Spacemacs-like menus using general.el

general-spacemacs.org

Spacemacs-like menus using general.el

Global keybindings

First, we define a global prefix key:

(general-create-definer global-definer
  :keymaps 'override
  :states  '(insert emacs normal hybrid motion visual operator)
  :prefix  "SPC"
  :non-normal-prefix "S-SPC")

Bind top level, global commands like so:

(global-definer
  "!"   'shell-command
  ":"   'eval-expression)

Nested menus

To ease the creation of nested menus, we define a macro:

(defmacro +general-global-menu! (name infix-key &rest body)
  "Create a definer named +general-global-NAME wrapping global-definer.
Create prefix map: +general-global-NAME. Prefix bindings in BODY with INFIX-KEY."
  (declare (indent 2))
  `(progn
     (general-create-definer ,(intern (concat "+general-global-" name))
       :wrapping global-definer
       :prefix-map (quote ,(intern (concat "+general-global-" name "-map")))
       :infix ,infix-key
       :wk-full-keys nil
       "" '(:ignore t :which-key ,name))
     (,(intern (concat "+general-global-" name))
      ,@body)))

This macro defines top-level nested menus. e.g. a menu for “buffer” bindings:

(+general-global-menu! "buffer" "b"
  "d"  'kill-current-buffer
  "o" '((lambda () (interactive) (switch-to-buffer nil))
        :which-key "other-buffer")
  "p"  'previous-buffer
  "r"  'rename-buffer
  "M" '((lambda () (interactive) (switch-to-buffer "*Messages*"))
        :which-key "messages-buffer")
  "n"  'next-buffer
  "s" '((lambda () (interactive) (switch-to-buffer "*scratch*"))
        :which-key "scratch-buffer")
  "TAB" '((lambda () (interactive) (switch-to-buffer nil))
          :which-key "other-buffer"))

You can specify per-package keybindings with the :general use-package keyword. For example, here’s a minimal helm configuration that binds SPC bb to helm-mini:

(use-package helm
  :init (require 'helm-config)
  :defer 1
  :config
  (helm-mode)

  :general
  (+general-global-buffer
    "b" 'helm-mini))

Contextual (mode specific) leader key

We define a global-leader definer to access major-mode specific bindings:

(general-create-definer global-leader
  :keymaps 'override
  :states '(emacs normal hybrid motion visual operator)
  :prefix "SPC m"
  "" '(:ignore t :which-key (lambda (arg) `(,(cadr (split-string (car arg) " ")) . ,(replace-regexp-in-string "-mode$" "" (symbol-name major-mode))))))

Again, we use the :general keyword to bind mode-specific bindings. For example, with the following, we can eval-buffer when in emacs-lisp-mode or lisp-interaction-mode by pressing SPC m e b:

(use-package elisp-mode
  ;;this is a built in package, so we don't want to try and install it
  :ensure nil
  :general
  (global-leader
    ;;specify the major modes these should apply to:
    :major-modes
    '(emacs-lisp-mode lisp-interaction-mode t)
    ;;and the keymaps:
    :keymaps
    '(emacs-lisp-mode-map lisp-interaction-mode-map)
    "e" '(:ignore t :which-key "eval")
    "eb" 'eval-buffer
    "ed" 'eval-defun
    "ee" 'eval-expression
    "ep" 'pp-eval-last-sexp
    "es" 'eval-last-sexp
    "i" 'elisp-index-search))

Conclusion

Hope this helps. ~ Nicholas Vollmer

From the comment I linked:

There may be some configuration context missing, etc. For example, the last test you've posted contains Org noweb syntax:

<<general-config>>

This is not valid elisp. It's a syntax used in Org src blocks which only results in a valid elisp file after tangling.

So this line should be deleted from the testing configuration used by me. I've taken it for granted that all the stuff in your linked comment is generated by yodel automatically, which makes me lost the opportunity to check its content further exhaustively.