Neovim incsearch highlighting tracking issue

[gelguy]

incsearch highlighting disappears or is sometimes wrong

• [All versions] Occurs when using wilder#popupmenu_renderer() when searching
• [Neovim 0.5] Occurs for both wilder#popupmenu_renderer() and wilder#wildmenu_renderer() when searching and the current window view changes (e.g. moves due to incsearch)

See neovim/neovim#14064
See neovim/neovim#12495 (outdated)

A workaround is to use wilder#wildmenu_renderer({'mode': 'statusline'}) for searching.

Update: the statusline workaround doesn't work for Neovim 0.6 nightly.

[Racle]

Changing mode doesn't work if you're using also scrollbar plugin (I'm using dstein64/nvim-scrollview and Neovim 0.5).

If file fits to screen, search highlighting works as intended (there is no scrollbar). If file is large and scrollbar becomes visible, wilder will break incsearch highlight.

Quickly way to test this out is to install scrollview and wilder, enable incsearch and try with small and large file.

[gelguy]

The underlying root cause for the case with the scrollbar plugin is the same (neovim/neovim#14064) .

An oversimplified explanation: when redrawing windows, highlights are invalidated in some cases. If the viewport does not change too much, the rendering doesn't invalidate the window so the highlights are kept. However, if the viewport changes too much, or if there is a floating window overlaying the window, the highlights are invalidated.

Edit: I've found a workaround for the nvim-scrollview. Note that it has to rebind / which may conflict with some other plugins.

nnoremap / :call WilderStart()<CR>

function! WilderStart()
  call wilder#start_from_normal_mode()
  ScrollViewDisable
  call feedkeys('/', 'n')
endfunction

autocmd CmdlineLeave * ScrollViewEnable

[tzachar]

I don't think this is related to nvim-scrollview. I encountered the same behavior, and am not using that plugin.
The problem usually arises when incsearch is enabled and searching for something not in the current viewport.
As you can see in the attached screen grab, for some reason the search reverts back to the previous searched for item on each key stroke.

b.t.w, I am using neovim nightly

[gelguy]

I updated the original issue just yesterday - the statusline workaround does not work for Neovim 0.6 nightly.

Unfortunately I don't have another workaround for this.

[tzachar]

10x. Added a confirmation on the nvim bug you opened.
Any idea what is the cause?

[gelguy]

I bisected to the problematic commit in the issue mentioned above (neovim/neovim#14064).

In general, Neovim/Vim doesn't like it when redraw is called in the cmdline. The incsearch highlighting is a "temporary" highlight, and it gets invalidated when redrawing in certain cases e.g. the viewport moves or there is a floating/popup window over the buffer.

[tzachar]

Then maybe the solution would be to update incsearch proactively after calling redraw? or not call redraw at all?

[gelguy]

I've tried many workarounds, but none work so far. Fixing the code in Neovim seems to be the best option.

[gelguy]

I've found another workaround 😄.

Could you help verify if the latest master fixes the issue? It should be fixed for all renderers and all Neovim versions.

[Gelio]

Yay 🎉 I'm using Neovim nightly and the issue seems to indeed be fixed. I've tested with both wildmenu_renderer and popupmenu_renderer and in both cases the incsearch highlight is stable 😄

Thanks for fixing it!

[Frederick888]

was being stupid... anyone who gets here pls ignore this comment...

---

Hate to be that guy but there's still a minor issue for me...

I'm using neovim 0.5.0 and when the first search hit is not in the view before starting searching, the highlights flicker sometimes:

The minimal vimrc I used:

set runtimepath^=~/.vim runtimepath+=~/.vim/after
let &packpath = &runtimepath

" vim-plug
call plug#begin()
Plug 'gelguy/wilder.nvim'
call plug#end()

set incsearch

" wilder.nvim
call wilder#enable_cmdline_enter()
set wildcharm=<Tab>
cmap <expr> <Tab> wilder#in_context() ? wilder#next() : "\<Tab>"
cmap <expr> <S-Tab> wilder#in_context() ? wilder#previous() : "\<S-Tab>"
cmap <expr> <C-n> wilder#in_context() ? wilder#next() : "\<C-n>"
cmap <expr> <C-p> wilder#in_context() ? wilder#previous() : "\<C-p>"
call wilder#set_option('modes', ['/', '?', ':'])
call wilder#set_option('pipeline', [
      \   wilder#branch(
      \     [
      \       wilder#check({_, x -> empty(x)}),
      \       wilder#history(),
      \       wilder#result({
      \         'draw': [{_, x -> ' ' . x}],
      \         }),
      \     ],
      \     wilder#cmdline_pipeline(),
      \     wilder#search_pipeline(),
      \   ),
      \ ])
if has('nvim')
  call wilder#set_option('renderer', wilder#renderer_mux({
        \ ':': wilder#popupmenu_renderer({
        \       'highlighter': wilder#basic_highlighter(),
        \       'left': [
        \         wilder#popupmenu_devicons(),
        \         ],
        \       'right': [
        \         ' ',
        \         wilder#popupmenu_scrollbar(),
        \         ],
        \       }),
        \ '/': wilder#wildmenu_renderer({
        \       'highlighter': wilder#basic_highlighter(),
        \       }),
        \ '?': wilder#wildmenu_renderer({
        \       'highlighter': wilder#basic_highlighter(),
        \       }),
        \ }))
else
  call wilder#set_option('renderer', wilder#wildmenu_renderer({
        \ 'highlighter': wilder#basic_highlighter(),
        \ }))
endif

" vim: set tabstop=4 softtabstop=0 expandtab shiftwidth=2 smarttab:

[Frederick888]

Wait... I'm so sorry... I played around with the files locally and there were conflicts when git pull so my wilder.nvim wasn't really up-to-date (face palm...)

Just updated and now the issue is gone. Thank you very much for the fix!

[tzachar]

#65 fixes the issue for me.
10x