programmatically defining general.el bindings

Hi, I have the following code to generate two keybindings: ``` (general-create-definer map-to-leader :keymaps 'override :prefix "SPC" "" '(:ignore t :wk "leader-key")) (map-to-leader :states '(normal visual motion) :keymaps 'override "d" '(:wk "dired") "d d" '((lambda () (interactive) (dired "~/Documents")) :wk "docs") "d p" '((lambda () (interactive) (dired "~/Pictures")) :wk "pics")) ``` I would to declare a variable like: ``` (setq bms '(("d" "~/Documents/" "docs") ("p" "~/Pictures/" "pics" ))) ``` And then populate the `map-to-leader` call by iterating through `bms`. For instance: ``` (defun bms-entries-map-to-leader () (interactive) (let ((binding)) (dolist (bm bms binding) (setq binding (cons `(,(concat "d " (nth 0 bm)) ,`((lambda () (interactive) (dired ,(nth 1 bm))) :wk ,(nth 2 bm))) binding))))) ``` But I cannot use this function in `map-to-leader`. Any help or suggestions would be very welcome. Thank you!

1. [`setq` is a *setter*](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Setting-Variables.html). It’s *not* for variable declarations. For variable declarations, use [`defvar` and friends for global variables](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Defining-Variables.html) and [`let` and friends for local variables](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Local-Variables.html). Also, there’s no reason to [*close over* the value of `bms` inside the function](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Lexical-Binding.html) instead of passing it as an argument. 2. It doesn’t work because [the definer `map-to-leader` is a macro](https://github.com/noctuid/general.el/blob/9651024e7f40a8ac5c3f31f8675d3ebe2b667344/general.el#L1358). [Macros have their own syntax for good reason](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Eval-During-Expansion.html). I suggest that you [think of what the problem actually is before solving it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem).

Hi, thanks for the tips. I think the main problem here is that I can't figure out how can send inputs to a macro programatically. My current attempt is: ``` ;; Specify keybindings (setq +/kbs '(("d" "~/Documents/" "documents") ("p" "~/Pictures/" "pictures"))) ;; Create input for map-to-leader ;; The output of this function looks ok, ;; but does not work with map-to-leader below ;; This is what I can't figure out... (defun +/test-mapping () (interactive) (let ((bindings)) (push :states bindings) (push `'(normal visual motion) bindings) (push :keymaps bindings) (push `'override bindings) (dolist (kb +/kbs bindings) (push (concat "d " (nth 0 kb)) bindings) (push `'((lambda () (interactive) (dired ,(format "%S" (nth 1 kb)))) :wk ,(format "%S" (nth 2 kb))) bindings)) (setq bindings (nreverse bindings)))) ;; map to leader call (+/UIX/map-to-leader (+/test-mapping)) ``` I think the problem is two-fold. 1. I don't know if programmatically specifying keybindings in `map-to-leader` is possible. 2. I am assuming it is, and in this case, I can't seem to figure out what format they should be in... I am sort of new to elisp and although I have read through the pages you pointed to and tried to use my understanding to create the `+/test-mapping`, I still can't figure out what needs to be done.

You don’t. Macros and functions have their effects at different stages, namely [macro-expansion time](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Macro-Forms.html) vs. [runtime](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Function-Forms.html). They should never be mixed together in this way. Instead, try defining a new macro, or better yet, a plain-old function (since we’re just dealing with a list and no new syntax is needed) that does the job.

Right. The way I understand it is that if I go the macro-way, the idea is to create a macro that operates on the `map-to-leader` macro, right? And if I got the function-way? I'm not sure what you meant by plain-old-function. You meant a function that makes repeated calls to `map-to-leader` to set up the keybindings?

The function approach: Pass the alist as an argument, iterate over the alist, destructure the elements using [Common Lisp’s destructuring facility](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/cl/Macros.html) or [pattern matching](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Pattern_002dMatching-Conditional.html), then write the macro forms as the body. The macro approach: Expand into the same code as the function (remember that the values of the arguments are *not* known when the macro forms are expanded). With this approach, the macro is really nothing more than an [inline function](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Inline-Functions.html), so it’s unnecessary.

This is fantastic. Thank you for the patience and the detailed responses. I am going to play around with these ideas for a couple of days and report back. Thank you!!

Update: I followed the function-based approach instead of extending the macro and it worked out very nicely. Thanks for all the pointers!

Did you ever figure this out? If so, would you mind posting your solution? Trying to do something similar for defining bindings for each of my `org-agenda-custom-commands`...