Integrate keychord patch to support multi-layered keybindings

[Frewacom]

Config syntax could look like:

(set-keys "M-x C-s-t" (lambda () ...))

where each "layer" is separated by a space, just like in Emacs.

Patch can be found here: https://github.com/djpohly/dwl/wiki/keychord

[yveszoundi]

I attempted to replicate what I implemented in dwl for dwl-guile, however I don't really know C programming.

My code changes are captured in a changes.diff file, because I already have an existing dwl fork (GitHub limitation).

My overall changes and notes

• I added almost an exact replica of the keychord patch, while accounting for few minor differences in dwl-guile
• I attempted to separate each "layer" via a space (hard-coded limit of layers to 5, just like in the keychord patch)
• I registered 2 key codes for the left and right shift keys, so that they can be used in key sequences
• I didn't leverage the set-tag-keys binding in defaults.scm because of its assumptions/conventions that conflict with my typical settings (example below)
  • C-t 1 for (dwl:view 1)
  • C-t <rshift> S-1 for (dwl:tag 1)

Issues that I couldn't solve

• "Layers" involving the shift key don't appear to work (i.e C-t <rshift> S-1)
• I didn't attempt to solve parsing issues for the validation of the "[" character (i.e. I typically have C-t [ and C-t ] for "change-masters" in dwm or dwl)

Thanks for this project. I tried Guix few days ago and your "home services" projects helped me understand quickly few concepts. I'm hoping switch to dwl-guile on Guix and this issue is the only blocker for me.

[Frewacom]

Hi, that's very nice to hear!

"Layers" involving the shift key don't appear to work (i.e C-t S-1)

I think this is because a key sequence can not only consist of a modifier without an actual key. An easy solution would be to just keep track of which "layer" we are currently parsing, and allow sequences without a key for layers > 0.

I didn't attempt to solve parsing issues for the validation of the "[" character (i.e. I typically have C-t [ and C-t ] for "change-masters" in dwm or dwl)

As you may have seen, I decided to use [ and ] for allowing users to use custom keycodes in their key sequences (e.g. C-[123]), which is why it can not be used in a key sequence directly. I guess we should change the delimiter for this to a key that is not used, or perhaps something like C-[[123]].

I'll have a look at adding these changes to the main branch, hopefully sometime this weekend. Thanks!

[Frewacom]

I have integrated the keychord patch into the main branch, so feel free to have a look and check if everything works as expected @yveszoundi. The issue with parsing [ has been fixed by simply checking if it is followed by another non-null character (and if it is, it will be parsed as a custom keycode instead).

As for your issue with left and right shift, changing the keycode for <lshift> to 42 and <rshift> to 54 makes it work just fine for me (see https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/include/uapi/linux/input-event-codes.h). Nevermind, it does not work.

[yveszoundi]

Thanks a lot, this is much appreciated. I'll start playing with it and I'll report back soon.

By the way, I did manage to do it myself, (the "quick and dirty way"), with some limitations:

• Less robust validation
• Lost ability to use custom keycodes with the custom bracket syntax
• Unwarranted changes in keycodes.h to simplify parsing without "-" tokens: mouse-middle -> mousemiddle

[yveszoundi]

It looks good to me @Frewacom, great work.

• I tested successfully my configuration against your latest changes
  • I am able to use custom key codes for left-shift and right-shift and everything behaves as expected
  • The integration feels exactly like in regular dwl patched with keychord
• I also tested more vim-like vs emacs-like settings without problems C-t x o vs. C-t C-x o

I can now switch to dwl-guile on all my virtual machines, including those where I don't run Guix: I just apply the autostart patch to easily launch programs such as dtao-guile and wlr-randr from $XDG_DATA_HOME/dwl-guile/autostart.sh.

My dwl-guile configuration for reference

(setq inhibit-defaults? #t)

(dwl:set-tty-keys "C-M")

(set-layouts 'default "[M]" 'dwl:monocle
           'tile    "[]=" 'dwl:tile)

(set-keys "C-t <return>"       '(dwl:spawn "bemenu-run" "-l" "10")
        "C-t c"              '(dwl:spawn "foot")
        "C-t n"              '(dwl:focus-stack 1)
        "C-t p"              '(dwl:focus-stack -1)
        "C-t ["              '(dwl:change-masters -1)
        "C-t ]"              '(dwl:change-masters 1)
        "C-t [50] S-["       '(dwl:change-master-factor -0.05)
        "C-t [50] S-]"       '(dwl:change-master-factor 0.05)
        "C-t <tab>"          '(dwl:cycle-layout 1)
        "C-t <left>"         '(dwl:focus-monitor 'DIRECTION-LEFT)
        "C-t <right>"        '(dwl:focus-monitor 'DIRECTION-RIGHT)
        "C-t <up>"           '(dwl:focus-monitor 'DIRECTION-UP)
        "C-t <down>"         '(dwl:focus-monitor 'DIRECTION-DOWN)
        "C-t [50] S-<left>"  '(dwl:tag-monitor 'DIRECTION-LEFT)
        "C-t [50] S-<right>" '(dwl:tag-monitor 'DIRECTION-RIGHT)
        "C-t [50] S-<up>"    '(dwl:tag-monitor 'DIRECTION-UP)
        "C-t [50] S-<down>"  '(dwl:tag-monitor 'DIRECTION-DOWN)
        "C-t k"              'dwl:kill-client
        "C-t `"              'dwl:zoom
        "C-t [62] S-e"       'dwl:toggle-fullscreen
        "C-t [62] S-<space>" 'dwl:toggle-floating
        "C-t q"              'dwl:quit
        "C-t <escape>"       'dwl:quit
        "C-<mouse-left>"     'dwl:move
        "C-<mouse-middle>"   'dwl:toggle-floating
        "C-<mouse-right>"    'dwl:resize
        "C-t 1"              '(dwl:view 1)
        "C-t 2"              '(dwl:view 2)
        "C-t 3"              '(dwl:view 3)
        "C-t 4"              '(dwl:view 4)
        "C-t 5"              '(dwl:view 5)
        "C-t 6"              '(dwl:view 6)
        "C-t 7"              '(dwl:view 7)
        "C-t 8"              '(dwl:view 8)
        "C-t 9"              '(dwl:view 9)
        "C-t [62] S-1"       '(dwl:tag 1)
        "C-t [62] S-2"       '(dwl:tag 2)
        "C-t [62] S-3"       '(dwl:tag 3)
        "C-t [62] S-4"       '(dwl:tag 4)
        "C-t [62] S-5"       '(dwl:tag 5)
        "C-t [62] S-6"       '(dwl:tag 6)
        "C-t [62] S-7"       '(dwl:tag 7)
        "C-t [62] S-8"       '(dwl:tag 8)
        "C-t [62] S-9"       '(dwl:tag 9))

[Frewacom]

Nice!

I am not entirely familiar with the autostart patch, but it is also possible to do something like this via Guile by adding a function to the startup hook (you can check the man page or dscm/init.scm on how to add it).

[yveszoundi]

Because the home-dwl-guile-service-type is very flexible, I previously wrapped my own build within a (package ...) block in the configuration (for guix).

I have now transitioned to a startup hook which is much better. Thanks!