After some debugging, the example code I offered above seems to work, with
minor adjustments:

\begingroup
\let\loc\loctextloc
\currentbtxloctext
\btxcomma

\endgroup

Thanks again for all the help!

Joey

On Mon, Nov 29, 2021 at 12:11 PM Joey McCollum <jmccollum20140511@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Okay. So using this example as a template, I'd like to do the following:
>
>    - define a general-purpose \loc macro that can be invoked in the main
>    text (i.e., outside of citations) in the usual way; this one would
>    correspond to \WhateverB above and would not remove punctuation preceding
>    the macro.
>    - separately define a \loctextloc macro that accepts the same input as
>    \loc, but conditionally removes preceding punctuation based on variables
>    set outside of this macro during the citation process (e.g.,
>    \btxsblshorthandbeforetextloc); this would correspond to \WhateverA above.
>    - in the macro for typesetting the loctext btx parameter, redefine
>    \loc to do what \loctextloc does, and then invoke \currentbtxloctext so
>    that the \loc invocations it contains will be expanded like \loctextloc, as
>    follows:
>
> \begingroup
> \def\loc\loctextloc
> \currentbtxloctext
>
> \btxcomma
>
> \endgroup
>
> Is this a ConTeXt-friendly way to do this? I'm attempted this now, but I
> have some errors to debug, and I'd like to know if this is even a feasible
> direction before I continue.
>
> Joey
>
> On Sun, Nov 28, 2021 at 5:39 AM Hans Hagen <j.hagen@xs4all.nl> wrote:
>
>> On 11/28/2021 2:39 AM, Joey McCollum wrote:
>> > I was afraid that might be the problem. I've described some of the
>> > intended purpose of this code near the end of the "Checking for a
>> macro  > ...
>>
>> Maybe play with:
>>
>> \starttext
>>
>> \def\WhateverA{\removeunwantedspaces\removepunctuation\space ¶ 1.23}
>> \def\WhateverB{¶ 1.23}
>>
>> foo bar, \WhateverA\ test
>> foo bar, \WhateverB\ test
>>
>> \stoptext
>>
>> so, wrap ¶ into a macro
>>
>> \def\MyParSymbol{\removeunwantedspaces\removepunctuation\space ¶}
>>
>> Hans
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>                                            Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
>>                Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
>>         tel: 038 477 53 69 | www.pragma-ade.nl | www.pragma-pod.nl
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>