-down list of possible choices. I usually find that continuing to type will narrow the choices. There is bound to be a way of turning it off, but since that is a common IDE feature, I usually leave it on, so I don't know how to disable it.

Sorry.

[Paul Clapham]

No, originally I thought that Eli was describing autocomplete, but that isn't it. Autocomplete in Ganymede annoys me sometimes, especially when my machine is overloaded, but I find that deliberately misspelling a method name and then backspacing to correct it will make the autocompletion function go away.

[Eli Wood]

Yeah, this is different than autocomplete. I've tried turning off some of the Automatically close options under java->typing and auto-activation under java->content assist and neither really helped.

Good to know (well, not that good to know) I'm not the only one baffled by this. It seems to go away (sometimes) after restarting Eclipse. But then it comes back later.

I think it has something to do with the validation/syntax checking, only instead of just highlighting the error (the error would be that my function declaration isn't complete, as I haven't fully typed it, or doesn't return the correct type) it's actually going ahead and selecting it.

I get the feeling this will end with me going with the path of least resistance typing out my functions in a convoluted mostly-backward way as soon as I can find a pattern that fully avoids this issue.

[Roger Henderson]

I have the same problem - eclipse wanting to select the method name when I make a change anything in the method 'signature'.

I've also had this sometimes happen when typing within the method body. Damn annoying!!

I'm using Rational Application Developer which is based on eclipse 3.2

If anyone can point us at a setting somewhere that would be great!

Roger

[Marcel Dullaart]

Hi
I have seen this quite annoying issue as well on Ganymede!
It just seems to pop-up every now and then. And it goes away, but I cannot pin point (yet) what causes this.

[Craig Harrison]

I too have been frustrated for days with this but think I may have a solution.

In the Project Explorer/Navigator there is an icon with two horizontal arrows pointing in opposite directions - "Link open editors with content..." - that if enabled navigates to the current file on the Project Explorer window. De-selected that option and the auto-selecting annoyance goes away.

The obvious down side is that the linking feature is then disabled...

[Carl Pritchett]

I had this happen on Eclipse 3.3 - method names were selected (and highlighted in grey) after a shory delay in typing, then the next key press would overwrite the method name.

I tried many pref changes to no avail. Also turning off "Link open editors with content..." did not fix the issue.

I closed all files and restarted Eclipse and the issue went away. So it seems to be a sporadic bug.

Regards,
Carl.

[Jesper de Jong]

Are you talking about the feature "Mark Occurrences"? There's a button on the toolbar to toggle this, or you can use the key combination Alt+Shift+O.

[Carl Pritchett]

Are you talking about the feature "Mark Occurrences"?

It's definately not mark occurrences - it does more than just highlight the method / member name - it also "selects" it - causing a pause in typing to overwrite what you just typed.

I turned of mark occurrences and it still happens. It's happened twice for me in one day.

The only new things I've done is started a new Dynamic Web Project and installed Cypal Studio for GWT development. Any one else added this facet?

Carl.

[Vladimer Shioshvili]

Don't know about others but Craig Harrison's suggestion worked for me (I'm using Eclipse 3.4.1) - as a result i will be cursing less while typing these days. Thanks!

[Scott Reed]

This appears to be fixed in 3.4.2 so you can go back to having the content linked with the navigator and not have the editor selecting it's own text while you are typing. Enjoy!

[Ricky Long]

On Project Explorer, if you minimize the class to hide the methods, then the problem goes away. You still can have both "Toggle Mark Occurrence" and "Link editor with Explorer" selected. Not a solution, but at least a way to avoid getting annoyed.

[Anupam Jain]

Ricky Long wrote:On Project Explorer, if you minimize the class to hide the methods, then the problem goes away. You still can have both "Toggle Mark Occurrence" and "Link editor with Explorer" selected. Not a solution, but at least a way to avoid getting annoyed.

Yup.. Ricky's solution worked for me... and no need to disable the linking arrows (Really useful for me)