Add :write-without-auto-format commands

[zummenix]

This adds two commands to write and force write without auto format.

Closes #4853

[dead10ck]

Implementation wise this looks fine, though I think the command names are very long. I also wonder if it wouldn't make sense to make this an argument of the command using something like a CLI switch. I think kakoune does this if I'm not mistaken. What do you think @archseer @the-mikedavis?

[the-mikedavis]

Yeah I like kakoune's flags for this. It could be done as :write --no-fmt. That would mean we couldn't write a file named --no-fmt but we could also introduce -- to separate flags from literal arguments. (:write --no-fmt -- --no-fmt writes a file --no-fmt without formatting.)

[zummenix]

Personally, I don't have a problem with the length of the commands, because the prompt autocomplete works really nice.

Are there precedents of commands that accept args/flags as proposed (I don't see any)?
What other commands that could benefit from supporting args/flags in them?
How args/flags should be displayed in prompt autocomplete (UX/UI)?
How args/flags should be documented (discoverability story)?

[the-mikedavis]

Are there precedents of commands that accept args/flags as proposed (I don't see any)?

Not yet; this would be a first. But other commands could benefit from it (existing commands and future commands probably)

What other commands that could benefit from supporting args/flags in them?

See #1288 (comment), sort/rsort could be turned into one command.

How args/flags should be displayed in prompt autocomplete (UX/UI)?

A completer could provide them as options

How args/flags should be documented (discoverability story)?

Kakoune has a nice way of showing these:

[dead10ck]

It's very possible switches are out of scope for this PR (at least in a general way) so consider the following somewhat off topic, but I have thought it might make sense to pull in a CLI arg parsing lib to make use of in commands. I know there was resistance to this in the past for the main binary, but I think it would be a stronger justification to pull in a lib if it were used throughout the command palette.

[zummenix]

A completer could provide them as options

:write accepts optional file name. I think there should be a mechanism to show switches in completer menu so they look distinct from file names.

Kakoune has a nice way of showing these:

I like it!

It's very possible switches are out of scope for this PR

Definitely :)

In overall I'm still on the fence about switches in commands but I see how they could be useful. I suggest you to open separate issues/discussions to iron out details how they should look like in UI and to build a vision for the feature as a whole. Also I'm thinking if there will be some kind of scripting language in the future, will it cover this usecase? For example, we could have a method write with parameters: :eval 'write(force: true, auto-format: false, method: .replace)'

The question about this PR: do we close it or I can continue with it to fix the CI error to be ready for the merge?

[dead10ck]

I'd like to see these commands merged, but I'd wait for @archseer's input for this PR and what we should do for names and/or switches.

[kirawi]

By the way, be sure to run cargo xtask docgen and commit the changes.

[the-mikedavis]

I don't think it's necessary to add commands for this since there's a workaround: you can :set auto-format false, :write, and then :set auto-format true when you want auto-formatting again.

[zummenix]

By the way, be sure to run cargo xtask docgen and commit the changes.

Yeah, I know, thanks! I was just waiting for the final decision.

[lukepighetti]

Disappointed that this didn't get merged. Many editors have this in their command palette and the :set auto-format false, :write, :set auto-format true workflow is not discoverable

[kirawi]

With #4423, it could be done. However, it would depend on if the maintainers are okay with bundling some command sewuences.

[andradei]

@the-mikedavis this to my config, but it doesn't work. I have to run the 3 commands manually...

[keys.select]
S = [':set auto-format false', ':write', ':set auto-format true']

[mwyvr]

Was just looking for just this, and discovered as @andradei that the three-command approach wasn't working, auto-format continued. I don't need it often but when adding a new package to a Go project, lsp complains and removes the import line.

I settled on another route: set a keybinding to ":toggle-option auto-format".

[andradei]

@mwyvr That's the workaround I'm using. I think the next version of configuring helix will solve this and much more. Until then, it is what it is.