I've got an application with an unusual keyboard shortcut structure (ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors). It wants the user to hit the Alt key, then type the appropriate letter from a bunch of yellow tooltips that appear on the window. This is a distinct sequence of separate keystrokes rather than a typical shortcut "combo". You have to release the Alt key before typing the shortcut letter. If you try to do it as a combo nothing happens.

Problem is, it seems to be impossible to get xkeysnail to send a modifier key by itself as part of the output side of a K remap function.

I can sort of understand the issues with allowing the user to remap a single modifier key with no other keystroke on the input side of the K function. That would fundamentally mess with how the keyboard works. But I'm just trying to send out the Alt key keystroke as part of a macro on the output side of the K function. I can't think of any good reason for that not to be allowed.

When I try to use "M" or "Alt" or "Shift-M" without some non-modifier key added within the quotes, xkeysnail either crashes with an attribute error or simply sends the letter "M" or "m" to the app, rather than the desired modifier key (Alt).

I did try to use things like "LM" or "RM" so that it wouldn't just send the letter "M", but those produced errors also.

Is there any way to overcome this problem and do this sequence as an output remap, or will xkeysnail need to be patched to let something like this work?

    K("RC-comma"): [K("M"),K("c"),K("Up"),K("Enter")],       # Open Preferences (Advanced Settings)

"Alt", then the letter "c", then "Up", then "Enter", is what it should do.

I have the following shortcuts:

M-shift-RIGHT_BRACE
C-M-n

Let's say I press down the first keybinding.

To trigger the second keybinding immediately after the first one, I would preserve the modifiers of the first keybinding but release the Shift key and press down the Control key (while keeping Alt pressed down).

Unfortunately, that doesn't work. The only way to register the second keybinding is to fully release the modifiers of the first keybinding, and then press the second keybinding.

Is there a workaround to make this use case work?

Thank you for this awesome software. It was a long journey before discovering it, and surprisingly most of the Emacs config.py works so well for my needs, and it even remaps return to control correctly :smiley:

Breaking changes in xkeysnail 0.3.0.

The behavior is very different when you operate the keyboard in the following order.

press Ctrl
press Alt
release Ctrl
press W

xkeysnail 0.2.0: perform Alt-w xkeysnail 0.3.0: perform w

This behavior is especially problematic when you are operating Emacs. I perform C-SPC → C-e → M-w. When performing an operation such as, I have to be careful not to release the Ctrl key before hitting the Alt key but w will be typed.

I think this breaking change because Release mapped modifiers after the original is released. closes #70. by rbreaves - Pull Request #71 - mooz/xkeysnail I'm not sure why this change was necessary in the first place when I look at the issue.

I'd like to ask @rbreaves what his intentions were in making the change to fix the disruptive change while maintaining the significance of the change.

original strings

xkeysnail 0.3.0の破壊的変更について.

以下の順にキーボードを操作したとき動作が大きく異なります.

press Ctrl
press Alt
release Ctrl
press w

xkeysnail 0.2.0: perform Alt-w xkeysnail 0.3.0: perform w

この動作は特にEmacsを操作している時に問題になります. C-SPC → C-e → M-w のような操作をした時に, Altキーを押す前にCtrlキーを離さないように慎重に気をつけないとwが入力されてしまいます.

私はこの破壊的変更が Release mapped modifiers after the original is released. Closes #70. by rbreaves · Pull Request #71 · mooz/xkeysnail によって引き起こされたと思っていますが, そもそもこの変更が何故必要だったのかissueを見てもよく分かりませんでした.

この変更の意義を保ったまま破壊的変更を修正するために @rbreaves に変更の意図を聞きたいです.

import re
from xkeysnail.transform import *

# define timeout for multipurpose_modmap
define_timeout(1)

define_keymap(None, {
    K('SEMICOLON'): {
        K('q'): Key.KEY_0,
        K('w'): Key.KEY_1,
        K('e'): Key.KEY_2,
        K('r'): Key.KEY_3,
        K('t'): Key.KEY_4,
    },
})

When I long press ; then type qwert in sequence, I expect the out to be 01234 but the real out is 0wert.

xkeysnail version is v0.4.0 OS: Arch Linux x86_64 Kernel: 5.18.3-arch1-1

I needed to remap the base numeric keypad navigation/cursor key functions, but found that xkeysnail doesn't have the ability to use the on/off status of Numlock to avoid also remapping the number functions. So remapping the base numeric keypad keys without any modifiers makes the keypad useless as a number pad.

If Numlock is "on" and the keypad is producing numbers, I don't want to remap the keypad keys in that state. But if Numlock is "off" I want to remap the keypad-specific PgUp/PgDn/Home/End and arrow key codes to their non-keypad counterparts. This is currently not possible, since xkeysnail doesn't appear to register the state of Numlock.

There needs to be a way to incorporate Numlock status into the key mapping function.

A new modifier keyword could be added, like "NP_On"/"NP_Off" (Numpad on, numpad off).

Or, alternately, the existing numeric keypad key definitions could have separate "Numlock off" counterparts, using the same key code but different names, that force xkeysnail to check that Numlock status is "off" before remapping the key.

These keypad keys are already defined in key.py:

    KPASTERISK = 55

    KP7 = 71
    KP8 = 72
    KP9 = 73
    KPMINUS = 74
    KP4 = 75
    KP5 = 76
    KP6 = 77
    KPPLUS = 78
    KP1 = 79
    KP2 = 80
    KP3 = 81
    KP0 = 82
    KPDOT = 83

    KPJPCOMMA = 95
    KPENTER = 96

    KPSLASH = 98

    KPEQUAL = 117
    KPPLUSMINUS = 118

    KPCOMMA = 121

    KPLEFTPAREN = 179
    KPRIGHTPAREN = 180

Something like the lines below could be added to key.py, in addition to the lines above. Same order, same keys, but named with their "Numlock off" functions, with "_NLOFF" added to symbol keys (and 5 key, which has no common alternate function) just to distinguish them from the corresponding numeric Numlock "on" function of the same key. In this way, with an appropriate function added to xkeysnail, all of the numeric keypad keys could be remapped when Numlock is off without interfering with the ability to use the numpad as an actual numeric keypad when Numlock is on.

    KPASTERISK_NLOFF = 55

    KP7_HOME = 71
    KP8_UP = 72
    KP9_PAGE_UP = 73
    KPMINUS_NLOFF = 74
    KP4_LEFT = 75
    KP5_NLOFF = 76 
    KP6_RIGHT = 77
    KPPLUS_NLOFF = 78
    KP1_END = 79
    KP2_DOWN = 80
    KP3_PAGE_DOWN = 81
    KP0_INSERT = 82
    KPDOT_NLOFF = 83

    KPJPCOMMA_NLOFF = 95
    KPENTER_NLOFF = 96

    KPSLASH_NLOFF = 98

    KPEQUAL_NLOFF = 117
    KPPLUSMINUS_NLOFF = 118

    KPCOMMA_NLOFF = 121

    KPLEFTPAREN_NLOFF = 179
    KPRIGHTPAREN_NLOFF = 180

Alternate naming possibility, a prefix of "NLO_" for "Numlock off", and no alternate function names added:

    NLO_KPASTERISK = 55

    NLO_KP7 = 71
    NLO_KP8 = 72
    NLO_KP9 = 73
    NLO_KPMINUS = 74
    NLO_KP4 = 75
    NLO_KP5 = 76 
    NLO_KP6 = 77
    NLO_KPPLUS = 78
    NLO_KP1 = 79
    NLO_KP2 = 80
    NLO_KP3 = 81
    NLO_KP0 = 82
    NLO_KPDOT = 83

    NLO_KPJPCOMMA = 95
    NLO_KPENTER = 96

    NLO_KPSLASH = 98

    NLO_KPEQUAL = 117
    NLO_KPPLUSMINUS = 118

    NLO_KPCOMMA = 121

    NLO_KPLEFTPAREN = 179
    NLO_KPRIGHTPAREN = 180

When trying to get emacs like key bindings in firefox the alt key is captured by firefox before xkeysnail. What follows is that every time you try to give (M-_) command the Firefox opens up some sort of file options menu and commands are lost in that.

Users should be informed this will happen because with this I can't really use xkeysnail for the main thing I wanted it for. I have run into this issue before with autohotkey on windows for example but I thought it might work under linux.

@luizoti @rbreaves

Is anyone using the library for that that you're aware of? IE, to remap QWERTY to DVORAK or something weird...

Or if so could we consider that an edge case? Right now just to type a single character (like "d") with no keymapping at all requires a TON of work, finding keymaps, talking to the window manager, etc... it pegs my CPU at 15% just to hold down a key... (I have fast repeats)

It seems perhaps if no modifier is held we could just pass the keys straight thru to the output without all that effort for a much smoother pipeline?

First of all thanks for the amazing package, it literally feels like using Emacs everywhere. Specially due to the mark-setting commands.

The problem that I'm experiencing is that mapping the PRINT key to any other key doesn't work, as in:

define_modmap({
    Key.PRINT: Key.RIGHT_ALT,
})

I've tried mapping it to other keys but still doesn't work. Also, I've successfully mapped other keys using the same method (e.g. RightAlt to RightCtrl).

I've tested with two different keyboards: the built-in from the Thinkpad T14s and an external Bluetooth Thinkpad keyboard.

Thanks a lot

This is two commits to fix two similar issues with RELEASE being set for keys that were never pressed as far as the system is concerned. For modifiers, this was causing issues setting shortcuts in VS Code and triggering IntelliJ's double-tap modifier shortcuts. For other keys I did not run into any problems caused by this, but it seemed inappropriate.

The example config.py has this line, but it doesn't seem to work as expected:

    K("C-o"): [K("C-a"), K("C-c"), launch(["gedit"]), sleep(0.5), K("C-v")]

I just noticed a strange phenomenon when I run xkeysnail with a script in a terminal, this line in my config causes the startup to pause for 5 seconds (this needs import time):

    K("RC-Shift-M-l"):      [launch(["gedit"]), time.sleep(5), K("Enter"), K("t"), K("e"), K("x"), K("t"), K("Enter")],

So it's like the time.sleep(5) function in this example is actually running once during the startup of xkeysnail, rather than running when I trigger the shortcut.

If I change it to this:

    K("RC-Shift-M-l"):      [time.sleep(5), K("Enter"), K("t"), K("e"), K("x"), K("t"), K("Enter")],

This will just instantly insert [Enter, "text", Enter] into an app like Gedit. It's as if the time.sleep(5) isn't even there inside the macro.

I also can't get anything to happen after a launch() command, if I try to use it in a multi-keystroke macro, like in the config.py example. The line below will just launch Gedit and then do nothing else. No insertion of characters.

    K("RC-Shift-M-l"):      [launch(["gedit"]), K("Enter"), K("t"), K("e"), K("x"), K("t"), K("Enter")],

Adding the time.sleep() function, since it is being ignored (or executed in a different context?), doesn't do anything different. The only thing that happens is the Gedit launch:

    K("RC-Shift-M-l"):      [launch(["gedit"]), time.sleep(5), K("Enter"), K("t"), K("e"), K("x"), K("t"), K("Enter")],

Putting another launch() command after the first one results in only the first one working and nothing else:

    K("RC-Shift-M-l"):      [launch(["gedit"]), launch(["transmission"]), time.sleep(5), K("Enter"), K("t"), K("e"), K("x"), K("t"), K("Enter")],

Anybody have working examples of other launch() commands, especially in a macro with other things after it, or examples of running arbitrary python commands successfully?

@mooz @rbreaves @Lenbok

I use Fedora 32 with sway wayland wm. After recent libinput update (from 1.15.4 to 1.15.902) my keyboard stopped working, unless I disabled xkeysnail.

libinput is used by sway and all most popular wayland compositors. It always had logic to ignore joysticks, but due to a bug the joystick check didn't work correctly. It was fixed recently. Unfortunately, xkeysnail uinput device is detected as joystick by udev and as a result xkeysnail events are ignored by latest libinput:

$ udevadm info /dev/input/event20
P: /devices/virtual/input/input23/event20
N: input/event20
L: 0
E: DEVPATH=/devices/virtual/input/input23/event20
E: DEVNAME=/dev/input/event20
E: MAJOR=13
E: MINOR=84
E: SUBSYSTEM=input
E: USEC_INITIALIZED=55911717
E: ID_INPUT=1
E: ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK=1
E: ID_INPUT_KEY=1
E: ID_INPUT_KEYBOARD=1
E: ID_SERIAL=noserial
E: LIBINPUT_DEVICE_GROUP=0/0/0:py-evdev-uinput
E: TAGS=:seat:power-switch:uaccess:

(note ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK).

Udev's joystick detection seems to rely on checking which events are requested during uinput device setup. I noticed almost all BTN_ events trigger joystick tag, so as a fix I disabled them all in xkeysnail - but only if wayland compositor is present.

Overview

When upgrading from v0.3.0 -> v0.4.0, the window switcher preview no longer works when switching applications with Super+Tab (Alt+Tab).

I am running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal)

Expected Behavior

Notice on v0.3.0 when switching applications, you can see the window switcher displayed. Importantly, it lets you switch to "distant" applications by holding down Super/Alt and hitting Tab multiple times.

Actual (Broken) Behavior

After updating to v0.4.0, the switcher no longer pops up. It immediately just switches to the "next" application, which means you can only toggle back and forth between the current and most recent application.

Source

The breaking change occurred somewhere between 0.3.0 and 0.4.0

https://github.com/mooz/xkeysnail/compare/51c369084e0045a8410d227bab52411bf84fb65b...bf3c93b4fe6efd42893db4e6588e5ef1c4909cfb

Thanks

Also, I want to take a moment to thank all the maintainers of this project. This tool is incredibly useful and makes mapping keys incredibly easy.

The community really appreciates everyone who has taken time to contribute to this.

This is my third time trying to install xkeysnail and I still have issues with the location of config.py

I'm now on Pop OS 22.04. I've followed the steps for the install and when I get to the part of "sudo xkeysnail config.py" I get a traceback error that ends in "no such file"

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/local/bin/xkeysnail", line 6, in cli_main() File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/xkeysnail/init.py", line 61, in cli_main eval_file(args.config) File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/xkeysnail/init.py", line 5, in eval_file with open(path, "rb") as file: FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'config.py'

I've since downloaded the example config.py and placed it on "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/xkeysnail" to no effect. Where should I place it?

My keyboard is a Logitech MX Keys, I've followed the steps to make it detectable as recommended on issue 151.

I'm on Manjaro and I installed xkeysnail via yay (yay -S xkeysnail).

The app seems to be installed as I can run it from the terminal but I always get this message which leads me to believe maybe my install didn't go as planned?

Running with sudo:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/xkeysnail", line 6, in cli_main() File "/usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xkeysnail/init.py", line 62, in cli_main eval_file(args.config) File "/usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xkeysnail/init.py", line 5, in eval_file with open(path, "rb") as file: FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/root/.config/xkeysnail/config.py'

Without sudo

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/xkeysnail", line 6, in cli_main() File "/usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xkeysnail/init.py", line 62, in cli_main eval_file(args.config) File "/usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/xkeysnail/init.py", line 5, in eval_file with open(path, "rb") as file: FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/pedroh/.config/xkeysnail/config.py'

My setup: 1 use xkeysnail to swap capslock and left contrl define_modmap({ Key.CAPSLOCK: Key.LEFT_CTRL }) 2 use xcape to make a single press on capslock become esc xcape -e 'Control_L=Escape' 3 use xkeysnail to map "c-h" as "BACKSPACE" K("C-h"): K("BACKSPACE"),

Issue: even "c-h" is mapped as "BACKSPACE", it also triggers a "esc" as "control" is also somehow sent by xkeysnail.

Workaround: I use left shift as esc at the moment: xcape -e 'Shift_L=Escape'

Question: why is xkeysnail still sends another single "control" when "c-h" is already mapped to "backspace"? I think this is a bug. Anyway, really thanks for this project, xkeysnail really helps me for my transition to linux from macOS

Many key names are not stated and don't know what they are for example menu is not menu on the keyboard, but i dont't know that key call what in key.py