Add cursorless_create_destination action to talon api (#2402)

This came up during a pairing session. I wanted to do something like:

```talon
transform <user.cursorless_target>:
    old = user.cursorless_get_text(cursorless_target, 1)
    new = some_transformation(old)
    destination = user.cursorless_create_destination(cursorless_target)
    user.cursorless_insert(destination, new)
```

Notice I can't use our existing `user.cursorless_insert` out of the box
because it expects a destination, so we need a way to make a destination
from a target

## Checklist

- [-] I have added
[tests](https://www.cursorless.org/docs/contributing/test-case-recorder/)
- [x] I have updated the
[docs](https://github.com/cursorless-dev/cursorless/tree/main/docs) and
[cheatsheet](https://github.com/cursorless-dev/cursorless/tree/main/cursorless-talon/src/cheatsheet)
- [x] I have not broken the cheatsheet

changelog/2024-06-addCreateDestination.md

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+tags: [enhancement, talon]
+pullRequest: 2402
+---
+
+- Add `user.cursorless_create_destination` to the public API. See the [Talon-side api docs](../docs/user/customization.md#cursorless-public-api) and the example code in the [How do I run a custom Python transformation on a target?](../docs/user/how-to.md#how-do-i-run-a-custom-python-transformation-on-a-target) section for more information.

cursorless-talon/src/public_api.py

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+from talon import Module
+
+from .targets.target_types import (
+    CursorlessDestination,
+    InsertionMode,
+    ListTarget,
+    PrimitiveDestination,
+    PrimitiveTarget,
+    RangeTarget,
+)
+
+mod = Module()
+
+
+@mod.action_class
+class Actions:
+    def cursorless_create_destination(
+        target: ListTarget | RangeTarget | PrimitiveTarget,  # pyright: ignore [reportGeneralTypeIssues]
+        insertion_mode: InsertionMode = "to",
+    ) -> CursorlessDestination:
+        """Cursorless: Create destination from target"""
+        return PrimitiveDestination(insertion_mode, target)

cursorless-talon/src/targets/target_types.py

@@ -46,11 +46,13 @@ class ListTarget:
     PrimitiveTarget,
 ]
 
+InsertionMode = Literal["to", "before", "after"]
+
 
 @dataclass
 class PrimitiveDestination:
     type = "primitive"
-    insertionMode: Literal["to", "before", "after"]
+    insertionMode: InsertionMode
     target: Union[ListTarget, RangeTarget, PrimitiveTarget]
 
 

docs/user/customization.md

@@ -142,6 +142,9 @@ Cursorless exposes a couple talon actions and captures that you can use to defin
 - `<user.cursorless_target>`
   Represents a cursorless target, such as `"air"`, `"this"`, `"air past bat"`, `"air and bat"`, `"funk air past token bat and class cap"`, etc
 
+- `<user.cursorless_destination>`
+  Represents a cursorless destination, such as `"to air"`, `"before this"`, `"after air and bat"`, etc
+
 ### Public Talon actions
 
 - `user.cursorless_command(action_id: str, target: cursorless_target)`:
@@ -158,6 +161,8 @@ Cursorless exposes a couple talon actions and captures that you can use to defin
 - `user.cursorless_insert(destination: CursorlessDestination, text: Union[str, List[str]])`:
   Insert text at destination.
   eg: `user.cursorless_insert(cursorless_destination, "hello")`
+- `user.cursorless_create_destination(target: CursorlessTarget, insertion_mode: Literal["to", "before", "after"] = "to") -> CursorlessDestination`:
+  Create a destination from a target. The insertion mode can be `to`, `before`, or `after`, and defaults to `to`, which will replace the target. See [How do I run a custom Python transformation on a target?](./how-to.md#how-do-i-run-a-custom-python-transformation-on-a-target) for example usage.
 - `user.cursorless_reformat(target: CursorlessTarget, formatters: str)`
   Reformat target with specified formatters.
   eg: `user.cursorless_reformat(cursorless_target, "ALL_CAPS")`

docs/user/how-to.md

@@ -46,3 +46,44 @@ You can now say eg `"echo air past bat"`.
 See the [Talon-side api docs](./customization.md#cursorless-public-api) for more on creating custom Cursorless commands
 
 :::
+
+## How do I run a custom Python transformation on a target?
+
+1. Add the transformation to a Python file in your Talon user directory:
+
+   ```python
+    from talon import Module
+
+    mod = Module()
+
+
+    @mod.action_class
+    class Actions:
+        def hello(text: str) -> str:
+            """Returns a greeting for the given text."""
+            return f"Hello, {text}!"
+   ```
+
+2. Add a spoken form to your `vscode.talon`:
+
+   ```talon
+   hello <user.cursorless_target>:
+       old = user.cursorless_get_text(cursorless_target, true)
+       new = user.hello(old)
+       destination = user.cursorless_create_destination(cursorless_target)
+       user.cursorless_insert(destination, new)
+   ```
+
+Now, for example if you have a target `aardvark` with a hat over the `a`, you can say `"hello air"` to replace it with `Hello, aardvark!`.
+
+:::info
+
+See the [Talon-side api docs](./customization.md#cursorless-public-api) for more on creating custom Cursorless commands
+
+:::
+
+:::info
+
+Notice how we use `cursorless_create_destination` to create a destination for the result of the transformation. The `cursorless_insert` action expects a destination, so that it knows whether to replace, insert before, or insert after the target. See [Destinations](reference/destinations.md) for more information.
+
+:::