Akela-ShapeShifter

ShapeShifter is a plugin that makes it considerably easier to change what symbol is input when a key is pressed together with Shift. If one wants to rearrange the symbols on the number row for example, without modifying the layout on the operating system side, this plugin is where one can turn to.

What it does, is very simple: if any key in its dictionary is found pressed while Shift is held, it will press another key instead of the one triggering the event. For example, if it sees Shift + 1 pressed together, which normally results in a !, it will press 4 instead of 1, inputting $.

Using the plugin

To use the plugin, one needs to include the header, create a dictionary, and configure the provided ShapeShifter object to use the dictionary:

#include <Akela-ShapeShifter.h>

static const Akela::ShapeShifter::dictionary_t shapeShiftDictionary[] PROGMEM = {
 {Key_1, Key_4},
 {Key_4, Key_1},
 {Key_NoKey, Key_NoKey},
};

void setup () {
  ShapeShifter.configure (shapeShiftDictionary);
  
  Keyboardio.setup (KEYMAP_SIZE);
  Keyboardio.use (&ShapeShifter, NULL);
}

The dictionary is made up of Key pairs: the first one is to replace, the second is the replacement. The dictionary must be closed with a {Key_NoKey, Key_NoKey} pair, and must reside in PROGMEM.

Plugin methods

The plugin provides the ShapeShifter object, with the following methods:

.configure(dictionary)

Tells ShapeShifter to use the specified dictionary. The dictionary is an array of Akela::ShapeShifter::dictionary_t elements, which is just a very verbose way of saying that its a pair of keys. The first one is the one to replace, and the other is to replace it with.

Be aware that the replacement key will be pressed with Shift held, so do keep that in mind!

.on()

Turns the shape shifting functionality on. Requires that the plugin be configured first.

.off()

Turns the shape shifting functionality off. In this case, no transformations will be applied, and even if symbols appear in the dictionary, they will be ignored until the plugin is turned back on.

Further reading

Starting from the example is the recommended way of getting started with the plugin.