Layer keys with support for key rolling

[ogeesan]

Hi houmain, awesome work on this! I'm moving from kanata because the features are more built out and I like the syntax wayyyy more.

I have a question: what are some different ways to implement a layer key that deals with key rolls. The approach below based on the wiki sort of works, but the timing while typing and rolling doesn't feel great.

NavMode    = Virtual1
NavKey     = F

[default]
  NavKey{80ms} >> NavMode ^ NavMode

[modifier = "NavMode"]
  J >> ArrowLeft
  D >> Control

This works well if I press keys slowly, but NavMode doesn't activate fast enough for my taste (I'll NavKey{J} too quickly for it).

I've tried a different approach below which feels great for the rolling because it feels instant and robust against rolling, but because it's not a real layer/context the Control key can't be pressed simultaneously:

NavKey        = F
NavKey{J !J} >> ArrowLeft
NavKey{D !D} >> Control

I'm wondering if it's possible to combine the best of both worlds.

[houmain]

So, F should be output only when F is released and neither J nor D were pressed and released while F was held.
I tried to achieve this behavior, but did not succeed so far. I will try to come up with a solution for the next release.

[ogeesan]

Thanks for looking into it! Your description is accurate. As I understand it I think I'm trying to create the permissive hold that was discussed in #187 but with virtual keys.

I thought that maybe F{Any !Any} >> NavMode !Any Any or F{Any !Any} >> NavMode Any would press the virtual key and then send Any into the context with the modifier. But, keys pressed and released while F is held continue to behave as normal until F is released, and then the context becomes active. Using that approach I thought that maybe !F >> NavMode within the virtual key's context would be necessary, but you can't specify only the key release to trigger something.

[houmain]

Hi ogeesan,
what do you think about the following configuration. Does it do what you want?
It only works with version 5.0.0, since it requires ; for creating multiple mappings per macro call:

NavKey = F
NavKey{200ms} >>

addnav = \
  NavKey{S{$0 !$0}} >> Shift{$1}; \
  NavKey{D{$0 !$0}} >> Control{$1}; \
  NavKey{(D S){$0 !$0}} >> (Control Shift){$1}; \
  NavKey{$0 !$0} >> $1;

addnav[H, ArrowLeft]
addnav[J, ArrowDown]
addnav[K, ArrowUp]
addnav[L, ArrowRight]

It adds a mapping for each combination of the shift and control modifiers (S/D).
With the new possibility to trigger mappings when keys are released and immediate effects which toggling virtual keys can have, there are likely also other solutions.

[ogeesan]

Hey houmain,

Thanks for looking into this for me and adding some new features! I've tried out the config you shared, and unfortunately that isn't quite what I'm aiming for. The solution that uses [modifier = "NavMode"] has key behaviour that's exactly what I want (e.g. repeating keys), with the only problem being time into entry. I've tried to "short circuit" into the virtual key like this:

NavKey{!J} >> ArrowLeft NavMode ^
NavKey{80ms} >> NavMode ^
[modifier = "NavMode"]
  J >> ArrowLeft
  !NavKey >> NavMode

But these interact to toggle between NavMode with each press.

I've also tried to short circuit it this way (to prevent NavMode from activating again while held down):

NavShort = Virtual
NavKey{J !J} >> ArrowLeft NavShort NavMode
NavKey{80ms} >> NavMode ^
[modifier = "NavShort"]
  NavKey >>
[modifier = "NavMode"]
  J >> ArrowLeft
  !NavKey >> NavMode

But this doesn't seem to be activating NavMode in the way I expect.

I appreciate your help, but I also want to say that I don't at all want to pressure you to solve this. I'm quite happy to wait as keymapper grows and try it out again every now and then.