Creating your own LaTeX keyboard layout : 1 key = multiple caracters

Question

I've been looking for the answer for quite some time now. This is a project I have but I can't manage to find a way to do it. The main idea would be to plug an additional keyboard on my computer that write multiple letters by hitting only one key. For example, instead of writing down a (when I hit the a key), it would write \textbf{ (for example).

I already manage to find the keyboard layout file under Linux and to switch the a and b keys, but I cannot find a way to print multiple characters.

I know it exist editors (like Texmaker or Kile) that have auto-completion, but I'm most of the time working in project in groups and therefore we use writelatex.com which does not propose auto-completion in it's free user pack ! Besides, I'm doing that for my personal interest.

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Have a look at autokey. It can assign phrases to hotkeys. It requires X11.

Another option might be to use a powerful text editor like vim or emacs which both have features like this, and then copy/paste the text into writelatex.com.

Some browsers have add-ons that allow you to edit the contents of a text field on a web page with a chosen text editor.

Edit: In Xorg you can use the X KeyBoard extension to e.g. change the meaning of individual keys. While you can configure the keyboard to generate (multibyte) unicode characters, you cannot assign arbitraty character strings to one key, to the best of my knowledge.