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Layout Definition

The keyboard layout is defined in layout.js. If you wonder why these and other files have the extension .js: They can be loaded as Javascript into a locally opened HTML page. For example: PinMapper.html uses this mechanism to read the key positions from keypositions.js. There is actually no HTML based tool for managing layout.js.

Sections

layout.js consists of sections. Each section begins with a section keyword in one line and ends with the next empty line. These are the three available section types:

• keyboard
• layout
• layer

The order and count is important. It starts with the keyboard section, followed by a layout section and finally one or more layer sections.

Keyboard section

The keyboard section defines some timeouts which apply to all keys.

To describe these values, I have to talk about the various action triggers first. The PicoSplit firmware supports three triggers for each key:

• tap
• long_tap
• hold

A tap action is triggered when you press and release a key before tap_timeout (in seconds).

A long tap action is triggered when you press a key longer than tap_timeout but release it before long_tap_timeout (in seconds). In combination with the Shift action, which will be described later, you can type a capital letter, just by holding the key down a little longer.

A hold action is immediately triggered when you press a key. If you release the key before long_tap_timeout the hold action is released before a tap or long tap is triggered. If you press the key longer than long_tap_timeout, the hold action is released when you release the key. Its action does not affect a tap or long tap if it emits modifier keys or switches to another layer.

You are probably wondering what this is good for? With the hold action you can assign modifiers to keys which are normally used to type characters. The PicoSplit keyboard uses hold actions to put all modifiers on the home position keys. Hold actions are also used to activate some layers.

Layout section

The layout section has just one property, the name of the layout. Currently layout.js can have only one layout section.

Layer section

A layer has a name. It contains rules for action triggers (tap, long_tap or hold). There must be at least one layer - the base layer - and you can define multiple additional layers. Only one layer can be active at any time. However, rules do not have to be defined for all keys on each layer. For keys without a rule, the rule from the base layer is used.

Here is an example with all three action triggers and all available actions:

A line which defines rules for a key starts with the key number followed by at least one rule. A rule consists of the trigger name (tap, long_tap or hold) followed by the equal sign and the action. Rules are separated by colons.

Actions

Codes[ < Keycode >, < Keycode >, … ] Emits the given key codes at the same time. 

Sequence[ < Action > ; < Action > ] Emits the given actions one after the other. Sequences are currently not nestable and are only tested with Code actions. Note: The separator between actions inside sequences is a semicolon.

Shift Can be triggered by a long_tap and is only usefull if a tap action exists. It triggers the tap action and emits the key code of the shift key at the same time. This is used to emit capitalized letters on a long tap.

ChangeLayer( < layer name > ) Activates the layer with the given name as long as the trigger (tap or hold) is active.

ResetKeyboard Resets the keyboard.

Key codes

This is an overview of all available keycodes you can use inside layout.js

Characters

Numbers

Special Characters

Keypad

Whitespaces

Insert and Delete

Function

Navigation

Modifiers

Others

Mapping Keys