Request: Keyboard shortcuts for selecting emoji

[forteller]

Hi. Thanks for a very helpful extension!

I don't know if this is possible at all, but just wanted to mention it, because it would be helpful.

Selecting an emoji either from the recent list or from the search results is a bit cumbersome with the keyboard, having to use the arrow keys several times. It would be very nice if instead it was possible to select them with the 1-0 keys on the keyboard. Obviously this would rather search for that number, so adding Ctrl or Super or something like that would be necessary.

So instead of, say, pressing Super+e, arrow down, left arrow, left arrow, left arrow, left arrow – you could just press Super+e, Super+2 to select the second emoji in the list of recent emojis.

What do you think? Is this even possible? At least I've checked that pressing Super+[number] while in the extension "buble" (so to speak) does not trigger the Gnome shortcut to open the application connected to that number.

Thanks! :)

[FelipeFTN]

Hello, @forteller! Wow, that's a very nice idea! 🚀

I was thinking about changing the arrow keys for emoji selection, but could not come up with any better solution, that seems to be the one!

Just need to check if the Gnome Shell will allow we to do this, since some extensions might use the same keybindings (like changing the workspace), or even the Gnome itself, to open softwares and etc.
But that's a great idea indeed!

Thank you!! 💯

[forteller]

Hey, man. I'm really happy you're so enthusiastic about my idea! :D

As I mentioned, yes Gnome uses Super+[number] to open apps. And normally it always does that, no matter what is in focus. But if you have anything from the top bar open, this shortcut does not work. So, if you have the clock/notofications menu open, for example, nothing happens if you press Super+1. If you have Emoji copy open and you press Super+1, what happens is that you type 1 into the text box.

So, the Super+number shortcut is not in use by Gnome when you have anything from the top bar open, including Emoji copy. That's why I think maybe it's possible to use it, even though Gnome usually uses it. But of course, I'm not sure.

Unfortunately I'm not a coder myself, so I can't help you look into it, but I hope you can figure this out! :)

And of course, if Super+[number] is impossible to use, then Ctrl or Alt will do the trick :)