{firstlast_distance|prefix_if_nonempty: | F/L Dist: } prints "| F/L Dist: N/A"
on a direct message: the distance helpers return the literal "N/A" when there
is no path to measure, prefix_if_nonempty only asks whether the value is
non-empty, and "N/A" is. Suppressing that needed a gate, and pathbytes_min was
the only one available—so it was being used as a stand-in for "did this
message take any hops", which is not what it asks. It asks how the path is
encoded, so pathbytes_min:2 also discards a one-byte multi-hop path whose
distance is real and measurable.
hops_min:N asks about the route itself. hops_min:1 drops a clause on a direct
message and nothing else:
hops_min:1 pathbytes_min:2
direct cleared cleared
1-byte 2 hops kept cleared <- the difference
2-byte 2 hops kept kept
unknown cleared cleared
An unknown hop count clears the value: a gate that cannot confirm the route
should suppress rather than guess, matching pathbytes_min.
The hop-count logic moves to utils.message_hop_count so the filter and
BaseCommand.get_hops_display_values share one implementation instead of two.
It returns None for unknown rather than 0, since a gate must not read
"cannot tell" as "direct".
Adds the 16-char MeshCore packet identity hash to the three formatters that
render user-facing templates: [Keywords] responses, the test command's
response_format, and the path command's reply_prefix. It is read only from
routing_info, which is attached solely from an RF packet correlated to the
message, so a hash from an unrelated transmission is never shown. Missing,
empty, and the 0000000000000000 error sentinel all render empty.
get_packet_hash_placeholder returns "" rather than a False sentinel. Empty
gives byte-identical output on every path—prefix_if_nonempty already tests
falsiness and str.format renders "" as nothing—whereas False would print
the literal string "False" into a mesh reply from any consumer of
get_standard_placeholder_fields that formatted it directly.
TestCommand.format_response now builds on get_standard_placeholder_fields
instead of duplicating it. That also honors the extra argument its docstring
already promised but silently ignored, and picks up the path-string hop
fallback, so {hops} reads "0" rather than "?" for a message whose hops and
routing_info are both unset but whose path says "Direct (0 hops)".
Documents the placeholder in config.ini.example, the default config that
core.py writes on a fresh install, the README and docs/path-command-config.md.
The generated config was also missing {elapsed}; added that too.
Roger Fedor