[macros] Macro metadata and more

[frosencrantz]

Feature Requests:

1. No Help Description for Macros

   • Issue: There is no way to add a help description to a macro, making it difficult to understand the purpose and usage of a macro without inspecting the code directly.
   • Desired Behavior: There should be a way to attach a description or help text to a macro that can be accessed when needed.

2. Attaching Keystrokes to Macros

   • Request: It is not possible to associate specific keybindings with macros. It would be useful to bind macros to keystrokes for faster execution without having to manually invoke them each time.
   • Expected Behavior: Allow macros to be bound to keystrokes or key combinations, similar to how VisiData allows keybindings for other actions.

3. Input Parameters for Macros

   • Request: Macros currently cannot take input parameters, limiting their flexibility. It would be useful to pass parameters into macros, enabling more dynamic and reusable macro behavior.
   • Expected Behavior: Allow macros to accept input parameters, which can be used within the macro logic for customized behavior.

Possible Bugs:

1. Deleting Macros Corrupts macros.jsonl File

   • Issue: When trying to delete a macro by removing rows from the macro sheet, it seems to corrupt the macros.jsonl file, leading to potential data integrity issues and failure to load or use macros properly.
   • Expected Behavior: Deleting macros should be a safe operation that is documented and doesn't cause corruption or issues with the macro storage file.

2. Asynchronous Issues with addcol-shell Command in Macros

   • Issue: There appear to be asynchronous issues when using the addcol-shell command within macros, possibly leading to race conditions or unexpected behavior.
   • Expected Behavior: addcol-shell should work synchronously or handle asynchronous execution properly when used in macros.

[frosencrantz]

I mentioned the macro input parameters in #2438 (reply in thread):

would it make sense to have some way to pass input to a macro? Maybe as part of running the macro, it could take input. It looks like it would also be useful to be able to provide a "type" for history purposes, and the ability to specify 'defaultLast=True'.