[Feature] Keyboard focus remains in text field while changing selection about flutter_typeahead HOT 5 OPEN

The current way that focus is implemented in the TypeAhead package as of its latest version does indeed seem to cause a lot of trouble. I think we will swap over to the same technique that Autocomplete is using to rectify all this and in the process simplify a lot of the code. Hopefully I'll find time for that soon.

This change might also come with some more freedom so we can fix some other complaints as well.
We might make it easier to customize even more of the field.

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Hi @clragon,

Sorry, I think I've used the wrong terminology - I'm not actually talking about selection, rather highlighting the option which will become selected when the user presses enter.

The list of options displayed in the popover has a currently-highlighted option which is implemented using keyboard focus. flutter_typeahead moves the highlight up or down the list when the user presses the arrow keys by calling node.focusInDirection().

My feature request, and my preferred outcome, is: retain keyboard focus in the textarea at all times and maintain the currently-highlighted item using internal state, e.g. an index.

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I could also imagine looking closer into how autocomplete achieves their way of up and down arrow key selection while not intercepting tab and trying to recreate this here.

It's implemented using Shortcuts. See the relevant code here: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/3.19.5/packages/flutter/lib/src/widgets/autocomplete.dart#L577-L580

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Thank you for this information. I was not aware that Autocomplete manually implements this, very interesting.
I can imagine that we could follow suit on this and remove the complex focus code I have written - since it is unsightly.
I will look into this.

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Hi,

Thank you for your issue. The current approach is unfortunately rather janky, as we need to two-way sync state and focus and it becomes very tedious to enforce this without ending up in endless loops.

Looking at Autocomplete, it doesnt seem like it keeps track of a selected entry in any way, rather, it calls onSelected exactly when the user interacts with one of the the items. This is equivalent to TypeAheadField.onSelected.

"Selection" is therefore not related to the item which is currently focused. Focus is only meant to allow users to navigate selecting items via keyboard. I believe it is better if the package stays agnostic to how the onSelected callback is used and the user keeps track of what item was last selected themselves, if necessary. There are many use-cases where this would not be required.

The Autocomplete widget also allows users to navigate the list of suggestions via up and down keyboard keys.
It does however not intercept Tab, allowing users to move to the next field.

I could imagine adding an option to disable _SuggestionsBoxTraversalConnectorState's behaviour, therefore making selection via up and down keys no longer possible.
I could also imagine looking closer into how autocomplete achieves their way of up and down arrow key selection while not intercepting tab and trying to recreate this here.

What would be your preferred outcome?

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