The kb-macro.repeatPlaybackTillEndOfFile command does NOT have an optional sequence argument

[FrancoisMongeau]

Near the bottom of the ReadMe, it says:

The kb-macro.playback command has an optional sequence argument to specify a 
command sequence to playback instead of the last recorded sequence.

If I use kb-macro.repeatPlaybackTillEndOfFile binded to a shortcut key (eg Ctrl-Shift-Alt-s) in keybindings.json (see example below), the argument sequence is ignored (or seems to be ignored) and it is the last macro that I recorded that is executed.

   {
      "key": "ctrl+shift+alt+s",
      "command": "kb-macro.repeatPlaybackTillEndOfFile ",
      "args": {
          "sequence": [
              { "command": "cursorRightSelect" },
              { "command": "cursorRightSelect" },
              { "command": "cursorRightSelect" },
              { "command": "cursorRightSelect" },
              { "command": "cursorRightSelect" },
              { "command": "cursorRightSelect" },
              { "command": "cursorRightSelect" },
              { "command": "cursorRightSelect" },
              { "command": "deleteRight" },
              { "command": "cursorRight" },

I understand the kb-macro.repeatPlaybackTillEndOfFile does not support this argument, am I right? Could it?

I tried a work around, but it does not work as I expected:
If I use kb-macro.playback binded to the shortcut key, the arg sequence is played. Good. Now if I hit Ctrl-Shift-P and select Repeat Playback Till End Of File from the drop down, it plays back the last macro I recorded, not the macro I just executed.

So, I see two possible improvements:
1 Support argument sequence in kb-macro.repeatPlaybackTillEndOfFile.
2 When using Ctrl-Shift-P and select Repeat Playback Till End Of File it should run the last macro that was executed, not the last macro that was recorded. Or add kb-macro.repeatLastPlaybackTillEndOfFile?

[tshino]

Thank you for pointing out that! You are correct.

I think your first suggestion is good 👍. I will work on that later.

The second suggestion sounds interesting, but let me think about it.

[tshino]

The command names 'Repeat Playback' and 'Repeat Playback Till End of File' were a bit misleading indeed.
They repeatedly perform playback of the last recorded macro. It does not repeat the last playback.

Changing the behavior of an existing command without introducing any new argument is not good. Creating a new command is better.

Thinking about use cases of performing last performed playback, I think we may want to have all three types of new playback commands:

1. perform the last playback once again
2. perform the last playback N times repeatedly
3. perform the last playback repeatedly till the end of the file

[FrancoisMongeau]

I totally agree. As I suggested, possibly something like kb-macro.repeatLastPlaybackTillEndOfFile?
I really like this product so far. I find it easy to use and the learning curve is not steep. Thanks for your work.
What is the long term plan/vision? How can I help?

[tshino]

It is easy to imagine having a set of shortcut keys in the keybindings.json for easy daily coding or something. Some would map to a single command. Others would map to the playback command since each is a sequence of multiple commands.
Then I came to a question. What is the expectation for 'perform the last playback'?
It may make sense if one has an intended set of candidates for 'the last playback'. Then it is better to mark the candidate playbacks explicitly to distinguish them from other random shortcut keys.

[FrancoisMongeau]

Apologies: I do not understand the question.

[tshino]

Sorry for the confusion. I didn't mean to ask you a question; I was just wondering. I want to make this extension as useful for people as possible without introducing unnecessary features.

[tshino]

Hi, I selected the first one from your two ideas. The release v0.14.0 has that as a new feature.
I decided not to make the 'repeat the last playback' feature since it seems hard to understand what it does or when to use it.

Thank you for great suggestions!

[FrancoisMongeau]

Thanks @tshino ! I will try asap and let you know how it goes.