Support non-normal keybinds

[musjj]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The ability to lazy load a plugin using non-normal keybinds would be pretty useful.

Describe the solution you'd like
Something similar to: wbthomason/packer.nvim#1063

{
  "a" -- normal mode
  { "i", "b" } -- insert mode
  v = "c" -- visual mode
  x = { "d", "e" } -- select mode
}

Describe alternatives you've considered
I think this can be somewhat achieved using manual mappings in init = ..., but something more declarative would be nice.

[oblitum]

Attempting a rewriting here and just hit this.

[folke]

I'm not planning to extending the keys handler soon. I want to keep it simple for now.

As you mentioned yourself, it's better to use init for more advanced keymaps. There you can also include things like a description or even just have the real mapping there already and auto-lazy-load on require or on a command.

[musjj]

Hmm, I don't think non-normal mode keybinds should be considered any more advanced that normal mode keybinds.
Yes, you can just use init, but then the keys wouldn't show up in the profiling and active handlers.
So currently, in order to change the mode of a keymap, not only the user would have to handroll their own boilerplate to generate the keybinds, they would also end up having a degraded debugging experience.
If you're not interested in implementing it, would you be open to a PR in the future? Once I get more familiar with this repository, I'd be willing to give it a try.

[folke]

@musjj can you give me an example where you'd use that?

I just set most of my mappings in init(). It's better for perfmance anyway, since other wise the same key has to be mapped twice. And it's more concise. Just in init, not in both keys and config()

For plugins that set keymaps internally, I use the keys handler.

Since with lazy, lua modules are automayically loaded, calling a function from a keymap created in init() is all you need.

so would be good to see some use-cases where setting mode is interesting.

[musjj]

There are plugins that maps non-normal mode keybinds as entry points.
For example: https://github.com/kylechui/nvim-surround
By default, it maps <C-g>s, <C-g>S in insert mode and S, gS in visual mode (and also other mappings in normal mode).
I'm pretty sure this is a common pattern in plugins, so I don't see a reason to assume that a plugin's built-in keymap is always in normal-mode.

[Massolari]

I ran into the same issue when trying to lazy-load Comment.nvim.
In packer I have:

keys = { "gc", { "v", "gc" } }

How would I achieve the same in lazy?

[oblitum]

@Massolari explanation here (check discussion following to better get it). The plugin you refer provides a lua module, so you might load that from inside a mapping set up in init. The main purpose of the mapping isn't module loading, but you do it in the process coupled to the mapping's main function. Not as pretty, but as @folke said, marginally more efficient (less mapping round trips).

[folke]

I just added more advanced ways to define lazy key mappings. Check the docs here https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim#%EF%B8%8F-lazy-key-mappings

[folke]

@Massolari you can now do:

keys = { "gc", { "gc", mode = "v"} }