Thread: "action on key hold" programs?

i need some help with a program,in which using a key press-n-hold (or simply hold),we can continue to execute any function till it is held or some other key is held to execute some different function.i tried making a program for such a purpose,but it has a glitch. let's consider as follows:

key hold 'i' is used for executing a function A, and key hold 'k' is used for executing function B. on key holding 'i' , function A gets executed repeatedly.now while key 'i' is held, key 'k' is also held,so execution switches over to function B. here both keys 'i' and 'k' are held now. when key 'k' is left while 'i' still held pressed, the execution does not shift back to function A, which is expected from the program. is there any solution to it?

the code is as follows:

Code:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

void main()
{
   int ch;
   clrscr();
   while(1)
   {
      if (kbhit())
      {
         ch=getch();
      }
      else
      {
         ch=0;
      }
      delay(35);      
      switch(ch)
      {
         case 105:
            printf("i");
            break;
         case 107:
            printf("r");
            break;
         case 27:
            exit(1);
      }
   }
}

what you want to do is not possible unless using a special keyboard the normal keyboard can only do one at a time and cannot hold another

it can be noted that this thing is possible in computer games (car racing ones life Need For Speed) where the driving controls are bound to arrow directional keys. when 'accelerate' and 'left ' keys are pressed n held, then a combined effect is achieved,and when 'left' control is released then only function bound to 'accelerate' takes place i.e. acceleration. isn't there any code/script or even an algorithm which can solve the purpose?

Originally Posted by tbca

what you want to do is not possible unless using a special keyboard the normal keyboard can only do one at a time and cannot hold another

For most desktop computers it falls down to the keyboard controller which must keep a track of the state of individual keys (on or off). The controller can report to the OS whether multiple keys are pressed or not, by recording the keyboard signals in a virtual keyboard matrix

However, since C++ has no concept of a keyboard controller, it falls down to nonstandard libraries or compiler extensions to handle this behaviour.

On systems where there is no keyboard controller, its behaviour can probably be mimic'ed to give the same effect (as far as the user is concerned).

can you name some non standard libraries (as u mentioned )which can help me out??

Originally Posted by Bench82

For most desktop computers it falls down to the keyboard controller which must keep a track of the state of individual keys (on or off). The controller can report to the OS whether multiple keys are pressed or not, by recording the keyboard signals in a virtual keyboard matrix

However, since C++ has no concept of a keyboard controller, it falls down to nonstandard libraries or compiler extensions to handle this behaviour.

On systems where there is no keyboard controller, its behaviour can probably be mimic'ed to give the same effect (as far as the user is concerned).

Having written code to simulate a keyboard controller, I can say that this is only half-true. The keyboard controller is responsible for receiving the keypresses from the keyboard (and sending out "turn on the CAPS-LOCK LED" type messages), but the keyboard controller itself doesn't know anything about for example CAPS-LOCK, SHIFT, ALT, CTRL. It just sends a "this key was pressed" and "this key was released" respectively from the keyboard.

So if someone where to press A and hold it down, then B and hold that down, then release A and release B after that, the sequence would be:

"Keydown A"
"Keydown B"
"Keyup A"
"Keyup B"

[Note 1]

It is the responsibility of the next layer software to determine what keys have been pressed and for example modify the keys based on ALT, CTRL, SHIFT etc.

[1] Actual data from the keyboard actually looks slightly different: each key has it's own "keycode", and the translation from keycode to character value is done by the software on the machine. This is how you can, in windows, switch from, say, a French to a UK keyboard with a few mouse-clicks. The keyboard itself knows nothing about which keys are doing what, and if you really wanted to, you could write a keymap (that's the translation from keycode to "ascii") that puts the alphabet in ABCDEF order on the keyboard, instead of the QWERTY/ZWERTY order that is most commonly used with "european" languages.

--
Mats

If you use this under DOS, then I would suggest that you read the keyboard directly from the keyboard controller (port 60h and 64h), and use a map of which keys are up and which are down, and then perform the relevant actions based on that.

--
Mats

Originally Posted by tbca

what you want to do is not possible unless using a special keyboard the normal keyboard can only do one at a time and cannot hold another

It CaNt? I WoNdEr HoW UpPeRcAsE WoRkS ThEn.