Release actions

[mdSlash]

Hey there! I’m trying to figure out how to release actions without using on-release and defvirtualkeys. The issue I’m running into with the defvirtualkeys action is that I have a script that generates the config automatically instead of typing it all out manually. When I use defvirtualkeys, it breaks my auto-generated config because it defines static virtual key actions.

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

(defsrc a)
(defvirtualkeys virtual-a <action>)
(deflayer tap-release (multi a (on-release tap-vkey virtual-a)))

Any tips on how I can achieve that without using defvirtualkeys?

[jtroo]

Virtual keys are necessary for on-release actions. You'll have to fix your script to generate unique key names.

[mdSlash]

May I open an issue to request the ability to set virtual keys directly without using defvirtualkeys?

[jtroo]

Sure, though I will likely not implement it in the foreseeable future.

[gerhard-h]

In theory I like the idea of having an "event handlers" concept in kanata like (on-release <action>) outside the context of virtual keys, because it feels easier to understand.
But this would only simplify the vkey-tap only scenarios, most of my use cases would still rely on virtual keys.

[mdSlash]

Since this discussion isn't closed yet, I have another related case

I'm trying to display the current held layer name in my window manager's status bar, and after release, show another layer. Let's say the command to display the layer name to the bar is echo layer_name > ~/current-layer, so I tried:

(defvirtualkeys
  base (multi (layer-switch base) (cmd sh -c "echo base > ~/current-layer"))
  nav (multi (layer-switch nav) (cmd sh -c "echo nav > ~/current-layer"))
)
(defsrc w a s d ent)
(deflayer base w a s d @ent)
(deflayer nav ▲ ◀ ▼ ▶ XX)

(defalias
  tap_action ent
  held_action (multi (layer-switch nav)
                     (cmd sh -c "echo nav > ~/current-layer")
                     (on-release tap-vkey base))
  
  ent (tap-hold 200 200 @tap_action @held_action)
)

it worked, but I don't want to wait 200ms to execute the command when holding, so I adjusted the syntax:

(defalias
  tap_action (multi ent (on-release tap-vkey base))
  held_action (multi (layer-switch nav) (on-release tap-vkey base))

  ent (multi (cmd sh -c "echo nav > ~/current-layer")
            (tap-hold 200 200 @tap_action @held_action))
)

But now, on-release isn't working. I also tried:

(defalias
  tap_action ent
  held_action  (multi (layer-switch nav) (on-release tap-vkey base))

  ent (multi (cmd sh -c "echo nav > ~/current-layer")
            (tap-hold 200 200 @tap_action @held_action)
            (on-release tap-vkey base))
)

This worked, but I have cases where I need different actions for hold and tap. Am I missing something, or this might be a bug. Any thoughts?

[jtroo]

As an adjacent thought, you might want to make use of the tcp server functionality via the -p flag on startup, to process layer changes.