keys.md

Keys

Note: This is not a lookup table of key objects provided by KMK. That listing can be found in keycodes.md. It's probably worth a look at the raw source if you're stumped: kmk/keys.py.

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This is a bunch of documentation about how a physical keypress translates to events (and the lifecycle of said events) in KMK. It's somewhat technical, but if you're looking to extend your keyboard's functionality with extra code, you'll need at least some of this technical knowledge.

The first few steps in the process aren't all that interesting for most workflows, which is why they're buried deep in KMK: we scan a bunch of GPIO lanes (about as quickly as CircuitPython will let us) to see where, in a matrix of keys, a key has been pressed. The technical details about this process are probably best left to Wikipedia. Then, we scan through the defined keymap, finding the first valid key at this index based on the stack of currently active layers (this logic, if you want to read through the code, is in kmk/kmk_keyboard.py, method _find_key_in_map).

The next few steps are the interesting part, but to understand them, we need to understand a bit about what a Key object is (found in kmk/keys.py). Key objects have a few core pieces of information:

• Their code, which can be any integer. Integers below FIRST_KMK_INTERNAL_KEY are sent through to the HID stack (and thus the computer, which will translate that integer to something meaningful - for example, code=4 becomes a on a US QWERTY/Dvorak keyboard).

• Their attached modifiers (to implement things like shifted keys or KC.HYPR, which are single key presses sending along more than one key in a single HID report. This is a distinct concept from Sequences, which are a KMK feature documented in sequences.md). For almost all purposes outside of KMK core, this field should be ignored - it can be safely populated through far more sane means than futzing with it by hand.

• Some data on whether the key should actually be pressed or released - this is mostly an implementation detail of how Sequences work, where, for example, KC.RALT may need to be held down for the entirety of a sequence, rather than being released immediately before moving to the next character. Usually end users shouldn't need to mess with this, but the fields are called no_press and no_release and are referenced in a few places in the codebase if you need examples.

• Handlers for "press" (sometimes known as "keydown") and "release" (sometimes known as "keyup") events. KMK provides handlers for standard keyboard functions and some special override keys (like KC.GESC, which is an enhanced form of existing ANSI keys) in kmk/handlers/stock.py, for layer switching in kmk/modules/layers.py, and for everything related to Sequences (see sequences.md again) in kmk/handlers/sequences.py. We'll discuss these more shortly.

• Optional callbacks to be run before and/or after the above handlers. More on that soon.

• A generic meta field, which is most commonly used for "argumented" keys - objects in the KC object which are actually functions that return Key instances, which often need to access the arguments passed into the "outer" function. Many of these examples are related to layer switching - for example, KC.MO is implemented as an argumented key - when the user adds KC.MO(1) to their keymap, the function call returns a Key object with meta set to an object containing layer and kc properties, for example. There's other uses for meta, and examples can be found in kmk/types.py

Key objects can also be chained together by calling them! To create a key which holds Control and Shift simultaneously, we can simply do:

CTRLSHFT = KC.LCTL(KC.LSFT)

keyboard.keymap = [ ... CTRLSHFT ... ]

When a key is pressed and we've pulled a Key object out of the keymap, the following will happen:

• Pre-press callbacks will be run in the order they were assigned, with their return values discarded (unless the user attached these, they will almost never exist)
• The assigned press handler will be run (most commonly, this is provided by KMK)
• Post-press callbacks will be run in the order they were assigned, with their return values discarded (unless the user attached these, they will almost never exist)

These same steps are run for when a key is released.

So now... what's a handler, and what's a pre/post callback?!

All of these serve roughly the same purpose: to do something with the key's data, or to fire off side effects. Most handlers are provided by KMK internally and modify the InternalState in some way - adding the key to the HID queue, changing layers, etc. The pre/post handlers are designed to allow functionality to be bolted on at these points in the event flow without having to reimplement (or import and manually call) the internal handlers.

All of these methods take the same arguments, and for this, I'll lift a docstring straight out of the source:

Receives the following:

• self (this Key instance)
• state (the current InternalState)
• KC (the global KC lookup table, for convenience)
• coord_int (an internal integer representation of the matrix coordinate for the pressed key - this is likely not useful to end users, but is provided for consistency with the internal handlers)
• coord_raw (an X,Y tuple of the matrix coordinate - also likely not useful)

The return value of the provided callback is discarded. Exceptions are not caught, and will likely crash KMK if not handled within your function.

These handlers are run in attachment order: handlers provided by earlier calls of this method will be executed before those provided by later calls.

This means if you want to add things like underglow/LED support, or have a button that triggers your GSM modem to call someone, or whatever else you can hack up in CircuitPython, which also retaining layer-switching abilities or whatever the stock handler is, you're covered. This also means you can add completely new functionality to KMK by writing your own handler.

Here's an example of an after_press_handler to change the RGB lights with a layer change:

LOWER = KC.DF(LYR_LOWER) #Set layer to LOWER

def low_lights(key, keyboard, *args):
    print('Lower Layer') #serial feedback
    keyboard.pixels.set_hsv_fill(0, 100, 255) #RGB extension call to set (H,S,V) values

LOWER.after_press_handler(low_lights) #call the key with the after_press_handler

Here's an example of a lifecycle hook to print a giant Shrek ASCII art. It doesn't care about any of the arguments passed into it, because it has no intentions of modifying the internal state. It is purely a side effect run every time Left Alt is pressed:

def shrek(*args, **kwargs):
    print('⢀⡴⠑⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣀⣤⣤⣤⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠸⡇⠀⠿⡀⠀⠀⠀⣀⡴⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⠀⠑⢄⣠⠾⠁⣀⣄⡈⠙⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠈⠙⠛⠂⠈⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⡿⢿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⢀⡾⣁⣀⠀⠴⠂⠙⣗⡀⠀⢻⣿⣿⠭⢤⣴⣦⣤⣹⠀⠀⠀⢀⢴⣶⣆')
    print('⠀⠀⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣷⣮⣽⣾⣿⣥⣴⣿⣿⡿⢂⠔⢚⡿⢿⣿⣦⣴⣾⠁⠸⣼⡿')
    print('⠀⢀⡞⠁⠙⠻⠿⠟⠉⠀⠛⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣌⢤⣼⣿⣾⣿⡟⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⣾⣷⣶⠇⠀⠀⣤⣄⣀⡀⠈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠉⠈⠉⠀⠀⢦⡈⢻⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣶⣶⣤⣽⡹⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠲⣽⡻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣜⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⣷⣶⣮⣭⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣀⣈⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀')
    print('⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠛⠻⠿⠿⠿⠿⠛⠉')

    return False #Returning True will follow thru the normal handlers sending the ALT key to the OS
KC.LALT.before_press_handler(shrek)

You can also copy a key without any pre/post handlers attached with .clone(), so for example, if I've already added Shrek to my LALT but want a Shrek-less LALT key elsewhere in my keymap, I can just clone it, and the new key won't have my handlers attached:

SHREKLESS_ALT = KC.LALT.clone()

You can also refer to a key by index:

• KC['A']
• KC['NO']
• KC['LALT']

Or the KC.get function which has an optional default argument, which will be returned if the key is not found (default=None unless otherwise specified):

• KC.get('A')
• KC.get('NO', None)
• KC.get('NOT DEFINED', KC.RALT)

Key names are case-sensitive. KC['NO'] is different from KC['no']. It is recommended that names are normally UPPER_CASE. The exception to this are alpha keys; KC['A'] and KC['a'] will both return the same, unshifted, key.