Why not allow for multiple defchordsv2 sections, especially for templates?

[thomastthai]

My kanata config has a defchordsv2 section. I split the repetitive defchordsv2 section into a template and got the error below.

Why not allow for multiple defchordsv2 sections and merge them together, especially for templates?

What is a solution to use defchordsv2 in a template?

23:04:54.7332 [ERROR]   × Error in configuration
     ╭─[/Users/thomas/.config/kanata/home-row-mod-advanced.kbd:948:1]
 948 │     (deftemplate global-chords-2l (k1 k2 action)
 949 │ ╭─▶   (defchordsv2
 950 │ │       ($k1 $k2) (tap-hold $tap-repress-timeout-200 $hold-timeout-150 (switch
 951 │ │         ((input-history real $k1 2)) (multi $k1 $k2) break
 952 │ │         ((input-history real $k2 2)) (multi $k2 $k1) break
 953 │ │       ) $action)  $chord-timeout-150 first-release ()
 954 │ ├─▶   )
     · ╰──── Error here
 955 │     )
     ╰────
  help: Only one defchordsv2 allowed, found more.
        Delete the extras.

        For more info, see the configuration guide:
        https://github.com/jtroo/kanata/blob/main/docs/config.adoc

[jtroo]

No major reason I can remember other than that's just how it's implemented today.

You could try to adjust your template and then put expansions within defchordsv2.

(defchordsv2
  (t! global-chords-2l a b c)
  (t! global-chords-2l d e f)
)

[thomastthai]

@jtroo, thanks for the alternative solution. The other way would align with how other def commands work inside templates. I'm just learning about templates. Another error popped up:

❯ kanata -c ~/.config/kanata/home-row-mod-advanced.kbd --check
09:46:04.1874 [INFO] kanata v1.7.0-next starting
09:46:04.1875 [INFO] validating config only and exiting
09:46:04.2010 [ERROR]   × Error in configuration
     ╭─[/Users/thomas/.config/kanata/home-row-mod-advanced.kbd:976:1]
 976 │       ((input-history real $k2 2)) (multi $k2 $k1) break
 977 │     ) $action)  $chord-timeout-150 first-release ()
     ·                 ─────────┬────────
     ·                          ╰── Error here
 978 │   ;;)
     ╰────
  help: expansion created a string outside any list which is not allowed

        For more info, see the configuration guide:
        https://github.com/jtroo/kanata/blob/main/docs/config.adoc

From the doc about template the note:

Template expansion happens after file includes and before any other parsing. One consequence of this early parsing is that variables defined in defvar are not substituted when used inside of template-expand. This has consequences for condtional content, e.g. with if-equal. This is discussed further in Example 5.

Variables defined in defvar like $chord-timeout-150 aren't expanded inside the template. Looks like for now, the value needs to be hardcoded in the template. So I hardcoded the value and still got an error:

❯ kanata -c ~/.config/kanata/home-row-mod-advanced.kbd --check
10:23:39.3622 [INFO] kanata v1.7.0-next starting
10:23:39.3623 [INFO] validating config only and exiting
10:23:39.3759 [ERROR]   × Error in configuration
     ╭─[/Users/thomas/.config/kanata/home-row-mod-advanced.kbd:979:1]
 979 │     ;;) $action) $chord-timeout-150 first-release ()
 980 │     ) $action) 150 first-release ()
     ·                ─┬─
     ·                 ╰── Error here
 981 │   ;;)
     ╰────
  help: expansion created a string outside any list which is not allowed

The template for that section:

(deftemplate global-chords-2l (k1 k2 action)
    ($k1 $k2) (tap-hold $tap-repress-timeout-200 $hold-timeout-150 (switch
      ((input-history real $k1 2)) (multi $k1 $k2) break
      ((input-history real $k2 2)) (multi $k2 $k1) break
    ;; Template doesn't support variable substitution defined in defvar.
    ;; Hard code the value 150 for now.
    ) $action) 150 first-release ()
)

What are your thoughts on using another variable format inside templates like ${defvar-variable} to differentiate it from the local variables for the templates and substitute that way or perhaps parse the template later to account for defvar?

[jtroo]

You should read the error message, it's not related to variables. Did you put the template expansion inside defchordsv2?

[thomastthai]

Before I left to play sand volleyball, I re-read the error message and saw that it wasn't related to the variable. I assumed it was since that was the place where the variable was.

Let's go back to show you what I was working on.

My config has a lot of chords like the following:

(defchordsv2
  ...
  (c a) (tap-hold $tap-repress-timeout-200 $hold-timeout-150 (switch 
    ((input-history real c 2)) (multi c a) break                     
    ((input-history real a 2)) (multi a c) break                     
  ) C-a)  $chord-timeout-150 first-release ()     
  ...                
)

I attempted to create a template with defchordsv2 inside. Per the previous message, defchordsv2 can only be defined once. I revised the template and the defchordsv2 section to look like:

(deftemplate global-chords-2l (k1 k2 action)
    ($k1 $k2) (tap-hold $tap-repress-timeout-200 $hold-timeout-150 (switch
      ((input-history real $k1 2)) (multi $k1 $k2) break
      ((input-history real $k2 2)) (multi $k2 $k1) break
    ;; Template doesn't support variable substitution defined in defvar.
    ;; Hard code the value 150 for now.
    ) $action) 150 first-release ()
)

(defchordsv2
  ...
  (t! global-chords-2l e i @sms)  ;; Tap: ei or ie, hold: switch to symbols layer
  (t! global-chords-2l a ; @nms)  ;; Tap: a; or ;a, hold: switch to nomods layer
  (t! global-chords-2l s l @fns)  ;; Tap: sl or ls, hold: switch to fn layer
  (t! global-chords-2l d k @nps)  ;; Tap: dk or kd, hold: switch to numpad layer
  (t! global-chords-2l f j @nvs)  ;; Tap: fj or jf, hold: switch to nav layer
  (t! global-chords-2l g h @bws)  ;; Tap: gh or hg, hold: switch to browser layer
  (t! global-chords-2l c a C-a)   ;; Tap: ca or ac, hold: Control-a
  ...                
)

My thought is that by removing (defchordsv2 and the respective ) from the template, it caused 150and first-release to be outside of a list, i.e. not between parenthesis, and generated the error, expansion created a string outside any list which is not allowed. If that's the case, why do Examples 3 and 4 from the document work?

Example 3:

(deftemplate home-row (j-behaviour)
  a s d f g h $j-behaviour k l ; ' // <--- Are these in a list?
)

I then moved (150) (first-release) () from the template back to the (defchordsv2 ... ) section, which feels like partially going against having a template:

(defchordsv2
  ...
  (t! global-chords-2l e i @sms) 150 first-release () ;; Tap: ei or ie, hold: switch to symbols layer
  (t! global-chords-2l a ; @nms) 150 first-release () ;; Tap: a; or ;a, hold: switch to nomods layer
  (t! global-chords-2l s l @fns) 150 first-release () ;; Tap: sl or ls, hold: switch to fn layer
  (t! global-chords-2l d k @nps) 150 first-release () ;; Tap: dk or kd, hold: switch to numpad layer
  (t! global-chords-2l f j @nvs) 150 first-release () ;; Tap: fj or jf, hold: switch to nav layer
  (t! global-chords-2l g h @bws) 150 first-release () ;; Tap: gh or hg, hold: switch to browser layer
  (t! global-chords-2l c a C-a)  150 first-release () ;; Tap: ca or ac, hold: Control-a
  ...
)

(deftemplate global-chords-2l (k1 k2 action)
    ($k1 $k2) (tap-hold $tap-repress-timeout-200 $hold-timeout-150 (switch
      ((input-history real $k1 2)) (multi $k1 $k2) break
      ((input-history real $k2 2)) (multi $k2 $k1) break
    ;; Template doesn't support variable substitution defined in defvar.
    ;; Hard code the value 150 for now.
    ) $action) 
)

And got a new error:

❯ kanata -c ~/.config/kanata/home-row-mod-advanced.kbd --check
17:11:54.7569 [INFO] kanata v1.7.0-next starting
17:11:54.7570 [INFO] validating config only and exiting
17:11:54.7712 [ERROR]   × Error in configuration
     ╭─[/Users/thomas/.config/kanata/home-row-mod-advanced.kbd:972:1]
 972 │ (deftemplate global-chords-2l (k1 k2 action)
 973 │     ($k1 $k2) (tap-hold $tap-repress-timeout-200 $hold-timeout-150 (switch
     ·     ────┬────
     ·         ╰── Error here
 974 │       ((input-history real $k1 2)) (multi $k1 $k2) break
     ╰────
  help: Found unknown configuration item

Why is ($k1 $k2) treated as a configuration item instead of part of a template?

The other templates I worked on turned out fine. This one with the limitation of defchordsv2 is a bit more challenging. There must be some fundamentals I'm misunderstanding.

What do you suggest?

[jtroo]

There's likely a parenthesis mistake somewhere but unfortunately the error message isn't helpful in this scenario. This style of configuration should work.

Example

[thomastthai]

I found the issue! Thank you for your effort in helping me figure it out. I hope the following explanation will assist someone else in the future.

Your test config was nearly identical to mine. I replaced mine with yours and still had the error. I went through all 1003 lines in my config and checked for unmatched parenthesis. They all matched. However, at line 1003, there was a template expansion line that wasn't moved inside the (defchordsv2 ... ) section when the rest were moved after removing (defchordsv2 and the associated ) from the template.

A walk-through of what happened.

Removed (defchordsv2 and the associated ) from the template:

(deftemplate global-chords-2l (k1 k2 action)
    ($k1 $k2) (tap-hold $tap-repress-timeout-200 $hold-timeout-150 (switch
      ((input-history real $k1 2)) (multi $k1 $k2) break
      ((input-history real $k2 2)) (multi $k2 $k1) break
    ;; Template doesn't support variable substitution defined in defvar.
    ;; Hard code the value 150 for now.
    ) $action) 150 first-release ()
)

Moved template expansion lines inside (defchordsv2 ... ):

(defchordsv2
  ...
  (t! global-chords-2l e i @sms)  ;; Tap: ei or ie, hold: switch to symbols layer
  (t! global-chords-2l a ; @nms)  ;; Tap: a; or ;a, hold: switch to nomods layer
  (t! global-chords-2l s l @fns)  ;; Tap: sl or ls, hold: switch to fn layer
  (t! global-chords-2l d k @nps)  ;; Tap: dk or kd, hold: switch to numpad layer
  (t! global-chords-2l f j @nvs)  ;; Tap: fj or jf, hold: switch to nav layer
  (t! global-chords-2l g h @bws)  ;; Tap: gh or hg, hold: switch to browser layer
  ...                
)

But I forgot a similar line as one of those template expansion lines above at the very last line in the config file outside of the (defchordsv2 ... ) section:

(defchordsv2
  ...
  (t! global-chords-2l e i @sms)  ;; Tap: ei or ie, hold: switch to symbols layer
  (t! global-chords-2l a ; @nms)  ;; Tap: a; or ;a, hold: switch to nomods layer
  (t! global-chords-2l s l @fns)  ;; Tap: sl or ls, hold: switch to fn layer
  (t! global-chords-2l d k @nps)  ;; Tap: dk or kd, hold: switch to numpad layer
  (t! global-chords-2l f j @nvs)  ;; Tap: fj or jf, hold: switch to nav layer
  (t! global-chords-2l g h @bws)  ;; Tap: gh or hg, hold: switch to browser layer
  ...                
)

... 
;; Too many lines later
(t! global-chords-2l ...)

After moving (t! global-chords-2l ...) into (defchordsv2 ...) with the rest of the other lines, the config works again.