How to setup kanata when caps is held to work as lctl, unless hjkl are pressed then map them as arrow keys

[GyroZepelix]

Hello everyone, i have an issue i cant solve on my own, i tried to skim the docs to find the answer but whatever i tried just doesnt work, so I hope somebody can help me here. Currently i have it setup so when caps is pressed its esc, and when held its lctl. Also i have grv setup to change the layer to arrows when held so it changes hjkl to arrow keys.

After some thinking about it, i decided i want to change it in a way where i replace the grv key with caps aswell.

Basicly this is the workflow

• When caps is pressed it maps to esc
• When caps is held and any key except hjkl is pressed, it maps like that key is pressed with the lctl modifier
• When caps is held and hjkl is pressed, it is mapped to their according arrow keys without the lctl modifier

Thanks for the help and here is my current config:

(defcfg
  process-unmapped-keys yes
)

(defsrc
  caps grv
            h   j   k   l
  lsft rsft
)

(deflayer default
  @cap @grv
            _   _   _   _
  _    _
)

(deflayer arrows
  _    _
            left   down   up   rght
  _    _
)

(defalias
  cap (tap-hold-press 200 200 esc lctl)
  grv (tap-hold-press 200 200 grv (layer-toggle arrows))
)

[jtroo]

Some specific docs to read that may help you are below. The multi example is pretty much your exact use case. Just replace alt with lctl.

• https://jtroo.github.io/config.html#multi

An example use case is to press the "Alt" key while also activating another layer.

In the example below, holding the physical "Alt" key will result in a held layer being activated while also holding "Alt" itself. [...] Some special keys will release the "Alt" key and do some other action that requires "Alt" to be released. In other words, the "Alt" key serves a dual purpose of still fulfilling the "Alt" key role for some button presses (e.g. Tab), but also as a new layer for keys that aren’t typically used with "Alt" to have added useful functionality.

• https://jtroo.github.io/config.html#fork
• https://jtroo.github.io/config.html#switch

[GyroZepelix]

Yes thanks! Using the multi i was able to get the following working

I mapped it to the rctl instead of the lctl because theoreticaly i think that rctl will act exactly the same in left control in most circumstances.

What I gain with this is allowing me to hold the caps + the real lctl + hjkl and simulate not only arrow keys but arrow keys with control pressed down!

(defcfg
  #|
  This configuration will process all keys pressed inside of kanata, even if
  they are not mapped in defsrc. This is so that certain actions can activate
  at the right time for certain input sequences. By default, unmapped keys are
  not processed through kanata due to a Windows issue related to AltGr. If you
  use AltGr in your keyboard, you will likely want to follow the simple.kbd
  file while unmapping lctl and ralt from defsrc.
  |#
  process-unmapped-keys yes
)

(defsrc
  caps   h   j   k   l
  lsft rsft
)

(deflayer default
  @cap   _   _   _   _
  _    _
)

(deflayer arrows
  _   @h_left   @j_down   @k_up   @l_rght
  _    _
)

(defalias
    cap (multi (tap-hold-press 200 200 esc rctl) (layer-while-held arrows))
    h_left (multi (release-key rctl) left)
    j_down (multi (release-key rctl) down)
    k_up (multi (release-key rctl) up)
    l_rght (multi (release-key rctl) rght)
)

[plasmadice]

Not sure if this is the way to do this.

Couldn't figure out how to pass through lctrl to every output while using layers. I'm not familiar with templates yet. Here's a hacky solution that I wouldn't use in my own config because of the use of unmod.

(defcfg
  process-unmapped-keys yes
  macos-dev-names-exclude (
    "M720 Triathlon"
  )
)

(defsrc
  caps grv
            h   j   k   l
  lsft rsft
)

(deflayer default
  @cap @grv
            @ch  @cj  @ck  @cl
  _    _
)
(defalias
  cap (tap-hold-press 200 200 esc lctrl)
  grv (tap-hold-press 200 200 grv lctrl)
  ch (switch 
    ((input real caps)) (unmod left) break
    ((input real grv)) (unmod left) break
    () h break
  )
  cj (switch 
    ((input real caps)) (unmod down) break
    ((input real grv)) (unmod down) break
    () j break
  )
  ck (switch 
    ((input real caps)) (unmod up) break
    ((input real grv)) (unmod up) break
    () k break
  )
  cl (switch 
    ((input real caps)) (unmod right) break
    ((input real grv)) (unmod right) break
    () l break
  )

)