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Sanity checking an idea for editing yaml without wanting to throw my laptop out the window

Often find myself getting frustrated editing yaml, and it seems to be used everywhere for some reason I cannot fathom

I have an idea to write an editor plugin that will, when opening a yaml file, convert it to json (or some other less painful configuration language), then convert back on save. I don't know enough about yaml syntax to know if that's possible or if there's some quirk that makes them not completely cross compatible

Or alternatively if it exists a better CLI tool for editing yaml than just a normal text editor because I'm getting sick of pasting in a block of yaml and then having to fix the 8 indentation errors that somehow spawn from that

bionicjoey ,

I have an idea to write an editor plugin that will, when opening a yaml file, convert it to json (or some other less painful configuration language), then convert back on save. I don't know enough about yaml syntax to know if that's possible or if there's some quirk that makes them not completely cross compatible

You could probably do this pretty easily with a simple python script. Use the yaml parser to convert into a dictionary, use the JSON renderer to save that dictionary into a pipe file. Launch the visual editor of your choice on that file. When the editor exits, read the file as JSON, parse it back into a dictionary, and use the yaml renderer to save that dictionary back into the original file.

flashgnash OP ,

Yeah that was exactly what I was thinking, and/or doing a similar thing in lua as an nvim plugin

That said I'm not sure if neovim would support something like that

eleitl ,

Try neovim or something. Codium if you like GUIey things.

flashgnash OP ,

I'm using neovim. It doesn't magically solve my problems with yaml though

eleitl ,

I'm not a power yaml user by any means, but syntax highlighting and linting pipelines do help.

wisplike_sustainer ,

YAML to JSON is probably doable, JSON back to YAML not so much.

There are multiple ways to mark multiline strings in YAML. Then there are anchors, like bionicjoey mentioned. Also comments, YAML has them. You'd have to have some way to retain the extra information, if you want to make the full round trip.

Here's an example:

def-db: &def-db
    # here be dragons
    login: admin
    passwd: nimda
    
prod:
    db: *def-db
    desc: |
        I'm a teapot
        short and stout

dev:
    db: 
        <<: *def-db
        passwd: pass
    desc: "I'm a teapot\nshort and stout\n"

converted to JSON looks like this

{
    "def-db": {
        "login": "admin",
        "passwd": "nimda"
    },
    "prod": {
        "db": {
            "login": "admin",
            "passwd": "nimda"
        },
        "desc": "I'm a teapot\nshort and stout\n"
    },
    "dev": {
        "db": {
            "login": "admin",
            "passwd": "pass"
        },
        "desc": "I'm a teapot\nshort and stout\n"
    }
}
girsaysdoom ,

I think the difference is that it sounds they are just looking for something JSON-like, just enough to edit and save a change. It might not need to be valid.

wisplike_sustainer ,

So, a new not-a-markup-language, only human readable and editable, and objectively better than its predecessor? Well, it's all according to tradition. I believe YAML got its start the same way.

girsaysdoom ,

That's hilarious. I didn't know that

flashgnash OP ,

No, I was thinking of actual JSON because it makes it easier to write a plugin (just use built in libraries to import and export configurations)

That said I suppose I could use the built in library and then re-inject comments after the fact

girsaysdoom ,

Oh, my mistake. Disregard me then.

flashgnash OP ,

Not a terrible idea to add bits into the JSON but it makes it much harder to program, going for a quick and easy fix here rather than writing my own parser

girsaysdoom ,

Maybe a 3rd file would work? You could add all of the relevant data there and when translating between one language or the other it would prune any comments or unsupported features as the output is generated.

flashgnash OP ,

My plan is not to have multiple files at all and only have the JSON be in memory, or at least if there is a second one have it be temporary and deleted on exit

The problem with the approach of having an intermediary format is I need to create the intermediate format, and given yaml starts for yet another markup language that doesn't seem like a good idea (also a ton of effort to reinvent the wheel)

flashgnash OP ,

Comments are an issue I'd have to think about. Would prebuilt libraries for importing/exporting data from/to these languages not handle the multiline strings for me?

What do anchors do in yaml I've never heard of them before

5C5C5C ,

All JSON is valid YAML, so after you've converted the file to JSON, just... save it with a YAML file extension and call it a day..?

Ltcpanic ,

Same bruv. I hear your cries of pain, sympathize greatly

multifredding ,

I could see some problems when working with yaml anchors, otherwise the conversion should work fine.
But yeah, using a good editor should fix most problems and would be much easier

flashgnash OP ,

What kind of problems? I'm unfamiliar with anchors in yaml

multifredding ,

They are basically constants where you can define reoccurring sections once and reference them multiple times throughout the file. A processor will then resolve these.
As gar as I know, there is no comparable concept in JSON so they could get lost in translation

bionicjoey ,

What text editor are you using? In theory most should detect a yaml file and adjust their indentation behaviour appropriately. I edit yaml in VSCode and Kate and it's never been a problem.

flashgnash OP ,

I use nvim for it, it works but I'd rather not have to deal with indentation in the first place

bionicjoey ,

Well in that case, I have good news. All valid JSON is also valid yaml. It's a superset by definition. So if you really hate yaml so much you can just write your yaml files as JSON and the parser should handle it fine. Just be aware that yaml does some more agressive typecasting when quotes are omitted, so you may need to figure out which value is actually being used when converting.

flashgnash OP ,

Seriously? Chatgpt told me that once and I thought it was just hallucinating

Problem is it's for configuration of other services I didn't write, I would just use JSON in the first place if I were defining the schema

bionicjoey ,

You should try looking up the language spec rather than hoping a text generator will generate truthful results. What's even the point of asking for answers if you don't trust that the thing you're asking won't just bullshit you?

flashgnash OP ,

Can usually tell when it's obviously bullshitting me and verify it if it's not. You can often get it to correct itself if you call it out

(This was the first time I've seen it incorrectly "corrected" itsself)

I think I did a quick search but it seemed so strange to me I just wrote it off straight away

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