Allow only certain values in column

[weichm]

I am trying to use visidata as a GUI for catagorizing my account data.
One problem I have is that I want to allow only certain values for column category, e.g. food or assurance.
I could make this column numerical and input only numbers, e.g. 1 for food etc. and join another table that holds semantic information.

However, I wonder whether one can programmatically pose a restriction on column category such that when typing foo I can select from a list food much like the fuzzy search when one hits space and tries to enter a command like command-log-all in command line.

I found that visidata/features/commandpalette.py has a function inputPalette that might already have implemented what I needed. visidata/_input.py:editCell(...) seems to be the function that is called upon a cell-edit. Is there a way to elegantly combine the functionality of those two, e.g. like placing s.th. like

Sheet.addCommand('e', 'edit-cell',...)

in visidata/config.py to overwrite the functionality of editCell in the case of column category?

Can someone give me an idea how to tackle this problem or give me some hint? Maybe there is already a similar feature?

Thanks!

[weichm]

I am getting closer to a solution... Here is what I did:

# Install sample data
$ mkdir sample_data
$ wget -P sample_data/ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/saulpw/visidata/refs/heads/develop/sample_data/benchmark.csv
$ wget -P sample_data/ https://raw.githubusercontent.com/saulpw/visidata/refs/heads/develop/sample_data/sample.tsv

# Create config file
$ mkdir -p config/visidata
$ touch config/visidata/config.py

Now, in config/visidata/config.py I define my own editCell. Using the function decorator @Sheet.api overrides the editCell in Sheet:

@Sheet.api
def editCell(self, vcolidx=None, rowidx=None, value=None, **kwargs):
    '''Call vd.editText for the cell at (*rowidx*, *vcolidx*).  Return the new value, properly typed.
       - *vcolidx*: numeric index into ``self.availCols``. When None, use current column.
       - *rowidx*: numeric index into ``self.rows``.  If negative, indicates the column name in the header.
       - *value*: if given, the starting input; otherwise the starting input is the cell value or column name as appropriate.
       - *kwargs*: passthrough args to ``vd.editText``.
       '''

    reslist = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
    res = reslist[random.randint(0,2)]
    self.vd.status(f'gave you a random fruit')
    return res

I can now edit the sample data:

$ XDG_CONFIG_HOME=./config visidata sample_data/benchmark.csv

If the user now presses e on a cell in e.g. table benchmark, he'll get a random fruit.

What I would like to have:
If user presses e on column Customer in table benchmark, he may choose via fuzzy_search one of the values of column Item in table sample. Otherwise, editCell behaves as before, i.e. it calls somehow the version of editCell implemented in _input.py.

This is where I am stuck now. Does somebody have any ideas, e.g. how I can call the version of editCell implemented in _input.py?

[weichm]

Finally, I found some kind of solution. Below is my config.py. On the cell you wish to edit, press E. You can then select from a list of fruits.

@Sheet.api
def pickeditCell(self, vcolidx=None, rowidx=None, value=None, **kwargs):
    '''Call vd.editText for the cell at (*rowidx*, *vcolidx*).  Return the new value, properly typed.
       - *vcolidx*: numeric index into ``self.availCols``. When None, use current column.
       - *rowidx*: numeric index into ``self.rows``.  If negative, indicates the column name in the header.
       - *value*: if given, the starting input; otherwise the starting input is the cell value or column name as appropriate.
       - *kwargs*: passthrough args to ``vd.editText``.
       '''
    # -------------------- lines taken from original _input.py -> editCell(...)
    if vcolidx is None:
        vcolidx = self.cursorVisibleColIndex
    x, w = self._visibleColLayout.get(vcolidx, (0, 0))

    col = self.availCols[vcolidx]

    if rowidx is None:
        rowidx = self.cursorRowIndex

    if rowidx < 0:  # header
        vd.fail(f"Header can't be fuzzy-edited")
    else:
        y, h = self._rowLayout.get(rowidx, (0, 0))
        value = value or col.getDisplayValue(self.rows[self.cursorRowIndex])

    # update local bindings with kwargs.bindings instead of the inverse, to preserve kwargs.bindings for caller

    # end----------------- lines taken from original _input.py -> editCell(...) ------------------------
    # uniq_colvalues, value, col
    uniq_colvalues = set(["apple", "banana", "cherry"])
    choices = [AttrDict(key=v) for v in sorted(uniq_colvalues)]
    preset = value if value in uniq_colvalues else ''
    pick = self.inputPalette(
        prompt=f'{col.name}: ',
        items=choices,
        value_key='key',
        value=preset,
        formatter=lambda m, item, trig: f'{trig} {item.key}' if item else ' ',
    )
    return pick  # VisiData will write this value into the cell


@Sheet.api
def pickeditCellRepeat(sheet):
    'Edit chosen column; after commit, move down and re-run until Esc.'
    col = sheet.cursorCol
    vcolidx = sheet.cursorVisibleColIndex

    try:
        val = sheet.pickeditCell(vcolidx)
    except EscapeException:
        return

    # If user cancels, skip; otherwise set value and queue next iteration.
    if val is not None:
        col.setValues([sheet.cursorRow], val)
        vd.queueCommand('go-down')
        vd.queueCommand('pickedit-cell-repeat')


Sheet.addCommand('E', 'pickedit-cell-repeat', 'pickeditCellRepeat()', 'edit cell and, on Enter, move down and continue editing')

However, after pressing ENTER, CPU goes up to 100%. I filed a bug: #2911