feat(utils): Add a helper to handle vim.validate for tables (#508)

* refactor(utils): update deprecated Neovim 0.11 APIs

- Replaced vim.validate() with Lua-style type checks
- Future-proofed utility functions for Neovim 0.11+

* refactor(utils): switch to vim.validate() form 1 for Neovim 0.11+

Replaced custom assert() checks with official vim.validate() form 1,
as recommended in Neovim 0.11+ to ensure better consistency with
core APIs and forward compatibility.

* refactor(utils): restore some deleted comments

* feat(utils): Add a helper to handle validate table

* refactor(util): change nvim 0.11 check function

Co-authored-by: glepnir <[email protected]>

* format(util): format nvim 0.11 check function with stylua

* format(util): format nvim 0.11 check function with stylua

---------

Co-authored-by: glepnir <[email protected]>

Author: Chamal1120

doc/tags

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+dashboard-backers	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-backers*
+dashboard-configuration	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-configuration*
+dashboard-configuration-options	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-configuration-options*
+dashboard-configuration-theme-config	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-configuration-theme-config*
+dashboard-donate	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-donate*
+dashboard-feature	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-feature*
+dashboard-install	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-install*
+dashboard-license	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-license*
+dashboard-links	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-links*
+dashboard-table-of-contents	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard-table-of-contents*
+dashboard.txt	dashboard.txt	/*dashboard.txt*

lua/dashboard/utils.lua

@@ -2,12 +2,22 @@ local uv = vim.loop
 local utils = {}
 
 utils.is_win = uv.os_uname().version:match('Windows')
+local is_nvim_11_or_newer = vim.fn.has('nvim-0.11') == 1
 
 function utils.path_join(...)
   local path_sep = utils.is_win and '\\' or '/'
   return table.concat({ ... }, path_sep)
 end
 
+-- dynamically use correct validate form method
+local function validate_table(name, value)
+  if is_nvim_11_or_newer then
+    vim.validate(name, value, 'table')
+  else
+    vim.validate({ [name] = { value, 't' } })
+  end
+end
+
 function utils.element_align(tbl)
   local lens = {}
   vim.tbl_map(function(k)
@@ -26,7 +36,7 @@ function utils.element_align(tbl)
 end
 
 function utils.get_max_len(contents)
-  vim.validate('contents', contents, 'table')
+  validate_table('contents', contents)
   local cells = {}
   for _, v in pairs(contents) do
     table.insert(cells, vim.api.nvim_strwidth(v))
@@ -37,7 +47,7 @@ end
 
 -- draw the graphics into the screen center
 function utils.center_align(tbl)
-  vim.validate('tbl', tbl, 'table')
+  validate_table('tbl', tbl)
   local function fill_sizes(lines)
     local fills = {}
     for _, line in pairs(lines) do