I am trying to create a key that converts a sequence of key into emoji or text or action.

[Sreinumder]

is there an obvious way to get this behavior easily?

(defalias
  emoji_enter (switch
        ((and (key-history d 1) (key-history a 2) (key-history s 3))) (macro C-⌫ (unicode 😢)) break
        ((and (key-history y 1) (key-history p 2) (key-history h 3))) (macro C-⌫ (unicode 🙂)) break
        () ret break
    )
)

here:
s a d @emoji_enter -> 😢
else normal enter

[malpern]

A couple of built-in features do this more cleanly than switch + key-history:

defseq — matches an exact key sequence. The input keys are consumed so "sad" never appears on screen:

(defseq
  sad (s a d ret)
  happy (h a p p y ret)
)

(defalias
  sad (unicode 😢)
  happy (unicode 🙂)
)

Type s a d enter → 😢. No need to manually delete characters.

defzippy-experimental (ZippyChord) — same idea but order-independent, so d a s also triggers it:

(defzippy-experimental
  (s a d) (unicode 😢)
  (h a p p y) (unicode 🙂)
)

Docs: sequences / zippychord

[Sreinumder]

thanks for guiding me to right direction, although I wanted sequence->trigger_key.
trigger_key/leader_key(sldr)->sequence -> autotrigger worked better.
but the sldr leader concept in sequence works excellently and even better than post-trigger method I was trying to look at.

(deftemplate seq (vk-name input-keys output-action)
    (defvirtualkeys $vk-name $output-action)
    (defseq $vk-name $input-keys)
)
;; template-expand has a shortened form: t!
(t! seq dotcom (.) (macro . c o m))
(t! seq  laugh         ( h h ) (macro (unicode 😂)))
(t! seq  happy        ( h a ) (macro (unicode 😄)))

;; somewhere in the config
(deflayer sldr)

now sldr -> h -> a will give 😄

[gerhard-h]

I alway disliked the syntax for sequences, because a single sequence was splitt in a defseq and defvirtualkey part.
Also nesting the sequence definition inside a template felt illegal to me.
In short - this example is worth being in the docs.

@jtroo what do you think about a defseq variant that accepts a list as first parameter (defseq (h h) (unicode 😄))? (kanata would need to make up a unique name in the background)

[jtroo]

I will likely never get around to adding a "implicit virtual key" variant of defseq, but the template example is worth documenting.

Use of a template also means the user can control their defined vk-name, for reuse in other actions if needed; with concern for the vkey count limit.