Can VS Code code completion be configured to accept a suggestion on punctuation?

Question

This question is particularly pointed at other C# devs coming over to TypeScript in VS Code.

I fell in love with the code completion in VS C#. To illustrate, say I'm trying to write:

console.log('hello')

Using C#, I would have:

1. type "con"
2. a list of suggestions would appear, probably starting with "console"
3. since that's highlighted and it's what I want, hitting "." will write out "sole." so now I have: console.
4. type "l", "log" is the first suggestion
5. type "(", now I have: console.log('')
6. cursor is now in the ''
7. type "hello"

Currently with my VS Code setup, the same thing can be achieved in JS/TS hitting tab each time I want to accept a suggestion. But just hitting the next punctuation to proceed was really nice and, if you forgive me for caring about it, "fun." I miss it. And there's no technical limitation of the languages that I know of that would prohibit this behavior.

Anyone know if there's any extension or setting available to enable this? Or else, where else this conversation may be occurring ?

Answer 1

One can implement this oneself using the macros extension. To do this:

1. Install the macros extension

2. Create a macro calling the acceptSelectedSuggestion action, then type .. Here's what my Settings.json looked like:

   {
       "editor.wordWrap": "on",
       "window.zoomLevel": 0,
       "git.enableSmartCommit": true,
       "macros": {
           "accept.": [
               "acceptSelectedSuggestion",
               {"command": "type", "args": {"text": "."}}
           ],
           "accept(": [
               "acceptSelectedSuggestion",
               {"command": "type", "args": {"text": "("}}
           ],        
           "accept=": [
               "acceptSelectedSuggestion",
               {"command": "type", "args": {"text": "="}}
           ]
       }
   }
   

3. Added each of these macros to a key binding in keybindings.json. My additional keybindings looked like:

   {
       "key": ".",
       "command": "macros.accept.",
       "when": "editorTextFocus && suggestWidgetVisible"
   },
   {
       "key": "shift+9",
       "command": "macros.accept(",
       "when": "editorTextFocus && suggestWidgetVisible"
   },
   {
       "key": "=",
       "command": "macros.accept=",
       "when": "editorTextFocus && suggestWidgetVisible"
   }
   

   This enables the classic VS C# completion behavior for these 3 specific follow-on keys. Any others I will think of can be added as I remember them.