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Show HN: Keydogger – Minimal keyboard macro for Linux (Wayland)

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Re: Show HN: Keydogger – Minimal keyboard macro for Linux (Wayland)

#16

Post by jarusll »

freedomben wrote: post #6
diggan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the GIF is supposed to give the breakdown. As I understand, type "@mymacro" and it can expand it to whatever you define. Wouldn't hurt to have a description in text though...

It's mysterious to me as well, but yeah after looking through the code briefly I think you define macros in the keydoggerrc file, and then keydogger watches the clipboard for triggers and responds accordingly. I love the idea, still a bit too much in the dark on the implementation to have an opinion though. Given the highly sensitive nature of the clipboard, I appreciate how small the app is because it's auditable. O…

You get it perfectly. Being auditable was one of the priority which is exactly why it's small.

Regarding the clipboard, it's a third party dependency. I looked into implementing Wayland clipboard myself but it is too deep Wayland. The only reason clipboard exists is because I cannot send non-printable characters using uinput.

Re: Show HN: Keydogger – Minimal keyboard macro for Linux (Wayland)

#17

Post by jarusll »

diggan wrote: post #4
playingalong wrote: post #2

The readme hardly explains what it does. Is it a keyboard macro service? E.g. for a given keyboard shortcut I get a predefined sequence of keys pressed?

I think the GIF is supposed to give the breakdown. As I understand, type "@mymacro" and it can expand it to whatever you define. Wouldn't hurt to have a description in text though...

I do realise it now that it's missing it's usage. It's a simple keyboard macro which supports all printable characters for triggers and everything for expansions. It sends native key presses if all the expansion are printable characters. If not, it uses clipboard and sends `Ctrl+V`

Re: Show HN: Keydogger – Minimal keyboard macro for Linux (Wayland)

#18

Post by diggan »

jarusll wrote: post #17
diggan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the GIF is supposed to give the breakdown. As I understand, type "@mymacro" and it can expand it to whatever you define. Wouldn't hurt to have a description in text though...

I do realise it now that it's missing it's usage. It's a simple keyboard macro which supports all printable characters for triggers and everything for expansions. It sends native key presses if all the expansion are printable characters. If not, it uses clipboard and sends `Ctrl+V`

Thanks! I think maybe not everyone understands exactly what a "keyboard macro" is, that you type something and it fills out predefined text. At least judging by some comments here :)

Re: Show HN: Keydogger – Minimal keyboard macro for Linux (Wayland)

#20

Post by jarusll »

kleiba wrote: post #12
playingalong wrote: post #2

The readme hardly explains what it does. Is it a keyboard macro service? E.g. for a given keyboard shortcut I get a predefined sequence of keys pressed?

It looks like dabbrev in Emacs maybe?!

Looked up `abbrev-mode` and that is a correct analogy. Abbrev mode also handles emojis, pretty cool. But then it's Emacs so I shouldn't be surprised.

Offtopic, I wish my younger self followed RTFM when I used to use Emacs.

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