Holding a layer or modifier until idle time elapsed (more flexible than one-shot)?

[brandonbeaumia]

I have dedicated my top row to Meta+Number shortcuts. These work great on Linux for workspace switching but Windows expects Meta to be held while tapping Num to "tab" through open windows of the relevant application.

I would like to be able to tap a key that 1) Holds Meta, 2) Presses Num, 3) Starts a timeout for Meta to release. Continuing to tap the key before the timeout will still send Num (or Meta+Num, shouldn't matter?), and reset the release timeout on each tap.

To add one more wrinkle to this, my config is shared between keyboards and these shortcuts exist not just on the base layer top row but also inside a one-shot layer; I suspect the OSL version might be even more complex.

The discussions at #502 and #1164 seem so close, but just different enough that I'm not able to adapt them to my goal. I've explored...

One-shots: no way to add another on-release action that cancels Meta vkey? Can't just set the shortcut to reactivate and loop back into the OSL: key is not "held" from the OS's perspective? (also crashes after too many layers deep anyway)
On-idle virtual keys: finally figured out that this is more like an if-statement than scheduling the action. Thank you for the clarification in #502, @gerhard-h; I think the docs still need updating because this tripped me up for a good while.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[jtroo]

A throw into the wind:

(defcfg process-unmapped-keys yes)
(defsrc 1)
(deflayer base @1)
(deflayermap (meta)
 1 1
 ___ (multi (release-key lmet)
            (on-press release-vkey lmet)
            _)
)
(defvirtualkeys 
 lmet (multi lmet (layer-while-held meta))
 release-lmet (on-press release-vkey lmet)
)
(defalias
 1 (fork 1 (multi 1
            (on-idle 800 tap-vkey release-lmet)
            (on-press press-vkey lmet)
           ) (lmet)
   )
)

[brandonbeaumia]

Thank you for taking a stab at it! Trying to wrap my head around this, hopefully I'm comprehending...

If lmet is held (virtually or physically) when tapping 1: send a 1 and activate virtual-meta, which...

Holds meta and enters layer where 1 is just 1, nothing special attached. This makes sense so far: I can now toggle through windows with d:MetaLeft d:Digit1 u:MetaLeft tap:Digit1 tap:Digit1 tap:Digit1 However, there is no automatic release in my testing. I need to press something that isn't 1 to get meta to release. It looks like on-idle is supposed to release everything, but I can't tell how if it only has the potential to activate when tapping 1? Maybe I'm still misunderstanding how on-idle works, which wouldn't surprise me at all.

If it makes a difference to see exactly what I'm going for, this is what I had attempted before realizing that on-idle did not behave how I expected.

(defcfg
  process-unmapped-keys yes
  windows-interception-keyboard-hwids (
      "65, 0, 67, 0, 80, 0, 73, 0, 92, 0, 86, 0, 69, 0, 78, 0, 95, 0, 72, 0, 80, 0, 81, 0, 38, 0, 68, 0, 69, 0, 86, 0, 95, 0, 56, 0, 48, 0, 48, 0, 50, 0, 0, 0, 65, 0, 67, 0, 80, 0, 73, 0, 92, 0, 72, 0, 80, 0, 81, 0, 56, 0, 48, 0, 48, 0, 50, 0, 0, 0, 42, 0, 72, 0, 80, 0, 81, 0, 56, 0, 48, 0, 48, 0, 50, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0")
)

(defsrc 1)
(deflayer base @m1)

(defvirtualkeys
 vmet lmet
)

(defalias
  1 1

  hold-meta (on-press press-vkey vmet)
  timeout-meta (on-idle 200 release-vkey vmet)
  
  m1 (macro @hold-meta 5 @1 5 @timeout-meta) ;; hold meta, wait, press 1, wait, release meta after 200ms of idle
  ;; repeatedly tapping should hold meta (no effect if already held), send 1, and reset idle timeout
)

[jtroo]

Ah right I think the held lmet is causing on-idle to not be expiring.

To implement with existing mechanisms probably needs to make use of macro-release-cancel.

[jtroo]

#1254 (comment)

[brandonbeaumia]

Looks very promising. I will look into this and try to implement soon, thank you!

[jtroo]

Back from work: example in simulator.

[brandonbeaumia]

Dang, that's impressive! Thank you so much. This implementation you put together is actually more complex than I needed for the non-OSL situation, since I only need the key to ever function as M-1 and not as a regular 1 key as well (those are in a different layer). I finally got around to modifying it to match my use case of using the shortcuts both from a sticky layer (base layer when I have all 4 rows of keys to use), plus the OSL version. I was getting some weird timing issues and crashing after the thirteenth tap, but after just poking around enough and trying different versions I think I've finally landed on something completely functional. The simulator says I'm releasing Meta multiple times all at the end of the timeout, like there's nesting going on? Things seem okay, though, even after 20 taps within the timeout. Thank you again! Next up is learning templating so I don't need 10 versions of all these!

(defcfg process-unmapped-keys yes)

(defsrc
  1 lalt a
)

(deflayer base
  @m1 @splctl a
)

(deflayer spaces
  _ _    @om1
)

(deflayer meta-trap
  _ _    @mt1
)

(defvirtualkeys 
 vmet lmet
 meta-trap (layer-while-held meta-trap)
 timer-rls-vmet (macro-release-cancel 800
  (on-press release-vkey vmet))
 timer-rls-vmet-layer (macro-release-cancel 800
  (on-press release-vkey vmet) (on-press release-vkey meta-trap))
)

(defalias
  ;; Tap for OSL to spaces, hold for control:
  splctl (tap-hold-press 0 150 (one-shot 500 (layer-while-held spaces)) lctl)
    
  k1 1

  m1 (macro
     (on-press press-vkey vmet) 5 ;; had timing issues when using this exact same sequence as a "multi" action
     @k1
     (on-press release-vkey timer-rls-vmet)
     (on-press press-vkey   timer-rls-vmet)
    )
  
  om1 (macro
     (on-press press-vkey vmet)
     (on-press press-vkey meta-trap) 5
     @k1
     (on-press release-vkey timer-rls-vmet-layer)
     (on-press press-vkey   timer-rls-vmet-layer)
  )
  mt1 (macro ;; looks convoluted, but had weird timing issues when trying to nest another press-vkey vmet from @m1
     @k1
     (on-press release-vkey timer-rls-vmet-layer)
     (on-press press-vkey   timer-rls-vmet-layer))
)