CapsLock handling

[piszoka]

In the Hungarian layout the "alt + é" and the "capslock / alt + é" is totally different:

• alt + é ==> …
• capslock / alt + é ==> ä

See also the attached keymap:

I would like to bind the "capslock / alt + é" to the "alt + a". To do so, the capslock needs to be activated, the "alt + é" sent and the capslock deactivated again. I tried the following:

hs.hotkey.bind( {'alt'}, 'a', function()

    hs.eventtap.event.newSystemKeyEvent( 'CAPS_LOCK', true):post();
    hs.timer.usleep(1000)
    hs.eventtap.event.newSystemKeyEvent( 'CAPS_LOCK', false):post();      
     
    hs.timer.usleep(1000)

    hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent({'alt'}, string.lower('é'), true):post()
    hs.timer.usleep(1000)
    hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent({'alt'}, string.lower('é'), false):post()

    hs.timer.usleep(1000)

    hs.eventtap.event.newSystemKeyEvent( 'CAPS_LOCK', true):post();
    hs.timer.usleep(1000)
    hs.eventtap.event.newSystemKeyEvent( 'CAPS_LOCK', false):post();      

end)

But I always get the "…" character, the "alt + é" without the capslock.

Is there a way to:

• activate and deactivate capslock?
• to detect capslock current state (activated or deactivated already manually)?
• to send the 'ä' character as an UTF-8 character or string instead of triggering the keyboard?

[asmagill]

When the caps lock code was added, I was only able to reliably detect the caps lock through eventtap watchers but not generate it... of course I was focusing on trying to "trigger" the effect of tapping the caps lock, not use it as a key modifier...

Try hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent(nil, hs.keycodes.map.capslock, true/false):post() instead of the newSystemKeyEvent lines and let me know if that works any better. (note that the initial nil might need to be {} -- some comments in #1519 that I haven't had a chance to examine yet suggest that there might be a bug in the newKeyEvent code)

[Perlence]

@asmagill Unfortunately, sending Caps Lock via hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent doesn't work for me. I'd like to map Shift+Escape to Caps Lock but had no luck.