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For every custom code template (PHP or Javascript or HTML), on the contrary of the built-in templates, you have to type the abbreviation in full and press tab or nothing happens. No completion on partial typing. The problem exists because the code template editor doesn't add the context tag in the xml file. My workaround at the moment is this bash script http://www.riksoft.it/wikiriks/ide/netbeans-8-no-completion-on-php-code-template from which you can better understand what I mean.
Same problem on Netbeans 8.1 and 8.2