How to set up a repeating action whilst keys are held down

Questions & Suggestions
1

Hi. A total newbie here. I’ve got KM6 to give my MacBook laptop a FWD DEL key (by setting up “alt-delete” as the triggering macro) which works fine. I’d like it however to keep on forward deleting as long as I keep the both macro keys pressed, like the System Preferences “Keyboard Repeat” function, but I can’t seem to work out how to do it correctly. Any ideas? Many thanks!

2

Hello @jada

<FN><delete> should perform forward-delete on a MacBook Pro.

In Keyboard Maestro key-repeat is active when the ‘is down’ hotkey trigger is selected.

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Best Regards,
Chris

3

Many thanks Chris, just what I was looking for! I knew about the “fn-delete” but that’s always been a two-handed job and I was hoping to also use it single-handed. Now I can, using “alt-delete” and your tip. Thanks again!

4

For what it is worth to anyone searching the forum, you can do something like this.

While Key Is Down.jpg1030×523 85.3 KB

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5

That is a good solution. You can adjust the hot key trigger to “while down” and then it will re-trigger repeatedly while the hot key is held down (at the same delay and then rate as a normal key repeat). But your solution gives you more direct control over the timing of the behaviour.

6

Thanks Peter for the added note, just to be certain since Keyboard Maestro defaults to a 0 delay then it follows the System Preferences: Keyboard: Key Repeat setting even when modifiers are held down?

http://www.keyboardmaestro.com/documentation/6/preferences.html

You can set the delay to wait after simulating a keystroke before continuing to the next action (default 0.0)
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine SimulateKeystrokeDelay -float 0.01

If you change this to a 1 second delay I am assuming that is added to the delay set in System Preferences + the pause for .04 in the example above.

Also I am a little unclear about this setting if the command key if it is used as a modifier.

If the command key is down, the delay is stored in the SimulateKeystrokeCommandKeyDelay preference (default 0.15)
defaults write com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine SimulateKeystrokeCommandKeyDelay -float 0.15

It kind of sounds like there is an additional .15 delay added if the command key is used as part of the key trigger.

1 Like
7

No, you’re talking cross-purposes.

The preferences you mention are about the delay Keyboard Maestro waits after simulating a keystroke.

The trigger repeatedly triggers the macro at a period based on the System key repeat Preferences.

8

Thank you for the clarification Peter

9

Just wanted to say, this helped a random person in rural Japan. As usual, I need look no further than KM to solve my problems!

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10

Keyboard Maestro is person/country agnostic. It seeks to help all of us, no matter where we are, as long as we use a Mac.

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