qmk-firmwares/docs/feature_wpm.md
vectorstorm c9fd698711
Reimplements WPM feature to be smaller & precise (#13902)
* Reimplements WPM feature.

 - Now calculates exact WPM over the last up to three seconds of typing.
 - WPM_SMOOTHING removed, as it's no longer needed.
 - WPM_SAMPLE_SECONDS added, to specify how long a period to average WPM
   over, set to 5 seconds by default.
 - WPM_SAMPLE_PERIODS added, to specify how many sampling buffers we'll
   use.  Each one uses one extra byte of space.  Having more will lead
   to smoother decay of WPM values.  Defaults to 50 (we're saving so
   many bytes of firmware space I felt like being extravagent, and this
   change is still a big size saving overall)
 - WPM_UNFILTERED option added (defaults to unset), which disables all
   filtering within the WPM feature.  This saves some space in the
   firmware and also reduces latency between typing and the WPM
   calculation measuring it.  (saves 70 bytes in my tests)
 - WPM_LAUNCH_CONTROL added (defaults to unset).  When typing begins
   while the current displayed WPM value is zero, the WPM calculation
   only considers the time elapsed since typing began, not the whole
   WPM_SAMPLE_SECONDS buffer.  The result of this is that the displayed
   WPM value much more rapidly reaches an accurate WPM value, even when
   results are being filtered. (costs 22 bytes in my tests)
 - Updates documentation to reflect changed options.

Saves about 900 bytes, in my tests, compared against the previous implementation,
with default settings.

* Apply suggestions from code review

Co-authored-by: Sergey Vlasov <sigprof@gmail.com>

Co-authored-by: Trevor Powell <trevor@vectorstorm.org>
Co-authored-by: Nick Brassel <nick@tzarc.org>
Co-authored-by: Sergey Vlasov <sigprof@gmail.com>
2021-11-16 05:40:52 +11:00

4.5 KiB

Word Per Minute (WPM) Calculcation

The WPM feature uses time between keystrokes to compute a rolling average words per minute rate and makes this available for various uses.

Enable the WPM system by adding this to your rules.mk:

WPM_ENABLE = yes

For split keyboards using soft serial, the computed WPM score will be available on the master AND slave half.

Configuration

Define Default Description
WPM_ESTIMATED_WORD_SIZE 5 This is the value used when estimating average word size (for regression and normal use)
WPM_ALLOW_COUNT_REGRESSION Not defined If defined allows the WPM to be decreased when hitting Delete or Backspace
WPM_UNFILTERED Not defined If undefined (the default), WPM values will be smoothed to avoid sudden changes in value
WPM_SAMPLE_SECONDS 5 This defines how many seconds of typing to average, when calculating WPM
WPM_SAMPLE_PERIODS 50 This defines how many sampling periods to use when calculating WPM
WPM_LAUNCH_CONTROL Not defined If defined, WPM values will be calculated using partial buffers when typing begins

'WPM_UNFILTERED' is potentially useful if you're filtering data in some other way (and also because it reduces the code required for the WPM feature), or if reducing measurement latency to a minimum is important for you.

Increasing 'WPM_SAMPLE_SECONDS' will give more smoothly changing WPM values at the expense of slightly more latency to the WPM calculation.

Increasing 'WPM_SAMPLE_PERIODS' will improve the smoothness at which WPM decays once typing stops, at a cost of approximately this many bytes of firmware space.

If 'WPM_LAUNCH_CONTROL' is defined, whenever WPM drops to zero, the next time typing begins WPM will be calculated based only on the time since that typing began, instead of the whole period of time specified by WPM_SAMPLE_SECONDS. This results in reaching an accurate WPM value much faster, even when filtering is enabled and a large WPM_SAMPLE_SECONDS value is specified.

Public Functions

Function Description
get_current_wpm(void) Returns the current WPM as a value between 0-255
set_current_wpm(x) Sets the current WPM to x (between 0-255)

Callbacks

By default, the WPM score only includes letters, numbers, space and some punctuation. If you want to change the set of characters considered as part of the WPM calculation, you can implement your own bool wpm_keycode_user(uint16_t keycode) and return true for any characters you would like included in the calculation, or false to not count that particular keycode.

For instance, the default is:

bool wpm_keycode_user(uint16_t keycode) {
    if ((keycode >= QK_MOD_TAP && keycode <= QK_MOD_TAP_MAX) || (keycode >= QK_LAYER_TAP && keycode <= QK_LAYER_TAP_MAX) || (keycode >= QK_MODS && keycode <= QK_MODS_MAX)) {
        keycode = keycode & 0xFF;
    } else if (keycode > 0xFF) {
        keycode = 0;
    }
    if ((keycode >= KC_A && keycode <= KC_0) || (keycode >= KC_TAB && keycode <= KC_SLSH)) {
        return true;
    }

    return false;
}

Additionally, if WPM_ALLOW_COUNT_REGRESSION is defined, there is the uint8_t wpm_regress_count(uint16_t keycode) function that allows you to decrease the WPM. This is useful if you want to be able to penalize certain keycodes (or even combinations).

__attribute__((weak)) uint8_t wpm_regress_count(uint16_t keycode) {
    bool weak_modded = (keycode >= QK_LCTL && keycode < QK_LSFT) || (keycode >= QK_RCTL && keycode < QK_RSFT);
    
    if ((keycode >= QK_MOD_TAP && keycode <= QK_MOD_TAP_MAX) || (keycode >= QK_LAYER_TAP && keycode <= QK_LAYER_TAP_MAX) || (keycode >= QK_MODS && keycode <= QK_MODS_MAX)) {
        keycode = keycode & 0xFF;
    } else if (keycode > 0xFF) {
        keycode = 0;
    }
    if (((get_mods() | get_oneshot_mods()) & MOD_MASK_CTRL} || weak_modded) && (keycode == KC_DEL || keycode == KC_BSPC)) {
        return WPM_ESTIMATED_WORD_SIZE;
    }
    if (keycode == KC_DEL || keycode == KC_BSPC) {
        return 1;
    }
}