No completions for method call expressions inside closures

[gayanper]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
When trying to complete method call expressions, I don't get the completion items of that method call expression return value such as

spotless {
    java {
        googleJavaFormat().
    }
}

Completion behind googleJavaFormat(). This might only works up to this point after applying the PR #1337

Describe the solution you'd like
I would like to to get the list of completions for the return type of googleJavaFormat() instead of closure. One idea is to add all methods of the return type of googleJavaFormat() into the same closure list generated from GradleServer. May be we might need to change the name of the method then.

Describe alternatives you've considered
None

[gayanper]

@jdneo @testforstephen What do you think about this feature, Do you have better solution ideas ? If so let me know I could find time to implement.

[gayanper]

Another approach I thought of is, the gradle plugin part which generate the closure map can also keep the actual class as well connected to each entry. And when we want to resolve methods for the type in a expression, we could send a request to gradle server which will use the closure class's classloader to load the requesing type and provide methods and fields.

I think this will be a better approach that what I described above. WDYT @jdneo @testforstephen ?

[jdneo]

sounds like the new proposal will only calculate the completion on demand lazily, is that correct?

[gayanper]

sounds like the new proposal will only calculate the completion on demand lazily, is that correct?

Yes

[jdneo]

Thank you, it looks good to me.

[gayanper]

Thanks, then i will send a PR with the changes

[github-actions]

Hi @gayanper, I'm an AI Support assistant here to help with your issue. While the team reviews your request, I wanted to provide some possible tips and documentation that might help you in the meantime.

Workaround

• Assign the result of googleJavaFormat() to a local variable and complete on that:

  spotless {
    java {
      def formatter = googleJavaFormat()
      formatter.•  // completions will show methods on the return type
    }
  }

Why this happens

The language server currently doesn’t infer the type of a method call inside a Groovy closure, so it only offers closure delegates, not the return‐type members. This mirrors a known limitation in JDT LS for Java lambdas:

• Completions don’t work within a lambda of unknown type
  Completions don't work within a lambda of unknown type eclipse-jdtls/eclipse.jdt.ls#1453

Next steps

To fully support chaining off googleJavaFormat() inside closures, the Gradle extension (or Gradle language server) would need to merge the return type’s methods into the same completion list it generates for the closure. You may consider:

• Opening an enhancement in the Gradle LS to include return‐type members in closure completions (PR Support nested closure completions #1337 was a first step).

Other references with low confidence

• Code completion doesn’t suggest the closures/properties of the specified plugins
  Suggests similar missing completions in Gradle contexts, but for plugin blocks rather than method calls.
  Code completion doesn't suggest the closures/properties of the specified plugins #1022

The team will respond to your issue shortly. I hope these suggestions are helpful in the meantime. If this comment helped you, please give it a 👍. If the suggestion was not helpful or incorrect, please give it a 👎. Your feedback helps us improve!