Thread: Arrow keys and normal input question

Which OS/Compiler are you using?

((hopes it isn't the ancient fossil TurboC))

> but that won't work if the player then decides to backspace through it all and retype something. That first letter will always stay the same.
So if they type "look" and then backspace 4 times, you're still stuck with the initial 'l'?

Seems like a straight-forward counting bug to me.

A bit of code showing your input text handing would be useful.

if ( c == '\b' )

Then remove the last character from the input you have already.

Thanks for the advice.

This is what works now which takes into consideration any backspaces.

Code:

char cChar[2];
int c;
int extended = 0;

c = _getch();
if (c == 224)				// extended character pressed on first time.  i.e. arrow keys
	extended = _getch();
if (extended)				// special keys
{
           // exit this function and perform special actions
}

while (c != '\r')			// until the enter button is pressed
{
	if (strlen(input) == 71)// to limit the string length to prevent overflow to output string
		c = '\b';
	if (c == 224)			// detects extended character input during regular input
		c = _getch();		// to ignore the extended key. i.e. arrow keys
	if (c == '\b')			// backspace pressed
	{
		if (strlen(input) != 0)		// string is not empty
		{		
			input[strlen(input) - 1] = '\0';	// erase the last character in the string
			printf("%c %c", c, c);			// erase the character on the screen
		}
	}
	else			 // if the character is viewable.  i.e. not backspaces
	{
		printf("%c", c);
		sprintf(cChar, "%c", c);
		strcat(input, cChar);
	}
	c = _getch();
}

This is a good idea. A couple of adventure games back in the mid 80's used this concept to good effect. Instead of telling yourself to walk here or there you used the arrow keys.

I'm glad to see you are allowing real time input without the game having to wait for the player to press enter. This means you can do some background processing and have the AI track and perhaps attack the player while they are or are not typing. Text adventure games should never be paused while they are waiting for input.