SpaceNeovim Layers

Managing layers to use with SpaceNeovim.

• Current Layers
• Adding a New Layer
  • API
  • Add a Keybinding
  • Adding Packages
  • Including Files
• Adding a New Language Layer
  • Add a Language Keybinding

Current Layers

Language layers

Adding a New Layer

A layer consists of, as minimum:

• a README.md describing the layer (configuration, keybindings etc),
• either a config.vim, adding the layer key bindings, or
• a packages.vim, adding the packages that needs to be installed
• optionally, if a func.vim is present, it is loaded first (define commands and helper functions in this to keep things clean)

These files are grouped under a +category/layer-name directory hierarchy. As an example, the layer buffers is located under the group +nav (short for navigation).

A layer is only ever run if it is enabled, so there is no need to check for it. However, if you want to check if another layer is enabled, before doing anything, it can be done with,

if SpaceNeovimIsLayerEnabled('+checkers/neomake')
  " Make specific configuration for neomake here...
endif

This can especially be useful in the +lang layers, to add information to checkers and completions.

API

The API available to layers are (<arg> are required, [arg] are optional), for keybindings,

And the API for various helper functions,

Add a Keybinding

To add a keybinding, first make sure that the vim-leader-guide grouping exists with

" Top level grouping (i.e. SPC e)
let g:lmap.e = get(g:lmap, 'e', { 'name': 'errors' })
" Deeper level Grouping under SPC e m
let g:lmap.e.m = get(g:lmap.e, 'm', { 'name': 'more' })

NOTE: It is important to use get() to avoid overwriting the mapping if it exists in another layer already.

ANOTHER NOTE: if you are adding a new language, you don't have to add the grouping, since let g:lmap.m = { 'name': 'major-mode-cmd' } already exists.

The e in g:lmap.e denotes the key that the group is under. Then add your keybinding by using SpBind or the shorter SpMap/SpMap,

SpBind 'map', 'eC', 'neomake-check-file', 'Neomake', 1
" Is equivalent to,
SpMap 'eC', 'neomake-check-file', 'Neomake'

SpBind 'nmap', 'eC', 'neomake-check-file', 'Neomake', 0
" Is equivalent to (default value is `1`, so we explicitly say `0` to not automatically add `<CR>` behind),
SpMap 'eC', 'neomake-check-file', 'Neomake', 0

which puts the keybinding at SPC e l. Note that the first e in el is necessary to put it under the e grouping.

For more check out the +nav/buffers layer for an example of usage, and keybinding-helpers.vim for the helper functions.

Adding Packages

This time we use SpAddPlugin to add the plugin and its vim-plug configuration,

SpAddPlugin 'neomake/neomake'
SpAddPlugin 'Shougo/vimproc.vim', { 'for': 'haskell', 'do' : 'make' }

which will add the package 'neomake/neomake' to be installed with the configuration {} (default value), and 'Shougo/vimproc.vim' with the more complex configuration { 'for': 'haskell', 'do' : 'make' }. The configuration can be used for post-installation commands or to lazy-load the plugin (e.g. only loading a language plugin when that language filetype is active).

Including Files

To keep the files a bit more clean, your functions should reside in separate files, such as func.vim. If func.vim is found in your layer, it is automaticaly included as the first item. To easily include other files, use,

" Load `func.vim` in the current layer directory
SpLoadFunc expand('<sfile>:p')

" Load `other-file.vim` in current layer directory
SpLoadFunc expand('<sfile>:p'), 'other-file.vim'

The expand('<sfile>:p') bit is to include the path of the current layer that is calling the SpLoadFunc function. If no second argument is given it defaults to func.vim, since that is the normal convention.

For more check out the +nav/files layer for an example of usage, and helpers.vim for the helper functions.

Adding a New Language Layer

Most of adding a new language layer is just like adding a normal layer, except for keybindings and groupings, as described below.

Add a language keybinding

Adding a language keybinding is a bit different, since we only want it shown when the language is actually active. All language keybindings should be under SPC m, and if you use the helper functions, that's also where they'll go.

It consist of two combined steps:

1. Add your groupings
2. Add your mappings

Step 1. and step 2. is done using au FileType MYFILETYPE, for example, a snippet of the haskell keybindings,

au FileType haskell let g:lmap.m = { "name": "major-mode-cmd",
\"c": ["GhcModCheckAndLintAsync", "ghcmod/check"],
\"r": { "name": "haskell/refactor"
     \, "b": ["call ApplyAllSuggestion()", "hlint/refactor-buffer"]
     \, "r": ["all ApplyOneSuggestion()", "hlint/refactor-at-point"]
  \ },
\"h": { "name": "haskell/documentation"
     \, "h": ["SpaceNeovimHaskellHoogle", "search-hoogle"]
     \, "t": ["GhcModType", "ghcmod/type-at"]
     \, "i": ["GhcModInfo", "ghcmod/info"]
  \ },
\}

We simply construct a new dictionary mapping for g:lmap.m which is only valid under our filetype, and contains the commands we want to bind. A "name": "haskell/grouping" defines a simple grouping and a ["GhcModCheckAndLintAsync", "ghcmod/check"] defines a command and description respectively.

Note: The reason it's defined under a filetype in this tedious way, is so that we get unique mappings for each filetype and that the change happens automatically.

For more check out the +lang/haskell layer for an example of usage, and bindings.vim for the helper functions.

Pre-commit linting

It is recommended to add the following to .git/hooks/pre-commit,

# Get the current dir
startDir=$(pwd)
# Get the project root
rootDir=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)

cd $rootDir

# Run vint
vint auto-layers.vim keybinding-helpers.vim helpers.vim