Improve a keycommand macro

Question

My question is about how to improve an already working macro via the keycommand package. The small inclusion shows my efforts so far:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=0.95in]{geometry}
\usepackage[draft,columns=1]{typogrid}
\usepackage{varwidth}
\usepackage{xkeyval}
\usepackage{keycommand}
% patch by Joseph Wright ("bug in the definition of \ifcommandkey (2010/04/27 v3.1415)"),
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/35794/
\begingroup
  \makeatletter
  \catcode`\/=8 %
  \@firstofone
    {
      \endgroup
      \renewcommand{\ifcommandkey}[1]{%
        \csname @\expandafter \expandafter \expandafter
        \expandafter \expandafter \expandafter \expandafter
        \kcmd@nbk \commandkey {#1}//{first}{second}//oftwo\endcsname
      }
    }
%=======================%
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\definecolor{tikzgray}{HTML}{E5E5FF}
\definecolor{tikzyellow}{HTML}{F4F4CC}
\makeatletter
\newkeycommand\TikzBoxx[
    bool draft=false,
    rule=.5in,
    width=.811\textwidth,
    text={no text here},
    scolor=tikzyellow,
    lcolor=tikzgray]
    [1]{%
    \ifcommandkey{\commandkey{draft}}
        {\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 0mm and 2mm,box/.style={rectangle,draw}]}
        {\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 0mm and 2mm,box/.style={rectangle}]}
    \rule{\commandkey{rule}}{0pt}%
    \node (n1) [box, fill=\commandkey{scolor}] {\commandkey{text}};%
    \node (n2) [box, fill=\commandkey{lcolor}, text width=\commandkey{width}, below right=of n1.north east] {%
        \vbox{\noindent\ #1}
    };%
    \end{tikzpicture}
}
\makeatother
\def \HELLO {Hello World!}
\def \LTEXT {
Each key (may) store some \emph{tokens} and there exist\newline%
commands, described below, for setting, getting, and\newline%
changing the tokens stored in a key. However, you will\newline%
only very seldom use these commands directly.%
}
\begin{document}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
\TikzBox[text=\HELLO]{\LTEXT}
\end{document}

It works, but to my mind, it is also ugly. The problem is in the brute force way I make what should be a simple text substitution using:

    \ifcommandkey{\commandkey{draft}}
        {\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 0mm and 2mm,box/.style={rectangle,draw}]}
        {\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 0mm and 2mm,box/.style={rectangle}]}

I initially tried building two \def's, but that attempt erred out in the latexmake run. The idea I tried was to replace the hardcoded value in the .style={...} with .style={\Style} which produces the following:

! Package pgfkeys Error: I do not know the key '/tikz/rectangle,draw' and I am
going to ignore it. Perhaps you misspelled it.

After a variety of work-around attempts, I changed my approach to the code as shown.

Even though the working code only duplicates one line, I'd prefer a solution with some form of text substitution. At this point, I lack the experience needed to have a clue! All clues gratefully accepted.

Answer 1

This is not really a sophisticated solution but merely to point out that you do not need to add a second key val system if you already load pgf.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=0.95in]{geometry}
\usepackage[draft,columns=1]{typogrid}
\usepackage{varwidth}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\definecolor{tikzgray}{HTML}{E5E5FF}
\definecolor{tikzyellow}{HTML}{F4F4CC}
\makeatletter
\newif\iftikzbox@draft
\tikzset{tikzbox/.cd,draft/.is if=tikzbox@draft,
    draft/.default=true,
    rule/.initial=0.5in,
    width/.initial=.811\textwidth,
    text/.initial={no text here},
    scolor/.initial=tikzyellow,
    lcolor/.initial=tikzgray}
\newcommand\TikzBox[2][]{\begingroup\tikzset{tikzbox/.cd,#1}%
    \def\commandkey##1{\pgfkeysvalueof{/tikz/tikzbox/##1}}%
    %\rule{\commandkey{rule}}{0pt}%<- what is this good for?
    \iftikzbox@draft
    \begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 0mm and 2mm,box/.style={rectangle,draw}]
    \else
    \begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 0mm and 2mm,box/.style={rectangle}]
    \fi 
    \node (n1) [box, fill/.expanded=\commandkey{scolor}] {\commandkey{text}};%
    \node (n2) [box, fill/.expanded=\commandkey{lcolor}, text width=\commandkey{width}, below right=of n1.north east] {%
        \vbox{\noindent\ #2}
    };%
    \end{tikzpicture}\endgroup
}
\makeatother
\def \HELLO {Hello World!}
\def \LTEXT {
Each key (may) store some \emph{tokens} and there exist\newline%
commands, described below, for setting, getting, and\newline%
changing the tokens stored in a key. However, you will\newline%
only very seldom use these commands directly.%
}
\begin{document}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
\TikzBox[text=\HELLO]{\LTEXT}
\TikzBox[draft,text=\HELLO]{\LTEXT}
\end{document}

As I said, many details can be improved here. This is just to illustrated the principle.

Answer 2

Edit: Starting with version 1.0 of expkv-cs the behaviour of \ekvcValueSplit was slightly changed, it now doesn't forward the key list as well as the value anymore, just the value is forwarded. The second example was adapted accordingly.

---

Using expkv-cs instead of keycommand, you can create the key=value interface in a way that the values to the keys are passed in as normal parameters so that you don't have to handle the expansion of \commandkey and friends.

The predefined possibilities of expkv-cs are limited, as the mechanism works fully expandable, but I think for this usecase it provides everything you need.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=0.95in]{geometry}
\usepackage[draft,columns=1]{typogrid}
\usepackage{expkv-cs}
\usepackage{tikz}
\definecolor{tikzgray}{HTML}{E5E5FF}
\definecolor{tikzyellow}{HTML}{F4F4CC}
\makeatletter
% \TikzBox@kv will split the key=value list into normal arguments and pass them
% to \TikzBox@do
\ekvcSplitAndForward\TikzBox@kv\TikzBox@do
  {
     style  = {rectangle,draw} % #1
    ,width  = .811\textwidth   % #2
    ,text   = no text here     % #3
    ,scolor = tikzyellow       % #4
    ,lcolor = tikzgray         % #5
    ,pre    = \hfill           % #6
    ,sep    = 2mm              % #7
  }
% We can define other keys that call the existing keys with predefined values.
% The nmeta type will be a key that doesn't take a value (and will throw an
% error if used with a value) and is equivalent to the keys you specify here.
\ekvcSecondaryKeys\TikzBox@kv
  {
     nmeta draft  = {style=rectangle}
    ,nmeta nofill = {pre=}
    ,nmeta blank  = {draft,scolor=white,lcolor=white}
  }
% The user macro will search for the optional argument.
\newcommand\TikzBox[1][]{\TikzBox@kv{#1}}
% \TikzBox@do carries out the actual output. It gets the 7 key-values from
% \TikzBox@kv and grabs an additional argument, which is the mandatory argument
% for \TikzBox from the user's point of view.
\newcommand\TikzBox@do[8]
  {%
    \leavevmode
    #6%
    \begin{tikzpicture}[box/.style={#1}]
      \node (n1) [box, fill=#4] {#3};%
      \node (n2) at (n1.north east)
        [anchor=north west, xshift=#7, box, fill=#5, text width=#2] {\ #8};%
    \end{tikzpicture}%
  }
\makeatother
\def \HELLO {Hello World!}
\def \LTEXT {%
Each key (may) store some \emph{tokens} and there exist\newline%
commands, described below, for setting, getting, and\newline%
changing the tokens stored in a key. However, you will\newline%
only very seldom use these commands directly.%
}
\begin{document}
\TikzBox[text=\HELLO]{\LTEXT}\par
\TikzBox[text=\HELLO,draft]{\LTEXT}\par
\TikzBox[text=\HELLO,blank]{\LTEXT}\par
\TikzBox[width=.5\textwidth,sep=2cm,lcolor=blue]{\LTEXT}\par
\TikzBox[style={circle,draw},width=.55\textwidth,nofill]{\LTEXT}\par
\end{document}

---

One of the limitations almost becomes aparent: The output macro grabs 8 parameters, so there is only room for one additional key in that implementation. expkv-cs provides a second mechanism that scales better for more keys (while still being fully expandable), by putting all the values in one parameter and providing means to access individual values from that list. This approach works good when you don't need direct access to a value, but you can split of individual values from that list before calling other macros.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=0.95in]{geometry}
\usepackage[draft,columns=1]{typogrid}
\usepackage{expkv-cs}
\usepackage{tikz}
\definecolor{tikzgray}{HTML}{E5E5FF}
\definecolor{tikzyellow}{HTML}{F4F4CC}
\makeatletter
% \TikzBox@kv will parse the key=value list and put it into one single argument
% in a way that it is easy to access individual values. The style key has to be
% split of beforehand, as we need its value directly so that pgfkeys parses it
% correctly.
\ekvcHash\TikzBox@kv
  {
     style  = {rectangle,draw}
    ,width  = .811\textwidth
    ,text   = no text here
    ,scolor = tikzyellow
    ,lcolor = tikzgray
    ,pre    = \hfill
    ,sep    = 2mm
  }
  {\ekvcValueSplit{style}{#1}{\TikzBox@do{#1}}}
% We can define other keys that call the existing keys with predefined values.
% The nmeta type will be a key that doesn't take a value (and will throw an
% error if used with a value) and is equivalent to the keys you specify here.
\ekvcSecondaryKeys\TikzBox@kv
  {
     nmeta draft  = {style=rectangle}
    ,nmeta nofill = {pre=}
    ,nmeta blank  = {draft,scolor=white,lcolor=white}
  }
% The user macro will search for the optional argument.
\newcommand\TikzBox[1][]{\TikzBox@kv{#1}}
% \TikzBox@do carries out the actual output. It gets the key-values as a list
% from \TikzBox@kv as well as the extracted style key, and grabs an additional
% argument, which is the mandatory argument for \TikzBox from the user's point
% of view.
\newcommand\TikzBox@do[3]
  {%
    \leavevmode
    \ekvcValue{pre}{#1}%
    \begin{tikzpicture}[box/.style={#2}]
      \node (n1) [box, fill=\ekvcValue{scolor}{#1}] {\ekvcValue{text}{#1}};%
      \node (n2) at (n1.north east)
        [
           anchor=north west
          ,xshift=\ekvcValue{sep}{#1}
          ,box
          ,fill=\ekvcValue{lcolor}{#1}
          ,text width=\ekvcValue{width}{#1}
        ]
        {\ #3};%
    \end{tikzpicture}%
  }
\makeatother
\def \HELLO {Hello World!}
\def \LTEXT {%
Each key (may) store some \emph{tokens} and there exist\newline%
commands, described below, for setting, getting, and\newline%
changing the tokens stored in a key. However, you will\newline%
only very seldom use these commands directly.%
}
\begin{document}
\TikzBox[text=\HELLO]{\LTEXT}\par
\TikzBox[text=\HELLO,draft]{\LTEXT}\par
\TikzBox[text=\HELLO,blank]{\LTEXT}\par
\TikzBox[width=.5\textwidth,sep=2cm,lcolor=blue]{\LTEXT}\par
\TikzBox[style={circle,draw},width=.55\textwidth,nofill]{\LTEXT}\par
\end{document}

---

Both examples give identical results:

Answer 3

I'd suggest expl3 style key-value. The only nuisance is using ~ for spaces in TikZ keys. Avoid keycommand: it's buggy and unmaintained.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=0.95in]{geometry}
\usepackage[draft,columns=1]{typogrid}
\usepackage{varwidth}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\definecolor{tikzgray}{HTML}{E5E5FF}
\definecolor{tikzyellow}{HTML}{F4F4CC}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand{\TikzBoxx}{O{}m}
 {
  \keys_set:nn { myers/boxx }
   {
    draft=false,
    rule=.5in,
    width=.811\textwidth,
    text={no~text~here},
    scolor=tikzyellow,
    lcolor=tikzgray,
    #1
   }
  \myers_boxx:n { #2 }
 }
\keys_define:nn { myers/boxx }
 {
  draft  .bool_set:N = \l__myers_boxx_draft_bool,
  draft  .default:n  = true,
  rule   .dim_set:N  = \l__myers_boxx_rule_dim,
  width  .dim_set:N  = \l__myers_boxx_width_dim,
  text   .tl_set:N   = \l__myers_boxx_text_tl,
  scolor .tl_set:N   = \l__myers_boxx_scolor_tl,
  lcolor .tl_set:N   = \l__myers_boxx_lcolor_tl,
 }
\cs_new_protected:Nn \myers_boxx:n
 {
  \bool_if:NTF \l__myers_boxx_draft_bool
   {
    \begin{tikzpicture}[node~distance = 0mm~and~2mm,box/.style={rectangle,draw}]
   }
   {
    \begin{tikzpicture}[node~distance = 0mm~and~2mm,box/.style={rectangle}]
   }
  \rule{\l__myers_boxx_rule_dim}{0pt}
  \node~(n1) [box, fill=\l__myers_boxx_scolor_tl] {\l__myers_boxx_text_tl};
  \node (n2) [
    box,
    fill=\l__myers_boxx_lcolor_tl,
    text~width=\l__myers_boxx_width_dim,
    below~right=of~n1.north~east
  ] { \begin{varwidth}{\l__myers_boxx_width_dim} #1 \end{varwidth} };
  \end{tikzpicture}
 }
\ExplSyntaxOff
\newcommand\HELLO {Hello World!}
\newcommand\LTEXT {%
  Each key (may) store some \emph{tokens} and there exist\newline
  commands, described below, for setting, getting, and\newline
  changing the tokens stored in a key. However, you will\newline
  only very seldom use these commands directly.%
}
\begin{document}
\TikzBoxx[text=\HELLO]{\LTEXT}
\TikzBoxx[text=\HELLO,scolor=red!20,lcolor=green!30,rule=4pt]{\LTEXT}
\TikzBoxx[draft,text=\HELLO,scolor=red!20,lcolor=green!30,rule=4pt]{\LTEXT}
\end{document}