Emulate tap with keyboard shortcut

swn · December 20, 2020, 8:54am

Is there away to emulate a TAP on keyboard? More like a shortcut that emulates a Tap on the trackpad

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I had a gesture that worked really well before reformatting my Mac but is not working after reformatting my Mac.

Two finger fix tap left: this would bring the App switcher
Attached additional action: Delay by 26 seconds
Attached additional action: right click

This would allowed me to scroll with two fingers on all open Apps, once I get to the app I wanna open I release my two fingers and BAM it would open.

But after reformatting the Right click doesn't emulate a tap anymore. without a tap after the initial tap my two fingers wouldn't let me scroll.To make the scroll happen I need to double tap. So I'm looking for an alternative to emulate a Tap with a shortcut key

Conrad · December 20, 2020, 1:10pm

The system doesn't register keyboard "taps" without actually pressing the key. If this is what you mean then you're out of luck.

swn · December 21, 2020, 7:55pm

I want I want is for example to press shift+Option+Cmd+D and this would emulate a TAP on the trackpad.

Andreas_Hegenberg · December 21, 2020, 8:40pm

You can just assign the "left click" action to that shortcut:

swn · December 21, 2020, 8:55pm

I tried that before, moreover tried all the Mouse click actions and nothing emulates a Tap. I wonder what would had happened to my previous set up. I didn't touch anything. all I did is import all my Master Preset to the clean reinstall of BTT.

Andreas_Hegenberg · December 21, 2020, 9:00pm

It is possible that the left click is affected by modifier keys like ctrl or cmd. Are you sure you used that same shortcut before?

swn · December 21, 2020, 9:14pm

Maybe I wasn't clear sorry.
I have the following set up.

What this allowed me to do is activate the App Switcher(use special application switch. Checked)

With the third finger I tapped BUT leave my two fingers on the Trackpad then 0.26 seconds delay and after Right click so this Allowed me to scroll with two fingers on all the opened Apps, ( The Right click acted like second Tap) it doesn't matter where my cursor is at, I was a able to scroll with easy, once I found the app I would like to open I released my two fingers and it would open.

Question for you, what would a newly BBT default settings might have changed?

Andreas_Hegenberg · December 21, 2020, 9:20pm

Ah I think that might have worked due to an old setting that is currently not accessible via the UI anymore.

Could you try this terminal command while BTT is quit?

defaults write com.hegenberg.BetterTouchTool specialAppSwitcher YES

swn · December 21, 2020, 9:33pm

Yes I forgot to mention the version that worked on was 3.206 (Catalina. MBP 2013)
What changes you made to app switcher or scroll or Mouse click actions, if anything?

I copy and pasted "defaults write com.hegenberg.BetterTouchTool specialAppSwitcher YES" and enter and it just shows this after. and restarted BBT and still it doesn't work.

Andreas_Hegenberg · December 21, 2020, 9:38pm

Did you run the command while BTT was quit? (Otherwise it will immediately override it again)

swn · December 21, 2020, 9:39pm

Absolutely I quit BBT before running it. I might have to restart Mac perhaps?

Andreas_Hegenberg · December 21, 2020, 9:39pm

No that should not be necessary

Andreas_Hegenberg · December 21, 2020, 9:40pm

It is possible that the behavior of the app switcher changed with recent macOS versions.
Which version of macOS are you currently on?

swn · December 21, 2020, 9:41pm

Perhaps it was a bug that the right clicked emulated a tap, and you found it and fix the bug? lol

This worked for me for many years though

swn · December 21, 2020, 9:42pm

I'm running the last one 10.15.7

Again this happened after reformatting my Mac.

Andreas_Hegenberg · December 21, 2020, 9:43pm

In general the delay and right click should not even be necessary if I understood correctly.

Just using the application switcher with the tip tap should keep it open until you release your fingers from the trackpad

swn · December 21, 2020, 9:56pm

But you can't scroll with two fingers.

You have to double tap with the third finger to activate the scroll.

The Right click(acted like a tap) allowed me to tap a second time. I had it for many years like this.

Perhaps the Right click (tap emulation) was a bug and eventually after 3.206 you fixed it.

Andreas_Hegenberg · December 21, 2020, 10:09pm

ah interesting behavior.
I can also make it scroll by switching from the right two fingers to the left two fingers.

I think I should be able to allow it to scroll immediately but I need to do some debugging here to see what's happening internally (I think it has been 10 years since I touched that code :-))

swn · December 21, 2020, 10:27pm

Yes it took me awhile to get this right years ago. Wanted a fast and easy way to bring up the App switcher and scroll through.

It went like this.
Two finger fix, tiptop left. then just scroll through my apps swiftly, release two fingers and boom app opened in less than 2 seconds.

The key here is to ACTIVATE the scroll somehow.

YES, would be awesome to just have it scroll it immediately with out additional Actions attached. As a developer I'm sure you are able to get around it.

Thank you in advanced