Answer stability round 1 and product-owner round 1: List advertises no path into a level carrying a repeat, a refusal that says to read the level whole, and plainer walk-position docs

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@ replacement, and each removed path, column or flag.
   `{/city[Oslo]..country.name}` renders `Norway`, and `.` after it steps down again,
   drawing afresh. `New` refuses a `..` naming anything but the parent table, and a
   selector after a `..`.
-- A path given to `Fake` or the CLI may not read into a level carrying a
+- A path, given to `Fake` or the CLI or referenced in a template, may not read into a
-  `repeat`, as a reference may not: `Fake("x.a")` where `x` carries `"repeat": 3` fails,
+  level carrying a `repeat`, and `List` advertises none that does: where `x` carries
-  naming the level `x`.
+  `"repeat": 3`, `Fake("x.a")` fails naming the level `x`, and `Fake("x")` renders it
+  whole.
 - Every `{…}` draws afresh, and a name is the one way to keep a pick: `{p.a} {p.b}`,
   `{w} {uppercase(w)}` and `{/person.first} {/person.last}` are two draws each, which
   `{p as q}{q.a} {q.b}` and `{/person as n}{n.first} {n.last}` make one.

README.md

@@ -795,7 +795,8 @@ token {p.postal-code}: not every variant of this 2-way choice carries "postal-co
 ```
 
 The sub-fields stay addressable — `Fake("address.place.locality")` renders, and
-`List` advertises it. A path may not read into a level carrying a `repeat`.
+`List` advertises it. A path may not read into a level carrying a `repeat`, and `List`
+advertises none that does; read that level whole.
 
 ### Performance
 

fejkdata.go

@@ -113,67 +113,71 @@ func (c config) load() (folder, error) {
 }
 
 // List returns the sorted dotted paths Fake renders: each category and every field,
-// column and linked table below it, a direct descent at a time. A choice consumes no
+// column and linked table below it, a direct descent at a time, stopping at a level
-// segment, so a path continues through one only where every variant carries it.
+// carrying a repeat. A choice consumes no segment, so a path continues through one
+// only where every variant carries it.
 func (f *Generator) List() []string {
 	f.mu.Lock()
 	defer f.mu.Unlock()
-	out := paths(&f.root)
+	out := paths(&f.root, false)
 	sort.Strings(out)
 	return out
 }
 
 // paths lists the dot paths addressable from n, relative to it, where "" is n
 // itself. A folder has no value of its own, so it contributes only its children's.
-func paths(n node) []string {
+// intoRepeats lists the fields under a level carrying a repeat too, which a path
+// reaches only to be refused.
+func paths(n node, intoRepeats bool) []string {
 	switch n := n.(type) {
 	case *folder:
 		var out []string
 		for _, name := range sortedNames(n.children) {
-			for _, p := range paths(n.children[name]) {
+			out = appendUnder(out, name, paths(n.children[name], intoRepeats))
-				out = append(out, join(name, p))
-			}
 		}
 		for _, name := range sortedNames(n.unloaded) {
-			for _, p := range n.unloaded[name].paths {
+			out = appendUnder(out, name, n.unloaded[name].paths)
-				out = append(out, join(name, p))
-			}
 		}
 		return out
 	case *template:
 		out := []string{""}
+		if n.repeat > 1 && !intoRepeats {
+			return out
+		}
 		for _, name := range sortedNames(n.fields) {
-			for _, p := range paths(n.fields[name]) {
+			out = appendUnder(out, name, paths(n.fields[name], intoRepeats))
-				out = append(out, join(name, p))
-			}
 		}
 		return out
-	case *nullItem:
-		return []string{""}
 	case *table:
-		return tablePaths(n)
+		return tablePaths(n, intoRepeats)
-	case *tableColumn, *tableRow:
+	case *tableColumn, *tableRow, *nullItem:
 		return []string{""}
 	case *choice:
-		out := []string{""}
+		shared := n.shared
-		for p := range n.shared {
+		if !intoRepeats {
-			out = append(out, p)
+			shared = sharedPaths(n.items, false)
 		}
-		return out
+		return append([]string{""}, sortedNames(shared)...)
 	default:
 		panic(invariant.Broken("paths has no case for node %T", n))
 	}
 }
 
+// appendUnder appends each of ps to out under name.
+func appendUnder(out []string, name string, ps []string) []string {
+	for _, p := range ps {
+		out = append(out, join(name, p))
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
 // tablePaths is a table's columns, then each table linked to it under its name: the
 // direct descents, a step at a time.
-func tablePaths(t *table) []string {
+func tablePaths(t *table, intoRepeats bool) []string {
 	out := append([]string{""}, t.rows.Header()...)
 	sort.Strings(out[1:])
 	for _, c := range t.rows.Children() {
-		for _, p := range paths(c.Owner()) {
+		out = appendUnder(out, c.Segment(), paths(c.Owner(), intoRepeats))
-			out = append(out, join(c.Segment(), p))
-		}
 	}
 	return out
 }
@@ -181,13 +185,13 @@ func tablePaths(t *table) []string {
 // sharedPaths is the sub-paths every item carries — the only ones a path may step
 // through a choice to reach. It intersects, bailing as soon as the set
 // is empty, which is immediate for a choice of plain strings.
-func sharedPaths(items []node) map[string]bool {
+func sharedPaths(items []node, intoRepeats bool) map[string]bool {
-	shared := subPaths(items[0])
+	shared := subPaths(items[0], intoRepeats)
 	for _, it := range items[1:] {
 		if len(shared) == 0 {
 			return nil
 		}
-		next := subPaths(it)
+		next := subPaths(it, intoRepeats)
 		for p := range shared {
 			if !next[p] {
 				delete(shared, p)
@@ -197,10 +201,10 @@ func sharedPaths(items []node) map[string]bool {
 	return shared
 }
 
-// subPaths is paths(n) as a set, without the empty path that means n itself.
+// subPaths is paths(n, intoRepeats) as a set, without the empty path that means n itself.
-func subPaths(n node) map[string]bool {
+func subPaths(n node, intoRepeats bool) map[string]bool {
 	out := map[string]bool{}
-	for _, p := range paths(n) {
+	for _, p := range paths(n, intoRepeats) {
 		if p != "" {
 			out[p] = true
 		}

node.go

@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ func compileChoice(items []any, pos position) (node, error) {
 		}
 		c.cum = cum
 	}
-	c.shared = sharedPaths(c.items)
+	c.shared = sharedPaths(c.items, true)
 	return c, nil
 }
 

path.go

@@ -142,9 +142,12 @@ func (w *pathCheck) walk(n node, tail []string) (node, error) {
 	return at.n, nil
 }
 
+func repeatLevelError(level string) error {
+	return fmt.Errorf("the level %q carries a repeat, so a path cannot read one draw of it; read %q whole", level, level)
+}
+
 // pathPos is where a walk stands: the node reached, the tail left to walk from it, and whether
-// the step into it came from a row of an ancestor table, so a table there reads a row even
+// it descended there, as route reads it.
-// where the tail is empty.
 type pathPos struct {
 	n         node
 	tail      []string
@@ -154,8 +157,8 @@ type pathPos struct {
 func (p pathPos) more() bool { return len(p.tail) > 0 || p.descended }
 
 // takeStep moves at past the step its tail starts with, from its node, which is no choice, and
-// appends what it takes to steps: a field, or the route a table passes. whole is the path at's
+// appends what it takes to steps: a field, or the route a table passes. whole is the full path,
-// tail ends, and level names its head in errors.
+// at.tail its unwalked end, and level names its head in errors.
 func takeStep(at *pathPos, whole []string, level string, steps []pathStep, pins *pinSet) ([]pathStep, error) {
 	i := len(whole) - len(at.tail)
 	switch x := at.n.(type) {
@@ -168,7 +171,7 @@ func takeStep(at *pathPos, whole []string, level string, steps []pathStep, pins
 		return routeSteps(steps, pins, x, r, i)
 	case *template:
 		if x.repeat > 1 && !grammar.IsSelector(at.tail[0]) {
-			return steps, fmt.Errorf("the level %q carries a repeat, which a path reading one draw of it cannot apply", join(level, strings.Join(whole[:i], ".")))
+			return steps, repeatLevelError(join(level, strings.Join(whole[:i], ".")))
 		}
 	}
 	next, err := stepInto(at.n, at.tail[0])

render_test.go

@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ func TestNodeSwitchesHandleEveryKind(t *testing.T) {
 	for name, call := range map[string]func(node){
 		"columnItems": func(n node) { columnItems(n) },
 		"contained":   func(n node) { contained(n) },
-		"paths":       func(n node) { paths(n) },
+		"paths":       func(n node) { paths(n, false) },
 		"prove":       func(n node) { (&valueProof{}).prove(n) },
 		"render": func(n node) {
 			var frames frameStack

shipped_test.go

@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func shippedIndexSource(whole *Generator) ([]byte, error) {
 		if t, isTable := s.n.(*table); isTable && t.rows.Options().Parent != "" {
 			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "parent: %q, ", t.rows.Options().Parent)
 		}
-		ps := paths(s.n)
+		ps := paths(s.n, false)
 		sort.Strings(ps)
 		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "paths: %#v},\n", ps)
 	}