v0.9.0

First release after the repository split. For more information about the split and older releases see https://github.com/taj-ny/InputActions/releases.

This release only contains information about changes that affect all implementations. Don't forget to check out the latest releases for the KWin and Hyprland implementations as well.

Changes

• Added a command-line tool for management - inputactions. The DBus interface is now considered internal and should not be used directly. Installation instructions have been updated to install this tool as well. Repository: InputActions/ctl
• Added an emergency key combination (by default backspace+space+enter) that can be held in any order for 2 seconds to suspend InputActions until the next config reload.

Actions

• Action
  • Modified properties
    • on: New value (tick) - for time-based actions in motion triggers.
  • New properties
    • conflicting: Whether this action can activate trigger conflict resolution.
• InputAction
  • Added the wheel mouse action
  • The move_by_delta mouse action now accepts an optional argument that multiplies the delta (e.g. move_by_delta 0.75). This replaces the global mouse.delta_multiplier and touchpad.delta_multiplier properties.

Config

• The legacy config ~/.config/kwingestures.yml is no longer copied to ~/.config/inputactions/config.yaml if the latter does not exist.
• Added more error messages and improved existing ones.
• Added warnings about deprecated features and unused (likely misspelled) properties.
• Added /etc/inputactions/config.yaml to the list of configuration file candidates, making it possible to restrict write access for unprivileged programs. The new order is (highest priority to lowest):
  • ~/.config/inputactions/config-debug.yaml (debug builds only)
  • /etc/inputactions/config.yaml
  • ~/.config/inputactions/config.yaml (created if not present)
• New root properties:
  • anchors: For defining YAML anchors without unused property warnings.
  • device_rules
  • emergency_combination
  • external_variable_access: Allow dumping variables by running inputactions variables list.

Run inputactions config reload or inputactions config issues to see detailed information about issues.

Devices

• DeviceRule: New device property system based on conditions, where each device can have properties applied by many rules

  device_rules:
    - conditions: $name == Logitech G502 X
      motion_threshold: 30
  
    - conditions: $mouse
      press_timeout: 300
      unblock_buttons_on_timeout: false
  
    - conditions: $name contains TrackPoint
      ignore: true

• Device
  • New properties for all devices (configurable through device rules)
    • ignore: Ignore the device.
• Mouse
  • New device properties
    • motion_threshold: Used for determining the direction of swipe triggers. It should not be necessary to change the threshold in most cases.
    • motion_timeout: Replaces mouse.motion_timeout, now can be configured on a per-device basis.
    • press_timeout: Replaces mouse.press_timeout, now can be configured on a per-device basis.
    • swipe.angle_tolerance: Angle tolerance for the left, right, up, down, left_right and up_down swipe directions. The remaining space is used for diagonal directions.
    • unblock_buttons_on_timeout: Replaces mouse.unblock_buttons_on_timeout, now can be configured on a per-device basis.
  • Added the lock_pointer property for all mouse motion triggers - locks the pointer's position while the trigger is active.
  • Added the circle trigger (more information below).
• Touchpad:
  • New device properties
    • click_timeout: Replaces touchpad.click_timeout, now can be configured on a per-device basis.
    • handle_evdev_events: Allows for disabling the evdev input backend in case of issues for a specific device.
    • motion_threshold_1: Used for determining the direction of 1-finger swipe triggers. It should not be necessary to change the threshold in most cases.
    • motion_threshold_2: Used for determining the direction of 2-finger swipe triggers. It should not be necessary to change the threshold in most cases.
    • motion_threshold_3: Used for determining the direction of 3-finger swipe triggers. It should not be necessary to change the threshold in most cases.
    • swipe.angle_tolerance: Angle tolerance for the left, right, up, down, left_right and up_down swipe directions. The remaining space is used for diagonal directions.
  • Added the circle trigger (more information below).
• Touchscreen: Added support

Triggers

• Trigger
  • New properties
    • block_events: Whether to block input events when this trigger is active.
    • resume_timeout: Delays the trigger end in order to allow resumption before a certain amount of time passes.
• CircleTrigger: New trigger where the action is continuous circular motion around any point. Can be used for touchpad circular scrolling. Credits to galundin/circular-scrolling-improved for the algorithm. Available for mice, touchpads and touchscreens.
• SwipeTrigger:
  • Now based on angles, making it possible to create diagonal gestures. The angle tolerance for the left, right, up, down, left_right and up_down has been reduced from 45° to 20°. To restore the old behavior and disable diagonal gestures, set the swipe.angle_tolerance device property to 45:

    device_rules:
      - swipe:
          angle_tolerance: 45

  • Modified properties:
    • direction: New values: left_up, left_down, right_up, right_down, left_up_right_down, left_down_right_up.
  • New properties:
    • angle: Custom angle range (mutually exclusive with direction).
    • bidirectional: Also allow motion in the range opposite to the one specified in angle (does nothing if a predefined direction is used).

Variables

• New variables
  • time_since_last_trigger
  • window_under_fingers_*: Information about the window under fingers (touchscreen only).
  • window_pid, window_under_fingers_pid, window_under_pointer_pid: ID of the process that owns the window.

Example use cases of new features

Mouse: kill window that was under the pointer **at the beginning of the stroke**

- type: stroke
  strokes: [ 'NAAAMy9kZAA=' ] # down
  mouse_buttons: [ right ]

  actions:
    # save the variable to a file for later use, this is currently the only method
    - on: begin
      conflicting: false # this prevents the action from triggering conflict resolution
      command: echo "$window_under_pointer_pid" > /tmp/inputactions_var

    - on: end
      command: kill -9 "$(cat /tmp/inputactions_var)"

Touchpad: circular scrolling

Place two fingers, with at least one’s initial position being the top or bottom edge, then start circling around any point.

- type: circle
  fingers: 2
  direction: any

  conditions:
    any:
      - $finger_1_initial_position_percentage_y <= 0.05
      - $finger_2_initial_position_percentage_y <= 0.05
      - $finger_1_initial_position_percentage_y >= 0.95
      - $finger_2_initial_position_percentage_y >= 0.95

  actions:
    - on: update
      interval: -0.5
      input:
        - mouse: [ wheel 0 -1 ]

    - on: update
      interval: 0.5
      input:
        - mouse: [ wheel 0 1 ]

Touchpad: automatically move the pointer when a finger touches the edge of a touchpad

- type: swipe
  fingers: 1
  direction: any
  block_events: false

  conditions: $finger_1_initial_position_percentage between 0.2,0.2;0.8,0.8 # prevent accidental activations

  actions:
    - on: tick
      conditions: $finger_1_position_percentage_x <= 0.05

      input:
        - mouse: [ move_by -1 0 ]

    - on: tick
      conditions: $finger_1_position_percentage_x >= 0.95

      input:
        - mouse: [ move_by 1 0 ]

    - on: tick
      conditions: $finger_1_position_percentage_y <= 0.05

      input:
        - mouse: [ move_by 0 -1 ]

    - on: tick
      conditions: $finger_1_position_percentage_y >= 0.95

      input:
        - mouse: [ move_by 0 1 ]

Touchpad: 3-finger window drag (allow lifting fingers)

- type: swipe
  fingers: 3
  direction: any
  resume_timeout: 500 # allow lifting fingers for 500 ms, perform any other action (for example tap) to cancel the trigger immediately

  actions:
    - on: begin
      input:
        - keyboard: [ +leftmeta ]
...