While Tap-Hold options are fantastic, they are not without their issues. We have tried to configure them with reasonable defaults, but that may still cause issues for some people.
The crux of all of the following features is the tapping term setting. This determines what is a tap and what is a hold. The exact timing for this to feel natural can vary from keyboard to keyboard, from switch to switch, and from key to key.
?> `DYNAMIC_TAPPING_TERM_ENABLE` enables three special keys that can help you quickly find a comfortable tapping term for you. See "Dynamic Tapping Term" for more details.
`DYNAMIC_TAPPING_TERM_ENABLE` is a feature you can enable in `rules.mk` that lets you use three special keys in your keymap to configure the tapping term on the fly.
Set the tapping term as usual with `#define TAPPING_TERM <value>` in `config.h` and add `DYNAMIC_TAPPING_TERM_ENABLE = yes` in `rules.mk`. Then, place the above three keys somewhere in your keymap and flash the new firmware onto your board.
Now, you can try using your dual-role keys, such as layer-taps and mod-taps, and use `DT_DOWN` and `DT_UP` to adjust the tapping term immediately. If you find that you frequently trigger the modifier of your mod-tap(s) by accident, for example, that's a sign that your tapping term may be too low so tap `DT_UP` a few times to increase the tapping term until that no longer happens. On the flip side, if you get superfluous characters when you actually intended to momentarily activate a layer, tap `DT_DOWN` to lower the tapping term. Do note that these keys affect the *global* tapping term, you cannot change the tapping term of a specific key on the fly.
Once you're satisfied with the current tapping term value, open `config.h` and replace whatever value you first wrote for the tapping term by the output of the `DT_PRNT` key.
It's important to update `TAPPING_TERM` with the new value because the adjustments made using `DT_UP` and `DT_DOWN` are not persistent.
The value by which the tapping term increases or decreases when you tap `DT_UP` and `DT_DOWN` can be configured in `config.h` with `#define DYNAMIC_TAPPING_TERM_INCREMENT <new value>`. Note that the tapping term is *not* modified when holding down the tap term keys so if you need to, for example, decrease the current tapping term by 50ms, you cannot just press down and hold `DT_DOWN`; you will have to tap it 10 times in a row with the default increment of 5ms.
If you need more flexibility, nothing prevents you from defining your own custom keys to dynamically change the tapping term.
In order for this feature to be effective if you use per-key tapping terms, you need to make a few changes to the syntax of the `get_tapping_term` function. All you need to do is replace every occurrence of `TAPPING_TERM` in the `get_tapping_term` function by lowercase `g_tapping_term`. If you don't do that, you will still see the value typed by `DT_PRNT` go up and down as you configure the tapping term on the fly but you won't feel those changes as they don't get applied. If you can go as low as 10ms and still easily trigger the tap function of a dual-role key, that's a sign that you forgot to make the necessary changes to your `get_tapping_term` function.
The reason is that `TAPPING_TERM` is a macro that expands to a constant integer and thus cannot be changed at runtime whereas `g_tapping_term` is a variable whose value can be changed at runtime. If you want, you can temporarily enable `DYNAMIC_TAPPING_TERM_ENABLE` to find a suitable tapping term value and then disable that feature and revert back to using the classic syntax for per-key tapping term settings. In case you need to access the tapping term from elsewhere in your code, you can use the `GET_TAPPING_TERM(keycode, record)` macro. This macro will expand to whatever is the appropriate access pattern given the current configuration.
The code which decides between the tap and hold actions of dual-role keys supports three different modes, in increasing order of preference for the hold action:
1. The default mode selects the hold action only if the dual-role key is held down longer than the tapping term. In this mode pressing other keys while the dual-role key is held down does not influence the tap-or-hold decision. In other words, this mode ignores interrupts.
2. The “permissive hold” mode, in addition to the default behavior, immediately selects the hold action when another key is tapped (pressed and then released) while the dual-role key is held down, even if this happens earlier than the tapping term. If another key is just pressed, but then the dual-role key is released before that other key (and earlier than the tapping term), this mode will still select the tap action.
3. The “hold on other key press” mode, in addition to the default behavior, immediately selects the hold action when another key is pressed while the dual-role key is held down, even if this happens earlier than the tapping term.
Note that until the tap-or-hold decision completes (which happens when either the dual-role key is released, or the tapping term has expired, or the extra condition for the selected decision mode is satisfied), key events are delayed and not transmitted to the host immediately. The default mode gives the most delay (if the dual-role key is held down, this mode always waits for the whole tapping term), and the other modes may give less delay when other keys are pressed, because the hold action may be selected earlier.
To better illustrate the tap-or-hold decision modes, let us compare the expected output of each decision mode in a handful of tapping scenarios involving a mod-tap key (`LSFT_T(KC_A)`) and a regular key (`KC_B`) with the `TAPPING_TERM` set to 200ms.
Note: "`kc` held" in the "Physical key event" column means that the key wasn't physically released yet at this point in time.
If you press a dual-role key, tap another key (press and release) and then release the dual-role key, all within the tapping term, by default the dual-role key will perform its tap action. If the `PERMISSIVE_HOLD` option is enabled, the dual-role key will perform its hold action instead.
Normally, if you do all this within the `TAPPING_TERM` (default: 200ms), this will be registered as `al` by the firmware and host system. With the `PERMISSIVE_HOLD` option enabled, the Layer Tap key is considered as a layer switch if another key is tapped, and the above sequence would be registered as `KC_RGHT` (the mapping of `L` on layer 2). We could describe this sequence as a “nested tap” (the modified key's key down and key up events are “nested” between the dual-role key's key down and key up events).
In the sequence above the dual-role key is released before the other key is released, and if that happens within the tapping term, the “permissive hold” mode will still choose the tap action for the dual-role key, and the sequence will be registered as `al` by the host. We could describe this as a “rolling press” (the two keys' key down and key up events behave as if you were rolling a ball across the two keys, first pressing each key down in sequence and then releasing them in the same order).
?> The `PERMISSIVE_HOLD` option is not noticeable if you also enable `HOLD_ON_OTHER_KEY_PRESS` because the latter option considers both the “nested tap” and “rolling press” sequences like shown above as a hold action, not the tap action. `HOLD_ON_OTHER_KEY_PRESS` makes the Tap-Or-Hold decision earlier in the chain of key events, thus taking a precedence over `PERMISSIVE_HOLD`.
// Immediately select the hold action when another key is tapped.
return true;
default:
// Do not select the hold action when another key is tapped.
return false;
}
}
```
### Hold On Other Key Press
The “hold on other key press” mode can be enabled for all dual-role keys by adding the corresponding option to `config.h`:
```c
#define HOLD_ON_OTHER_KEY_PRESS
```
This mode makes tap and hold keys (like Layer Tap) work better for fast typists, or for high `TAPPING_TERM` settings. Compared to the “permissive hold” mode, this mode selects the hold action in more cases.
If you press a dual-role key, press another key, and then release the dual-role key, all within the tapping term, by default the dual-role key will perform its tap action. If the `HOLD_ON_OTHER_KEY_PRESS` option is enabled, the dual-role key will perform its hold action instead.
Normally, if you do all this within the `TAPPING_TERM` (default: 200ms), this will be registered as `al` by the firmware and host system. With the `HOLD_ON_OTHER_KEY_PRESS` option enabled, the Layer Tap key is considered as a layer switch if another key is pressed, and the above sequence would be registered as `KC_RGHT` (the mapping of `L` on layer 2).
For more granular control of this feature, you can add the following to your `config.h`:
```c
#define HOLD_ON_OTHER_KEY_PRESS_PER_KEY
```
You can then add the following function to your keymap:
When the user holds a key after tapping it, the tapping function is repeated by default, rather than activating the hold function. This allows keeping the ability to auto-repeat the tapping function of a dual-role key. `QUICK_TAP_TERM` enables fine tuning of that ability. If set to `0`, it will remove the auto-repeat ability and activate the hold function instead.
`QUICK_TAP_TERM` is set to `TAPPING_TERM` by default, which is the maximum allowed value for `QUICK_TAP_TERM`. To override its value (in milliseconds) add the following to your `config.h`:
With default settings, `a` will be sent on the first release, then `a` will be sent on the second press allowing the computer to trigger its auto repeat function until the key is released.
With `QUICK_TAP_TERM` configured, the timing between `SFT_T(KC_A)` up and `SFT_T(KC_A)` down must be within `QUICK_TAP_TERM` to trigger auto repeat. Otherwise the second press will be sent as a Shift. If `QUICK_TAP_TERM` is set to `0`, the second press will always be sent as a Shift, effectively disabling auto-repeat.
Holding and releasing a dual-function key without pressing another key will result in nothing happening. With retro tapping enabled, releasing the key without pressing another will send the original keycode even if it is outside the tapping term.
For instance, holding and releasing `LT(2, KC_SPC)` without hitting another key will result in nothing happening. With this enabled, it will send `KC_SPC` instead.
If the programs you use bind an action to taps of modifier keys (e.g. tapping left GUI to bring up the applications menu or tapping left Alt to focus the menu bar), you may find that using retro-tapping falsely triggers those actions. To counteract this, you can define a `DUMMY_MOD_NEUTRALIZER_KEYCODE` in `config.h` that will get sent in between the register and unregister events of a held mod-tap key. That way, the programs on your computer will no longer interpret the mod suppression induced by retro-tapping as a lone tap of a modifier key and will thus not falsely trigger the undesired action.
Naturally, for this technique to be effective, you must choose a `DUMMY_MOD_NEUTRALIZER_KEYCODE` for which no keyboard shortcuts are bound to. Recommended values are: `KC_RIGHT_CTRL` or `KC_F18`.
Please note that `DUMMY_MOD_NEUTRALIZER_KEYCODE` must be a basic, unmodified, HID keycode so values like `KC_NO`, `KC_TRANSPARENT` or `KC_PIPE` aka `S(KC_BACKSLASH)` are not permitted.
By default, only left Alt and left GUI are neutralized. If you want to change the list of applicable modifier masks, use the following in your `config.h`:
!> Do not use `MOD_xxx` constants like `MOD_LSFT` or `MOD_RALT`, since they're 5-bit packed bit-arrays while `MODS_TO_NEUTRALIZE` expects a list of 8-bit packed bit-arrays. Use `MOD_BIT(<kc>)` or `MOD_MASK_xxx` instead.
[Auto Shift,](feature_auto_shift.md) has its own version of `retro tapping` called `retro shift`. It is extremely similar to `retro tapping`, but holding the key past `AUTO_SHIFT_TIMEOUT` results in the value it sends being shifted. Other configurations also affect it differently; see [here](feature_auto_shift.md#retro-shift) for more information.
Well, it's simple really: customization. But specifically, it depends on how your keyboard is wired up. For instance, if each row is actually using a row in the keyboard's matrix, then it may be simpler to use `if (record->event.row == 3)` instead of checking a whole bunch of keycodes. Which is especially good for those people using the Tap Hold type keys on the home row. So you could fine-tune those to not interfere with your normal typing.
Unlike many of the other functions here, there isn't a need (or even reason) to have a quantum or keyboard-level function. Only user-level functions are useful here, so no need to mark them as such.
