Kaleidoscope-Macros

Macros are a standard feature on many keyboards and Kaleidoscope-powered ones are no exceptions. Macros are a way to have a single key-press do a whole lot of things under the hood: conventionally, macros play back a key sequence, but with Kaleidoscope, there is much more we can do. Nevertheless, playing back a sequence of events is still the primary use of macros.

Playing back a sequence means that when we press a macro key, we can have it play pretty much any sequence. It can type some text for us, or invoke a complicated shortcut - the possibilities are endless!

Using the plugin

To use the plugin, we need to include the header, make sure we use the plugin, place macros on the keymap, and create a special handler function (macroAction) that will tell the plugin what shall happen when macro keys are pressed. It is best illustrated with an example:

#include <Kaleidoscope.h>
#include <Kaleidoscope-Macros.h>

// Give a name to the macros!
enum {
  MACRO_MODEL01,
  MACRO_HELLO,
  MACRO_SPECIAL,
};

// Somewhere in the keymap:
M(MACRO_MODEL01), M(MACRO_HELLO), M(MACRO_SPECIAL)

// later in the Sketch:
const macro_t *macroAction(uint8_t macroIndex, uint8_t keyState) {
  switch (macroIndex) {
  case MACRO_MODEL01:
    return MACRODOWN(I(25),
                     D(LeftShift), T(M), U(LeftShift), T(O), T(D), T(E), T(L),
                     T(Spacebar),
                     W(100),
                     T(0), T(1),
                     END);
  case MACRO_HELLO:
    if (key_toggled_on(keyState)) {
      Macros.type(PSTR("Hello world!"));
    }
    break;
  case MACRO_SPECIAL:
    if (key_toggled_on(keyState)) {
      // Do something special
    }
    break;
  }
  return MACRO_NONE;
}

void setup() {
  Kaleidoscope.use(&Macros);
  
  Kaleidoscope.setup ();
}

Keymap markup

M(id)

Places a macro key on the keymap, with the id identifier. Whenever this key has to be handled, the macroAction overrideable function will be called, with the identifier and key state as arguments.

It is recommended to give a name to macros, by using an enum.

Plugin methods

The plugin provides a Macros object, with the following methods and properties available:

.play(macro)

Plays back a macro, where a macro is a sequence created with the MACRO() helper discussed below. This method will be used by the plugin to play back the result of the macroAction() method, but is used rarely otherwise.

The macro argument must be a sequence created with the MACRO() helper!

.type(string)

In cases where we only want to type a string, it is far more convenient to use this method: we do not have to use the MACRO() helper, but just give this one a string, and it will type it for us on the keyboard.

The string is limited to a sequence of printable ASCII characters. No international symbols, or unicode, or anything like it: just plain ASCII.

The string argument must also reside in program memory, and the easiest way to do that is to wrap the string in a PSTR() helper. See the program code at the beginning of this documentation for an example!

.row, .col

The row and col properties describe the physical position a macro was triggered from if it was triggered by a key. The playback functions do not use these properties, but they are available, would one want to create a macro that needs to know which key triggered it.

Macro helpers

Macros need to be able to simulate key down and key up events for any key - even keys that may not be on the keymap otherwise. For this reason and others, we need to define them in a special way, using the MACRO helper (or its MACRODOWN() variant, see below):

MACRO(steps...)

Defines a macro, that is built up from steps (explained below). The plugin will iterate through the sequence, and re-play the steps in order.

The sequence must end with the END step, otherwise the playback will not be able to stop, and will have unpredictable behaviour.

MACRODOWN(steps...)

The same as the MACRO() helper above, but it will create a special sequence, where the steps are only played back when the triggering key was just pressed. That is, the macro will not be performed when the key is released, or held, or not pressed at all.

Can only be used from the macroAction() overrideable method.

MACRO steps

Macro steps can be divided into three groups:

Delays

• I(millis): Sets the interval between steps to millis. By default, there is no delay between steps, and they are played back as fast as possible. Useful when we want to see the macro being typed, or need to slow it down, to allow the host to process it.
• W(millis): Waits for millis milliseconds. For dramatic effects.

Key events

Key event steps have two variants: one that prefixes its argument with Key_, and one that does not. The latter are the Dr, Ur, and Tr variants. In most cases, one is likely to use normal keys for the steps, so the D, U, and T steps apply the Key_ prefix. This allows us to write MACRO(T(X), END) instead of MACRO(Tr(Key_X), END) - making the macro definition shorter, and more readable.

• D(key), Dr(key): Simulates a key being pressed (pushed down).
• U(key), Ur(key): Simulates a key being released (going up).
• T(key), Tr(key): Simulates a key being tapped (pressed first, then released).

The End

• END: Signals the end of the macro. Anything past this step will be ignored. But without this step, the plugin will continue trying to play the macro further, and have unpredictable results.

Overrideable methods

macroAction(macroIndex, keyState)

The macroAction method is the brain of the macro support in Kaleidoscope: this function tells the plugin what sequence to play when given a macro index and a key state.

It should return a macro sequence, or MACRO_NONE if nothing is to be played back.