README.md

@@ -131,9 +131,10 @@ columns that read a path into one category — `{/currency.code}` and
 record may not overlap — `{/cat.a}`, or a bare `{/cat}`, beside
 `{/cat.a.b}` is refused, naming the fields to write instead, as
 [One draw, one spelling](#one-draw-one-spelling) refuses that pair inside a single
-format. A column may not reference the record it belongs to by any spelling: `{/users.first}`
+format. Both fences run at load, so a category that loads renders as either shape. A
-or a bare `{/users}` inside `users` describes a draw other than the columns beside
+category never references itself — `{/users.first}` or a bare `{/users}` inside `users`
-it, so put a value two columns share in its own category and reference that. A field hold, transform or
+describes a draw other than the fields beside it — so read a sibling as a path, and put
+a value two fields share in its own category and reference that. A field hold, transform or
 operand ties fields together within one column as always (see
 [Correlated fields](#correlated-fields) and [Decisions](#decisions)).
 
@@ -447,9 +448,9 @@ a render of its own, in no group, so it draws anew, and a [draw group](#draw-gro
 draw apart. A bare reference names no field and makes its own picks each time —
 `{/misc.uuid} {/misc.uuid}` is two draws — while the reference paths inside what it
 renders still read the render's draws. Rejected at `New`: a path that is
-unknown, names a folder, has no folder above, or reads a field not every variant
+unknown, names a folder, has no folder above, reads a field not every variant
-of a choice carries, and a reference that leads back to its own value, directly,
+of a choice carries, or names the category the reference sits in, and a reference
-mutually or through a chain.
+that leads back to its own value, directly, mutually or through a chain.
 
 ### Draw group
 
@@ -690,6 +691,14 @@ tokens add cost in proportion to the output.
   different things — an operand pins the value its own render produced and stops at a
   reference, a path pins every level it passes through — so one walk would carry both
   rules and both scopes anyway, and tell them apart at every step.
+- **A category never references itself, and a record's fences run at load.** A category
+  is one unit: a reference back into it — `{/users.first}` inside `users` — describes a
+  draw other than the fields beside it, so `New` refuses it and the sibling path stays
+  the one spelling for a field of one's own. A value two fields share goes in its own
+  category, which both reference. That settled, a record's column fences run at `New`
+  too, so a category that loads renders as whichever shape is asked for, and a reference
+  reaching back into a category through another one is refused there as the overlap it
+  is.
 - **A record's column set is fixed before the first draw.** Only a category-level
   template is a record: a path descending into a field, or naming a folder or a
   choice, errors. A tail may pass through a choice whose variants carry different

draw.go

@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ func (c *drawCheck) checkDraws(path string, n node) error {
 	if !ok || !c.readsPath(t) {
 		return nil
 	}
-	w := newDrawWalk(nil)
+	w := newDrawWalk()
 	for _, e := range renderEdges(t) {
 		w.edge(t, e, drawAt{group: t.drawGroupKey, route: drawRoute{e.reached(), e.label}})
 	}
@@ -143,6 +143,23 @@ func (c *drawCheck) checkDraws(path string, n node) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// checkRecordDraws fences the columns of a record — a template compiled at the top without a
+// repeat — so a load proves the record view of it as well as the string view.
+func (c *drawCheck) checkRecordDraws(path string, n node) error {
+	t, ok := n.(*template)
+	if !ok || !t.record {
+		return nil
+	}
+	columns := recordColumns(t)
+	if len(columns) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err := checkColumnDraws(t, columns); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", path, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // readsPath reports whether rendering n reads a reference path, short of a repeat, which renders
 // over draws of its own.
 func (c *drawCheck) readsPath(n node) bool {
@@ -206,7 +223,7 @@ func refRead(n node, label string) (arm, node, bool) {
 
 // checkColumnDraws fences a record's columns as one render.
 func checkColumnDraws(t *template, columns []string) error {
-	w := newDrawWalk(t)
+	w := newDrawWalk()
 	for _, name := range columns {
 		w.walk(t.fields[name], drawAt{group: t.drawGroupKey, route: drawRoute{spelling: fmt.Sprintf("column %q", name)}})
 	}
@@ -214,14 +231,12 @@ func checkColumnDraws(t *template, columns []string) error {
 }
 
 // drawWalk gathers what one render reads by reference and what it draws afresh, each by draw group,
-// for check to compare. record is set for a record's columns, which may not read the record back.
+// for check to compare.
 type drawWalk struct {
-	record *template
 	reads []pathRead
 	read  map[drawKey]bool
 	fresh []freshDraw
 	seen  map[drawVisit]bool
-	err    error
 }
 
 // drawAt is where a walk stands: the draw group it draws in, how the render's root reached it, the
@@ -259,15 +274,15 @@ type drawKey struct {
 	key   any
 }
 
-func newDrawWalk(record *template) *drawWalk {
+func newDrawWalk() *drawWalk {
-	return &drawWalk{record: record, read: map[drawKey]bool{}, seen: map[drawVisit]bool{}}
+	return &drawWalk{read: map[drawKey]bool{}, seen: map[drawVisit]bool{}}
 }
 
 // walk follows what rendering n renders. A repeat renders over draws of its own, so the walk stops
 // there.
 func (w *drawWalk) walk(n node, at drawAt) {
 	v := drawVisit{n, at.group, at.held}
-	if w.seen[v] || w.err != nil {
+	if w.seen[v] {
 		return
 	}
 	w.seen[v] = true
@@ -287,13 +302,9 @@ func (w *drawWalk) walk(n node, at drawAt) {
 
 func (w *drawWalk) edge(from node, e renderEdge, at drawAt) {
 	a, target, reads := refRead(from, e.label)
-	switch {
+	if !reads {
-	case !reads:
 		w.walk(e.to, at)
 		return
-	case w.record != nil && target == node(w.record):
-		w.err = fmt.Errorf("%s reads {%s}, which points back at this record; a column cannot read another column — move the shared value into its own category and reference that", at.route.spelling, a.name)
-		return
 	}
 	if k := (drawKey{at.group, a.path}); !w.read[k] {
 		w.read[k] = true
@@ -306,9 +317,6 @@ func (w *drawWalk) edge(from node, e renderEdge, at drawAt) {
 // check refuses what one draw per reference path cannot answer for, reads compared in path order so
 // which pair is reported does not vary.
 func (w *drawWalk) check() error {
-	if w.err != nil {
-		return w.err
-	}
 	sort.SliceStable(w.reads, func(i, j int) bool {
 		if w.reads[i].at.group != w.reads[j].at.group {
 			return w.reads[i].at.group < w.reads[j].at.group

graph.go

@@ -203,6 +203,9 @@ func checkRenders(s nodeScope) error {
 	if err := s(fence.checkDraws); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	if err := s(fence.checkRecordDraws); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	return s((&valueProof{}).checkDatatype)
 }
 

inline.go

@@ -164,6 +164,6 @@ func linkNodeRefs(scope nodeScope, root map[string]node) error {
 				return fmt.Errorf("%s: reference {%s}: an inline template has no folder; write {/%s}", path, name, rest)
 			}
 		}
-		return linkTemplateRefs(nil, path, t, root)
+		return linkTemplateRefs(nil, path, "", t, root)
 	})
 }

record.go

@@ -211,9 +211,6 @@ func recordOf(n node) (*template, []Column, error) {
 	if !t.record {
 		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("carries repeat %d, which composes its format into one string; a record projects columns instead — drop the repeat and render the record again for more rows", t.repeat)
 	}
-	if err := checkColumnDraws(t, names); err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, err
-	}
 	columns := make([]Column, len(names))
 	for i, name := range names {
 		datatype, _ := columnDatatype(t.fields[name]) // checkColumns refused items that disagree wherever DataType is read

reference.go

@@ -72,15 +72,17 @@ func refSegments(name string, folder []string) ([]string, error) {
 // error, never a random render-time one.
 func linkRefs(root map[string]node) error {
 	return eachTemplate(root, func(folder []string, path string, t *template) error {
-		t.keyDrawGroup(strings.Join(strings.Split(path, ".")[:len(folder)+1], "."))
+		category := strings.Join(strings.Split(path, ".")[:len(folder)+1], ".")
-		return linkTemplateRefs(folder, path, t, root)
+		t.keyDrawGroup(category)
+		return linkTemplateRefs(folder, path, category, t, root)
 	})
 }
 
-// linkTemplateRefs binds one template's references against root. A template with
+// linkTemplateRefs binds one template's references against root, refusing one that names the
-// none is left untouched, so an inline format that references nothing costs only
+// category it sits in: a category is a unit, and a reference back into it describes a draw other
-// the refTokens scan.
+// than the fields beside it. A template with no reference is left untouched, so an inline format
-func linkTemplateRefs(folder []string, path string, t *template, root map[string]node) error {
+// that references nothing costs only the refTokens scan.
+func linkTemplateRefs(folder []string, path, category string, t *template, root map[string]node) error {
 	names := refTokens(t.format)
 	if len(names) == 0 {
 		return nil
@@ -99,6 +101,9 @@ func linkTemplateRefs(folder []string, path string, t *template, root map[string
 			return fmt.Errorf("%s: reference {%s}: %w", path, name, err)
 		}
 		key := "/" + strings.Join(head, ".")
+		if category != "" && key == "/"+category {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%s: reference {%s}: names the category it sits in; read a sibling field as a path, or move the shared value into its own category and reference that", path, name)
+		}
 		if err := checkPath(target, tail, key); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("%s: reference {%s}: %w", path, name, err)
 		}