Make any letter as modifier with quick typing (e.g. hold "a" become shift)

[philipyoungg]

Keyboard layout:

QWERTY

Goal:

minimize finger movement as stretching out them strained me too much.

Problem I got from my code:

• I can't type fast: I need to wait holding a for 200ms before SHIFT is registered
• typing at normal speed (say I want to type J) fails and it's registered aj

Code:

{
            "description": "Hold a to Left Shift",
            "manipulators": [
              {
                "from": {
                  "key_code": "a",
                  "modifiers": {
                    "mandatory": [],
                    "optional": ["caps_lock"]
                  }
                },
                "parameters": {
                  "basic.to_delayed_action_delay_milliseconds": 200,
                  "basic.to_if_held_down_threshold_milliseconds": 200
                },
                "to_delayed_action": {
                  "to_if_canceled": [
                    {
                      "key_code": "a",
                      "modifiers": []
                    }
                  ]
                },
                "to_if_alone": [
                  {
                    "halt": true,
                    "key_code": "a",
                    "modifiers": []
                  }
                ],
                "to_if_held_down": [
                  {
                    "halt": true,
                    "key_code": "left_shift"
                  }
                ],
                "type": "basic"
              }
            ]
          },

[stale[bot]]

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[dxlr8r]

Had the same issue, I got it working, I think, by adding:

"parameters": {
    "basic.to_if_alone_timeout_milliseconds": 50,
    "basic.to_if_held_down_threshold_milliseconds": 300
},
"parameters": {
    "basic.to_delayed_action_delay_milliseconds": 301
},

[GanZhiXiong]

I want to implement this too, do you have a final method?

[dxlr8r]

I never got it working. I have converted to programmable keyboards and Hammerspoon.

[GanZhiXiong]

It seems difficult to achieve, thank you for your quick reply.

[GanZhiXiong]

@philipyoungg Although it's been so long, I still want to ask you, do you have a solution? Because I would love to make it happen.