Possibility to change double tap sensitivity?

[analogue_man]

I recently switched back to Alfred from Launchbar after I noticed that Alfreds workflow options improved a lot and allow me to trigger an "instant send" function for both files and text with the same hotkey.

 

Also, there now is the Universal Actions hotkey in the options of Alfred 4.5 beta (just checked it out, very nice). As I am very fond of the Shift-double tap-hotkey from Launchbar and as it is carved into my muscle memory, I would like to keep it that way. 

 

However, I noticed that the double tap sensitivity in Alfred is set a bit high as I often trigger the Universal Action/Instant-Send-Workflow accidentally when I am working with text. I use ALT+SHIFT+Arrows, ALT+Arrows, SHIFT+Arrows and CMD+Shift+Arrows, etc. a lot and I suspect it might happen there. The issue never occurred with Launchbar, which is why I'd rule out my weird typing mode as a source for the problem.

 

Hence, my question: Is it possible to adjust the sensitivity of the double tap behaviour in Alfred?

 

Looking forward to your suggestions.

Edited July 14, 2021 by analogue_man

[Andrew]

@analogue_man It's not possible to change this sensitivity, but it's highly unusual to hear about this showing accidentally after a number of double tap logic tweaks some years back. I've spent a few mins trying to get Alfred to show with the key set to double tap shift, and using the arrow based key combos you suggest, and have been unable to do so.

 

If you could narrow down what is causing Alfred to show, I can perhaps re-look at the logic to prevent it?

[GuiB]

13 hours ago, Andrew said:

If you could narrow down what is causing Alfred to show, I can perhaps re-look at the logic to prevent it?

Just to give you a situation that this was a problem on my side. It's not the same as @analogue_man but can give an idea of a way to get around it inside a workflow. I'm also using modifier keys a lot while working with text and could have stumbled on this from time, but I know it could happen when I have a brief hesitation while doing a shortcut.

 

Example, my Alfred modifier use CMD+CMD and I briefly tap CMD one time because I wanted to do something and stopped while doing it, but did another key combination that use CMD. So, since I'm doing 2 CMD one after the other then my workflow gets triggered, which I think is fine and especially since I've set my HotKey to Pass through to make it faster.

 

However, I thought that setting the option to "Wait until modifier keys are released" will block if I press another key that is not part of my double key trigger. I mean, if I press CMD, CMD+Shift+Left Arrow and release, I would think that Shift+Left arrow could be catched and break the CMD+CMD+Release combo (just an idea of how this could be improved)

 

Regarding my problem in my workflow that I got around. In short, I wanted to get the URL from the front browser that doesn't have AppleScript (ex: Firefox). So, my workflow was doing CMD+L; CMD+C) rapidly and this was triggering my CMD+CMD trigger. I got around it by wrapping the L+C around a keyDown('eCmd') and a keyUp('eCmd').

 

Example:

First (which activate my CMD+CMD hotkey trigger):

#!/usr/bin/env osascript -l JavaScript

var sysEvents = Application('System Events');

sysEvents.keystroke("l", { using: 'command down' });
sysEvents.keystroke("c", { using: 'command down' });

 

Then (wrapped to get around):

#!/usr/bin/env osascript -l JavaScript

var sysEvents = Application('System Events');

sysEvents.keyDown('eCmd');  // Using keyDown/keyUp to not interfere with a CMD double tap hotkey
sysEvents.keystroke("l");
sysEvents.keystroke("c");
sysEvents.keyUp('eCmd');

 

Another way was to insert a "delay(0.16);" between the keystroke commands, but I prefer to send the keys as fast as possible

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by GuiB

[GuiB]

In short, I think if Alfred could detect that another key is pressed during (or between) a double tap trigger then it could block it. I mean, I can activate it by rapidly pressing: CMD, AnyKey (Ex: L), CMD or CMD+L, CMD

Edited July 16, 2021 by GuiB

[analogue_man]

Thank you, I think you analysed the issue much better than I could. Now, that you mentioned it, I was also experiencing the problem with hesitations between two shortcuts and hence tapping the key twice and maybe also by pressing two keystrokes in a row with a short delay.

 

I also reproduced the issue by pressing Shift once and then Shift+any letter. It triggered the universal action that I set up with shift double tap.

Edited July 16, 2021 by analogue_man

[analogue_man]

On 7/16/2021 at 9:27 AM, Andrew said:

@analogue_man It's not possible to change this sensitivity, but it's highly unusual to hear about this showing accidentally after a number of double tap logic tweaks some years back. I've spent a few mins trying to get Alfred to show with the key set to double tap shift, and using the arrow based key combos you suggest, and have been unable to do so.

 

If you could narrow down what is causing Alfred to show, I can perhaps re-look at the logic to prevent it?

 

Just as an update: In the workflow hotkey settings there are three specific options on how to handle kotkeys ("regular", waiting until all keys are released and passing through to workflow), thus I tried to solve my issue by creating a specific workflow and chose the option "waiting until all keys are released".

 

However, to no avail. When I set the hotkey to Shift Double Tap and press Shift once and immediately after that for example the combination Shift+T, Alfred is still being triggered. Same as with the "regular settings" such as the Universal Action hotkey

[GuiB]

4 minutes ago, analogue_man said:

In the workflow hotkey settings there are three specific options on how to handle kotkeys ("regular", waiting until all keys are released and passing through to workflow), thus I tried to solve my issue by creating a specific workflow and chose the option "waiting until all keys are released".

 

Yes, that's what I was talking about in this paragraph:

On 7/16/2021 at 12:44 PM, GuiB said:

However, I thought that setting the option to "Wait until modifier keys are released" will block if I press another key that is not part of my double key trigger. I mean, if I press CMD, CMD+Shift+Left Arrow and release, I would think that Shift+Left arrow could be catched and break the CMD+CMD+Release combo (just an idea of how this could be improved)

 

Which I thought was the way to fix it since Alfred should've been waiting that the correct action was done (all double tap key released and nothing in between), but I saw that it wasn't the case. At first I thought that since I was using the Pass through mode, then I was having this problem because I did 2 taps in sequence, but then I also released that the double tap gets registered even if another key is pressed in-between.

So, I think the main problem is that Alfred doesn't detect that other keys are pressed (between or at the same time) during a double tap hotkey and block the action if this happens.

[analogue_man]

57 minutes ago, GuiB said:

 

Yes, that's what I was talking about in this paragraph:

 

Ah, thank you for pointing that out, I read your post too quickly that I missed that part.