Tier 0: render what the services already decided, honestly

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Ms2FbjQy31TVf3CEvQhGM8

config/dot/quickshell/modules/settings/DictationPage.qml

@@ -78,17 +78,74 @@ SettingsPage {
     // runs exactly as the hotkey runs it, and the words arrive here. The helper
     // is addressed through the path the Dictation service already publishes
     // rather than one spelled again in this file.
+
+    // True only once the helper has confirmed a recording actually started.
+    //
+    // It used to be set on the press, which made it a claim rather than a fact:
+    // `panama-dictate start` refuses with {"ok":false,"error":"already-recording"}
+    // when the hotkey is already holding the microphone, and the field said
+    // "Listening…" over that refusal. Worse, the button then read "Stop and
+    // type it" -- so the next press stopped the hotkey's recording and typed
+    // somebody else's words into this test field.
     property bool listening: false
 
+    // Why the last press did not do what it said, in this page's words.
+    property string testError: ""
+
+    // The helper answers with a code, not a sentence, so the words live here.
+    // Anything unrecognised is shown as itself rather than swallowed.
+    readonly property var dictateReasons: ({
+        "already-recording": "Something is already listening — the dictation hotkey, most likely. Let that finish first.",
+        "not-recording": "Nothing was listening, so there was nothing to type.",
+        "not-downloaded": "The speech model has not been downloaded yet.",
+        "no-image": "The speech server is not installed yet.",
+        "server-unavailable": "The speech server did not answer.",
+        "transcribe-failed": "That could not be transcribed.",
+        "too-short": "That was too short to transcribe.",
+        "no-speech": "Nothing was said.",
+        "deliver-failed": "The words could not be typed into the field.",
+        "unknown-command": "The dictation helper did not understand that."
+    })
+
     Process {
         id: dictateRun
 
+        // Which action this run was, so its reply can be read against it.
+        property string action: ""
+
+        stdout: StdioCollector { onStreamFinished: root.absorbDictate(this.text) }
         onExited: (exitCode, exitStatus) => Dictation.refresh()
     }
 
+    // The helper's reply decides what happened. A start that was refused leaves
+    // this page exactly as it was, with the refusal on screen.
+    function absorbDictate(text: string): void {
+        let reply = null;
+        try {
+            reply = JSON.parse(text);
+        } catch (error) {
+            reply = null;
+        }
+        const ok = reply?.ok === true;
+        root.listening = dictateRun.action === "start" && ok;
+        if (ok) {
+            root.testError = "";
+            return;
+        }
+        const code = String(reply?.error ?? "");
+        if (code === "")
+            root.testError = "The dictation helper did not answer.";
+        else
+            root.testError = root.dictateReasons[code] !== undefined
+                ? String(root.dictateReasons[code])
+                : code;
+    }
+
     function runDictate(action: string): void {
         if (dictateRun.running)
             return;
+        root.testError = "";
+        dictateRun.action = action;
         dictateRun.command = [Dictation.helper, action];
         dictateRun.running = true;
     }
@@ -181,7 +238,11 @@ SettingsPage {
 
         SettingRow {
             label: "Try it"
-            detail: "Speak a sentence and it is typed into the field here, rather than into whatever you were working on"
+            // The refusal takes the detail's place while there is one, so a
+            // press that did nothing says so where the press happened.
+            detail: root.testError !== ""
+                ? root.testError
+                : "Speak a sentence and it is typed into the field here, rather than into whatever you were working on"
             controlWidth: 340
 
             Row {
@@ -226,19 +287,27 @@ SettingsPage {
 
                 SettingsButton {
                     anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
-                    text: root.listening ? "Stop and type it" : "Test dictation"
+                    // Four states, because stopping is not instant: the helper
+                    // transcribes before it types, and a button still reading
+                    // "Stop and type it" through those seconds invites a second
+                    // press for a stop that has already been asked for.
+                    text: {
+                        if (dictateRun.running)
+                            return root.listening ? "Transcribing…" : "Starting…";
+                        return root.listening ? "Stop and type it" : "Test dictation";
+                    }
                     tone: root.listening ? "accent" : "normal"
+                    enabled: !dictateRun.running
                     onClicked: {
                         // Focus first, and keep it: the helper types with wtype
                         // into whatever holds keyboard focus when it finishes.
                         heard.forceActiveFocus();
                         if (root.listening) {
-                            root.listening = false;
                             root.runDictate("stop");
                             return;
                         }
                         heard.text = "";
-                        root.listening = true;
+                        // `listening` is set by the reply, not by this press.
                         root.runDictate("start");
                     }
                 }