[Feature Request] Make keymap.c human readable

[iicurtis]

There are lots of good keymap.c files in the qmk_firmware repo. Many of them, such as the redox keyboard, or the ergodox have nice graphically readable keyboard layouts in them. I think that it would be awesome to have a human readable keymap.c file that used the keyboard layout either in a full comment block like the ergodox keymaps

/*
 *
 * .---------------------------------------------. .---------------------------------------------.
 * |  EQL  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  | LEFT  | ! RGHT  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  0  | MINS  |
 * !-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------------! !-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------!
 * | DELT  |  Q  |  W  |  E  |  R  |  T  |TG(SYMB| !TG(SYMB|  Y  |  U  |  I  |  O  |  P  | BSLS  |
 * !-------+-----+-----+-----x-----x-----!       ! !       !-----x-----x-----+-----+-----+-------!
 * | BSPC  |  A  |  S  |  D  |  F  |  G  |-------! !-------!  H  |  J  |  K  |  L  |LT(MD|GUI_T(K|
 * !-------+-----+-----+-----x-----x-----!ALL_T(K! !MEH_T(K!-----x-----x-----+-----+-----+-------!
 * | LSFT  |CTL_T|  X  |  C  |  V  |  B  |       | !       |  N  |  M  |COMM | DOT |CTL_T| RSFT  |
 * '-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------------' '-------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------'
 *  |LT(SYM|QUOT |LALT(|LEFT |RGHT |                             ! UP  |DOWN |LBRC |RBRC | FN1  |
 *  '------------------------------'                             '------------------------------'
 *                               .---------------. .---------------.
 *                               |ALT_T(K| LGUI  | ! LALT  |CTL_T(K|
 *                       .-------+-------+-------! !-------+-------+-------.
 *                       !  SPC  ! BSPC  | HOME  | ! PGUP  |  TAB  !  ENT  !
 *                       !       !       !-------! !-------!       !       !
 *                       |       |       |  END  | ! PGDN  |       |       |
 *                       '-----------------------' '-----------------------'
 */

or in a comment/code block like the redox uses.

[_QWERTY] = LAYOUT(
  //┌────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┐                                           ┌────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┐
     KC_NAGR ,KC_1    ,KC_2    ,KC_3    ,KC_4    ,KC_5    ,                                            KC_6    ,KC_7    ,KC_8    ,KC_9    ,KC_0    ,KC_NAMI ,
  //├────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┐                         ┌────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
     KC_TAB  ,KC_Q    ,KC_W    ,KC_E    ,KC_R    ,KC_T    ,SYM_L   ,                          SYM_L   ,KC_Y    ,KC_U    ,KC_I    ,KC_O    ,KC_P    ,KC_EQL  ,
  //├────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤                         ├────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
     KC_ESC  ,KC_A    ,KC_S    ,KC_D    ,KC_F    ,KC_G    ,KC_LBRC ,                          KC_RBRC ,KC_H    ,KC_J    ,KC_K    ,KC_L    ,KC_SCLN ,KC_QUOT ,
  //├────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┐       ┌────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
     KC_LSFT ,KC_Z    ,KC_X    ,KC_C    ,KC_V    ,KC_B    ,KC_ADPU ,KC_PGDN ,        KC_HOME ,KC_ADEN ,KC_N    ,KC_M    ,KC_COMM ,KC_DOT  ,KC_BKSL ,KC_RSFT ,
  //├────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────┬───┴────┬───┼────────┼────────┤       ├────────┼────────┼───┬────┴───┬────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┤
     KC_LGUI ,KC_PPLS ,KC_PMNS ,KC_ALAS ,     KC_CTPL ,    KC_BSPC ,KC_DEL  ,        KC_ENT  ,KC_SPC  ,    KC_RALT ,     KC_LEFT ,KC_DOWN ,KC_UP   ,KC_RGHT 
  //└────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┘    └────────┘   └────────┴────────┘       └────────┴────────┘   └────────┘    └────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┘
),

There are already tools out there for this, such as the keymapviz project.

[trebsoj]

+1

[skullydazed]

Since this was opened we have introduced the qmk info command, which will show you a graphical representation of the layout if given a -l flag, and will show you the matrix locations if given the -m flag. You can build on this if you want to include it in your own keymap.

An example:

You can also use keymap.json instead of keymap.c. You can create/edit these files in QMK Configurator which gives you a nice way to both visualize and edit your keymap. We are actively working on adding support for more features and custom code to JSON keymaps.

We currently have almost 1500 keyboards in QMK Firmware. That extrapolates out into thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of keymaps. The likelyhood of someone creating hand-crafted ascii art for all of those keymaps is small.