Build fails when using &macro_press, &macro_wait_for_release, and &macro_release in macros.dtsi

[ringil-forge]

When adding a macro that uses syntax from the ZMK Macro Documentation, the build fails with the errors:

adv360_left.dts.pre.tmp:784.42-793.3: ERROR (phandle_references): /behaviors/macro_vscode_format: Reference to non-existent node or label "macro_press"

adv360_left.dts.pre.tmp:784.42-793.3: ERROR (phandle_references): /behaviors/macro_vscode_format: Reference to non-existent node or label "macro_pause_for_release"

adv360_left.dts.pre.tmp:784.42-793.3: ERROR (phandle_references): /behaviors/macro_vscode_format: Reference to non-existent node or label "macro_release"

I added a macro following the documentation creating a macro w/ &macro_press like in the below example pulled from the docs:

bindings
    = <&macro_press &kp LSHFT>
    , <&macro_tap &kp Z &kp M &kp K>
    , <&macro_release &kp LSHFT>
    ;

I am attempting to create a macro that will run the VSCode format keyboard shortcut, which entails chording 3 keys together, I added my macro as:

macro_vscode_format: macro_vscode_format {
    label = "macro_vscode_format";
    compatible = "zmk,behavior-macro";
    #binding-cells = <0>;
    bindings
        = <&macro_press &kp LSHFT &kp LALT &kp F>
        , <&macro_pause_for_release>
        , <&macro_release &kp LSHFT &kp LALT &kp F>
        ;
};

And got the above referenced build error.

What am I doing wrong?

[arogulin]

@mpentecost I had exact same issue trying to create macros to execute CMD+c and CMD+v actions. I tried the following code and it failed exactly as yours:

  macro_cmd_c: macro_cmd_c {
    label = "macro_cmd_c";
    compatible = "zmk,behavior-macro";
    #binding-cells = <0>;
    bindings
        = <&macro_press &kp LGUI>
        , <&macro_tap &kp C>
        , <&macro_release &kp LGUI>
        ;
  };

  macro_cmd_v: macro_cmd_v {
    label = "macro_cmd_v";
    compatible = "zmk,behavior-macro";
    #binding-cells = <0>;
    bindings
        = <&macro_press &kp LGUI>
        , <&macro_tap &kp V>
        , <&macro_release &kp LGUI>
        ;
  };

Not sure what the root cause is, but I noticed Kinesis uses key codes like LS(something) in their macros.dtsi and I assumed LS could mean LSHIFT, which turned out to be true: https://zmk.dev/docs/codes#modifiers. That meant I don't even need a macro definition anymore, so I simply used &kp LG(C) and &kp LG(V) in adv360.keymap (see this commit), where LG means LGUI.
I think they could be stackable, so your macro could probably be replaced with something like &kp LS(LA(F)). Try it and see if it works.

[KinesisCorporation]

@arogulin is correct to the best of our knowledge.

[arogulin]

I should have read the whole documentation page instead of making my assumptions: these are called modifier functions and they are indeed stackable, that page I linked above has this example at the bottom:

* They can be combined:
  * &kp LC(RA(B)) = LEFT_CONTROL+RIGHT_ALT+B

[ringil-forge]

@arogulin Thank you, those modifier functions work out well for my use case.

[ringil-forge]

I can confirm that macro syntax like:

bindings
    = <&macro_press &kp LSHFT>
    , <&macro_tap &kp Z &kp M &kp K>
    , <&macro_release &kp LSHFT>
    ;

Works w/ the new V2.0-beta branch.