Fixes #4050. Rename Command.Select and Selecting to Activate/Activating #4470

Copilot · 2025-12-08T23:05:21Z

Fixes

Fixes Rename/Refactor Command.Select and Selecting Event to Activate #4050

Proposed Changes/Todos

Renamed Command.Select to Command.Activate and Selecting event/APIs to Activating to clarify semantics across stateful (CheckBox toggle, ListView selection) and stateless (Button focus, MenuItem navigation) views.

Core Changes

Command enum: Select → Activate with updated documentation
View APIs: Selecting event → Activating, OnSelecting() → OnActivating(), RaiseSelecting() → RaiseActivating()
Bindings: Updated default Space/click bindings from Command.Select to Command.Activate
Code Documentation: Updated all XML comments, code comments, and example log messages to use "Activate/Activating" terminology
DocFx Documentation: Updated all documentation files in docfx/docs/ including:
- command.md - Main command system documentation with updated appendix noting completion of renaming
- events.md, View.md, navigation.md, migratingfromv1.md, mouse.md, index.md - All terminology updated

Scope

58 files updated: core View classes, 30+ derived views, tests, examples, and 7 documentation files
All 13,294+ tests pass (1,162 UnitTests + 12,132 parallelizable tests)
Zero new warnings

Before:

view.Selecting += (s, e) => { /* handle */ };
AddCommand(Command.Select, ctx => { ... });

After:

view.Activating += (s, e) => { /* handle */ };
AddCommand(Command.Activate, ctx => { ... });

Note on Propagation

The original issue description mentioned adding automatic event propagation to SuperView, but this has been deferred as it broke existing behavior in 16 tests (ScrollBar and Shortcut views). The PR focuses solely on the renaming refactoring. Event propagation can be implemented in a future PR with an opt-in mechanism as originally proposed.

Pull Request checklist:

I've named my PR in the form of "Fixes #issue. Terse description."
My code follows the style guidelines of Terminal.Gui
My code follows the Terminal.Gui library design guidelines
I ran dotnet test before commit
I have made corresponding changes to the API documentation (using /// style comments)
My changes generate no new warnings
I have checked my code and corrected any poor grammar or misspellings
I conducted basic QA to assure all features are working

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Rename/Refactor Command.Select and Selecting Event to Activate</issue_title>
<issue_description>## Summary

The Command.Select, Selecting event, and related APIs (OnSelecting, RaiseSelecting) should be renamed to Command.Activate, Activating event, OnActivating, and RaiseActivating to improve clarity and consistency in the Command system. The term "select" is ambiguous for stateless views (e.g., Button, MenuItemv2, where it only sets focus) and less precise for non-list-based state changes (e.g., toggling a CheckBox). "Activate" better captures the action of changing a view’s state or preparing it for interaction, aligning with both stateful (e.g., CheckBox, FlagSelector, ListView) and stateless (e.g., Button, MenuItem) use cases while clearly distinguishing from Accepting.

Additionally, a targeted propagation model for Command.Activate is needed to support hierarchical components like MenuBarv2, which requires Activating events from subviews (e.g., MenuItem) to manage PopoverMenu visibility. To maintain decoupling, subviews should not specify propagation behavior. Instead, superviews should opt-in to receive propagated Activating events via a new PropagateActivating property in View, allowing MenuBar to handle subview activations without subviews knowing superview details.

Motivation

The current Command.Select and Selecting terminology has several issues:

Ambiguity in Stateless Views: For views like Button or MenuItem, Command.Select only sets focus, which isn’t typically considered “selection,” leading to developer confusion.
Imprecise for Non-List Contexts: In CheckBox (toggling state) or FlagSelector (toggling flags), “select” doesn’t fully capture the state change, unlike list-based selection in ListView.
Overlap with Accepting: In views like ListView or Menu, Selecting and Accepting can feel similar (e.g., Enter triggering both), requiring clearer distinction.
Propagation Needs: MenuBar requires Activating events from subviews to manage PopoverMenu visibility, but the current local handling model relies on view-specific events (e.g., SelectedMenuItemChanged), which isn’t generalizable. Subviews should remain decoupled from superviews, avoiding knowledge of superview implementation details (e.g., MenuBar’s popover logic).

The Activate terminology addresses these by:

Representing both state changes (e.g., toggling a CheckBox, selecting a ListView item) and preparatory actions (e.g., focusing a Button, navigating a MenuItemv2).
Distinguishing clearly from Accepting, which confirms actions (e.g., executing a menu command, submitting a dialog).
Supporting a targeted propagation model with PropagateActivating, enabling superviews like MenuBar to opt-in to subview Activating events without coupling subviews to superview details.

Proposed Changes

1. Rename `Command.Select` and Related APIs to `Activate`

Rename Command.Select to Command.Activate in the Command enum.
Rename Selecting event to Activating, OnSelecting to OnActivating, and RaiseSelecting to RaiseActivating in the View class and all derived classes (e.g., Menuv2, MenuItemv2, CheckBox, FlagSelector).
Update related code:
- Modify SetupCommands in View to use Command.Activate.
- Update Shortcut.DispatchCommand and other command handlers to reference Activating.
- Ensure all event handlers and documentation reflect the new terminology.
- Ensure all tests are appropriately renamed and updated

2. Introduce Targeted Propagation Model with `PropagateActivating`

Add bool PropagateActivating to View to allow superviews (e.g., MenuBar) to opt-in to receiving Activating events from subviews, defaulting to false for local handling.

public class View
{
    // Existing properties and methods...
    public bool PropagateActivating { get; set; } // Opt-in to receive subview Activating events
}

Implement propagation in RaiseActivating:
- If SuperView.PropagateActivating is true and args.Handled is false, propagate to the superview.
- Example: Propagate to MenuBarv for menu hierarchies.
Handle propagated events in MenuBar:

public class MenuBar : Menu
{
    public MenuBar()
    {
        PropagateActivating = true; // Opt-in to subview Activating events
        // Other initialization...
    }

    protected override bool? RaiseActivating(ICommandContext? ctx)
    {
        if (ctx?.Source is MenuItem menuItem && menuItem.SuperView is Menu menu)
        {
            HideItem(GetActiveItem()); // Hide current popover
            ShowItem(menu.SuperMenuItem); // Show new popover
            return true;
        }
        return base.RaiseActivating(ctx);
    ...

Fixes Rename/Refactor Command.Select and Selecting Event to Activate #4050

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Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

codecov · 2025-12-08T23:24:54Z

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 71.25000% with 23 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 77.47%. Comparing base (b2cf674) to head (f74eac3).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on v2_develop.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
Terminal.Gui/Views/Color/ColorPicker.16.cs	20.00%	0 Missing and 4 partials ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/ListView.cs	33.33%	0 Missing and 4 partials ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/Selectors/OptionSelector.cs	20.00%	1 Missing and 3 partials ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/Shortcut.cs	62.50%	0 Missing and 3 partials ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/CharMap/CharMap.cs	33.33%	1 Missing and 1 partial ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/CheckBox.cs	66.66%	0 Missing and 1 partial ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/HexView.cs	75.00%	1 Missing ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/ScrollBar/ScrollBar.cs	50.00%	1 Missing ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/Selectors/FlagSelector.cs	50.00%	0 Missing and 1 partial ⚠️
Terminal.Gui/Views/Selectors/SelectorBase.cs	50.00%	1 Missing ⚠️
... and 1 more

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff             @@
##           v2_develop    #4470   +/-   ##
===========================================
  Coverage       77.47%   77.47%           
===========================================
  Files             386      386           
  Lines           44674    44674           
  Branches         6282     6282           
===========================================
+ Hits            34611    34612    +1     
  Misses           8210     8210           
+ Partials         1853     1852    -1

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
Terminal.Gui/ViewBase/View.Command.cs	`83.54% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/ViewBase/View.Keyboard.cs	`85.83% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/ViewBase/View.Mouse.cs	`83.09% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/Views/Button.cs	`95.32% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/Views/FileDialogs/FileDialog.cs	`53.72% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/Views/Label.cs	`88.09% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/Views/NumericUpDown.cs	`85.05% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/Views/ScrollBar/ScrollSlider.cs	`71.00% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/Views/Slider/Slider.cs	`56.55% <100.00%> (ø)`
Terminal.Gui/Views/TabView/TabRow.cs	`82.96% <100.00%> (ø)`
... and 16 more

... and 1 file with indirect coverage changes

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Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

tig · 2025-12-09T00:14:46Z

@copilot you didn't run all unit tests before commiting. Tons are failing. Fix please.

Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

Copilot · 2025-12-09T00:25:46Z

@copilot you didn't run all unit tests before commiting. Tons are failing. Fix please.

Fixed in commit b7435ee. The issue was automatic Activating event propagation to SuperView that I added broke 16 tests. Reverted the propagation code - events now stay local as originally designed. All 13,294+ tests now pass (1,162 UnitTests + 12,132 parallelizable).

tig · 2025-12-09T01:27:19Z

@copilot You need to update docfx/docs. Esp command.md but the rest too.

Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

Copilot · 2025-12-09T01:41:45Z

@copilot You need to update docfx/docs. Esp command.md but the rest too.

Updated in commit fc3ae05. Updated all docfx/docs files including:

command.md (main command system documentation)
events.md, View.md, navigation.md, migratingfromv1.md, mouse.md, index.md

All references to Command.Select, Selecting, OnSelecting, and RaiseSelecting have been replaced with Command.Activate, Activating, OnActivating, and RaiseActivating. Also updated the appendix in command.md to note that the renaming has been completed.

This reverts commit 6d82bee.

…ithub.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR successfully renames Command.Select and Selecting APIs to Command.Activate and Activating across the Terminal.Gui codebase to clarify semantics between stateful (CheckBox toggle, ListView selection) and stateless (Button focus, MenuItem navigation) views. The renaming improves code clarity by better representing actions that change state or prepare views for interaction.

Key changes:

Renamed Command.Select enum value to Command.Activate with updated XML documentation
Renamed Selecting event, OnSelecting(), and RaiseSelecting() methods to Activating, OnActivating(), and RaiseActivating() respectively
Updated all key/mouse bindings from Command.Select to Command.Activate
Comprehensively updated documentation across 7 DocFx files including command.md, events.md, View.md, navigation.md, migratingfromv1.md, mouse.md, and index.md
Added new command-diagrams.md file with Mermaid diagrams showing command flow

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 57 out of 57 changed files in this pull request and generated 24 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
Terminal.Gui/Input/Command.cs	Renamed `Select` enum to `Activate` with updated documentation
Terminal.Gui/ViewBase/View.Command.cs	Renamed `RaiseSelecting()` to `RaiseActivating()`, `OnSelecting()` to `OnActivating()`, and `Selecting` event to `Activating`
Terminal.Gui/ViewBase/View.Keyboard.cs	Updated default Space key binding to `Command.Activate`
Terminal.Gui/ViewBase/View.Mouse.cs	Updated default mouse click bindings to `Command.Activate`
Terminal.Gui/Views/*.cs (30+ files)	Updated all view implementations to use `Activating` terminology
Tests/*/.cs (15+ test files)	Renamed test methods and variables to use Activating terminology
docfx/docs/*.md (7 files)	Updated all documentation references from Select/Selecting to Activate/Activating
docfx/docs/command-diagrams.md	New file with Mermaid diagrams showing command flow with Activate
Examples/UICatalog/*.cs (8 files)	Updated example code to use Activating event handlers

Tests/UnitTestsParallelizable/ViewBase/ViewCommandTests.cs

Terminal.Gui/Views/Selectors/FlagSelector.cs

Tests/UnitTestsParallelizable/ViewBase/ViewCommandTests.cs

Terminal.Gui/Views/ListView.cs

Tests/UnitTestsParallelizable/Views/AllViewsTests.cs

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

…ithub.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

Renamed the `Selecting` event and `OnSelecting` method to `Activating` and `OnActivating` to better reflect their purpose. Updated all related comments, test method names, variables, and assertions in `View` and `ViewCommandTests` to align with the new terminology. Improved code clarity by using `_` for unused parameters in lambda expressions. Renamed properties like `HandleSelecting` to `HandleActivating` and adjusted naming conventions for consistency (e.g., `OnactivatingCount` to `OnActivatingCount`). These changes enhance readability, maintainability, and terminology consistency across the codebase.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

…ithub.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

Initial plan

b905431

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and tig Dec 8, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of tig December 8, 2025 23:05 View session

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits December 8, 2025 23:17

Rename Command.Select to Command.Activate and Selecting to Activating

e3a4331

Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

Add Activating event propagation to SuperView

6d82bee

Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits December 8, 2025 23:29

Update all comments and docs referencing Select to Activate

d574e45

Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

Fix event log messages in examples to use Activating/Activate

d3400e7

Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Rename Command.Select to Command.Activate for clarity~~ Fixes #2404. Rename Command.Select and Selecting to Activate/Activating Dec 8, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from tig December 8, 2025 23:40

Copilot finished work on behalf of tig December 8, 2025 23:40

tig changed the title ~~Fixes #2404. Rename Command.Select and Selecting to Activate/Activating~~ Fixes #4050. Rename Command.Select and Selecting to Activate/Activating Dec 9, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of tig December 9, 2025 00:15 View session

Revert automatic Activating event propagation that broke tests

b7435ee

Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

Copilot finished work on behalf of tig December 9, 2025 00:27

Merge branch 'v2_develop' into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

bdaf790

Copilot started work on behalf of tig December 9, 2025 01:27 View session

Update docfx documentation to use Activate/Activating terminology

fc3ae05

Co-authored-by: tig <[email protected]>

Copilot finished work on behalf of tig December 9, 2025 01:43

tig added 6 commits December 9, 2025 07:58

renames

59d3225

Revert "Add Activating event propagation to SuperView"

57b73ad

This reverts commit 6d82bee.

Merge branch 'copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate' of https://g…

5d13f05

…ithub.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

Merge branch 'v2_develop' into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

feb514a

added command diagrams

c35fa97

Merge branch 'copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate' of https://g…

23ae836

…ithub.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

tig added 4 commits December 9, 2025 10:32

mermaid

ff5f186

updated level 3

d641ece

again

4bdac51

Select->Activate in MouseTests.cs

515043f

tig marked this pull request as ready for review December 9, 2025 18:31

tig requested review from BDisp and Copilot December 9, 2025 18:32

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of tig December 9, 2025 18:32 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Dec 9, 2025

View reviewed changes

tig and others added 6 commits December 9, 2025 11:54

Update Terminal.Gui/Views/Selectors/FlagSelector.cs

8e963f8

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

Merge branch 'copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate' of https://g…

766de85

…ithub.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

Update Terminal.Gui/Views/Selectors/OptionSelector.cs

95586b4

Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

Typos

606b07c

Merge branch 'copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate' of https://g…

f74eac3

…ithub.com/gui-cs/Terminal.Gui into copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate

tig merged commit e7a4df4 into v2_develop Dec 9, 2025
14 checks passed

tig deleted the copilot/rename-command-select-to-activate branch December 9, 2025 19:42

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Fixes #4050. Rename Command.Select and Selecting to Activate/Activating #4470

Fixes #4050. Rename Command.Select and Selecting to Activate/Activating #4470

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Fixes #4050. Rename Command.Select and Selecting to Activate/Activating #4470

Fixes #4050. Rename Command.Select and Selecting to Activate/Activating #4470

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Core Changes

Scope

Note on Propagation

Pull Request checklist:

Motivation

Proposed Changes

1. Rename Command.Select and Related APIs to Activate

2. Introduce Targeted Propagation Model with PropagateActivating

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Copilot AI commented Dec 8, 2025 •

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1. Rename `Command.Select` and Related APIs to `Activate`

2. Introduce Targeted Propagation Model with `PropagateActivating`

codecov bot commented Dec 8, 2025 •

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