Vim: Space chords not working at all

[ericridgeway]

Describe the bug
I normally use <space>f, <space>e, <space>g, etc. for a lot of my Vim keystrokes. I can not seem to get them to work in VSCodeVim though. I'm on Windows 10 and I used to use GVim

To Reproduce
In my settings.json:

{
    "vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        {
            "before": ["<space>","f"],
            "commands": ["workbench.action.files.save"]
        },
}

Does nothing :( I've tried as many variations as I can think

Near workaround but that isn't enough
Previously, with a similar problem trying to bind <S-space>, I found a workaround by putting the following in keybindings.json (and skipping VSCodeVim's settings.json altogether)

[
    {
        "key": "shift+space",
        "command": "extension.vim_escape",
        "when": "editorTextFocus"
     },
]

I thought maybe I'd give up on settings.json altogether and just only use VSCode commands in the keybindings.json:

    {
        "key": "space f",
        "command": "workbench.action.files.save",
        "when": "editorTextFocus"
     },

Works like a charm. Actually see's my <space>f and does something :|
Except, I realized to my horror, doesn't care what Vim mode he's in. So I can't type anything with a space followed by an f while in insert mode. RIP

Environment (please complete the following information):

Extension | Author (truncated) | Version
-- | -- | --
elixir-ls | Jak | 0.2.21
vim | vsc | 0.15.0

CPUs | Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7500U CPU @ 2.70GHz (4 x 2904)
-- | --
GPU Status | 2d_canvas: enabledflash_3d: enabledflash_stage3d: enabledflash_stage3d_baseline: enabledgpu_compositing: enabledmultiple_raster_threads: enabled_onnative_gpu_memory_buffers: disabled_softwarerasterization: disabled_softwarevideo_decode: enabledvideo_encode: enabledvpx_decode: enabledwebgl: enabledwebgl2: enabled
Memory (System) | 31.89GB (24.54GB free)
Process Argv | C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe D:\Eric\Backup\ProgProjs\ElixirProjects\2018-07-13_BowlingWilliam\README.md
Screen Reader | no
VM | 0%

[xconverge]

what about

"before": [" ","f"],

[adrianord]

I use space chords, either set "vim.leader": " " or use the above suggestion. Using vim.leader lets you map things as "before": ["<leader>","[key]"], and so on.

[ryym]

I run into this issue too. I tried both "before": ["<space>", "w"] and "before": [" ", "f"] but neither of them worked.

• VSCode: 1.27.2
• Vim extension: 0.16.5

Currently I am using vim.leader and it is fine, though.

[ifnk]

"vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
{
"before": ["", "c"],
"after": ["v", "a","\""]
},
{
"before": ["", "c"],
"after": ["v", "a","\""]
},
i using space or tab ,it's also can't work......it's vscode vim ' problem?

[belkka]

Same problem. I noticed that these keybindings work:

["z", "x"]
["g", "x"]
["f", "x"]
["t", "x"]
["q", "x"]
["r", "x"]

and these do not

[" ", "x"]
["x", "x"]
["c", "x"]
["v", "x"]
["b", "x"]
["n", "x"]
["y", "x"]
["h", "x"]
["d", "x"]
["s", "x"]

Looks like commands

• with immediate effect (space, x, v, b, n, h)
• interacting with registers (c, d, s, y)

cannot be first in mapping. On the other side

• commands waiting for single symbol input (f, t, q, r)
• keys not mapped to any commands (z, g)

can be used.
Note: all above "before" arrays were tested with following "commands" definition:

        {
            "before": [" ", "x"],
            "commands": ["editor.action.referenceSearch.trigger"]
        }

Looks like serious flaw in VSCodeVim mapping mechanism