I don't know how to write a good question here, but, basically, does anyone know where I can possibly find some C++ source code using these to actually set keyboard state? For some reason using it the way MSDN does on Windows 7 doesn't do...anything at all.
Basic code:
PBYTE keyState;
GetKeyboardState(keyState);
...
// Later on when I need to set the keyboard state (key pressed etc) back to original:
SetKeyboardState(keyState);
and ... nothing happens :(
From:
http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=43463
First off, GetKeyboardState() would be the wrong function to use because as Windows has a chance to process keyboard messages (whether you want it too or not) it updates the results of the keyboard's state for the next call to GetKeyboardState().
Here's a little function that I use to get the status of the keyboard's keys. Be carefull though, depending on how fast your main loop is, it may cause problems if you aren't expecting it.
You need to keep track of whether or not a specific key was pressed the last time you called the ReadKeyboard() function. If your loop polls the keyboard 30 times a second, then pressing a key once probably causes the key to be flagged 3 or 4 calls in a row. Rather confusing sometimes. Just thought I'd mention it.
void ReadKeyboard( char* keys )
{
for (int x = 0; x < 256; x++)
keys[x] = (char) (GetAsyncKeyState(x) >> 8);
}
Related
I'm working on a little project to improve my coding skills and I have a problem. I'm doing a console version of Flappy Bird. So i have a map which is a two-dimensional array of chars and this map have to move to the left. I am moving all elements of an array one place to the left and after that, clearing console and showing moved map. And here is problem, map has to move constantly but player have to control a bird while map is moving. I wanted to use _getch() but it pausing a program. A question is: Can i read a keyboard input without pausing program? I mean that the map will still moving and when i press for example Space in any moment the bird position will change. I'm working on Windows 10
Even if beginners hope it to be a simple operation, inputting a single character from the keyboard is not, because in current Operating Systems, the keyboard is by default line oriented.
And peeking the keyboard (without pausing the program) is even harder. In a Windows console application, you can try to use functions from user32, for example GetAsyncKeyState if you only need to read few possible keys: you will know if the key is currently pressed and whether if was pressed since the last call to GetAsyncKeyState.
But beware: these are rather advanced system calls and I strongly advise you not to go that way if you want to improve your coding skills. IMHO you'd better learn how to code Windows GUI applications first because you will get an event loop, and peeking for events is far more common and can be used in real world applications. While I have never seen a real world console application trying to peek the keyboard. Caveat emptor...
Including conio.h
you can use this method:
#define ARROW_UP 72
#define ARROW_DOWN 80
#define ARROW_LEFT 75
#define ARROW_RIGHT 77
int main(){
int key;
while( true ){
if( _kbhit() ){ // If key is typed
key = _getch(); // Key variable get the ASCII code from _getch()
switch( key ){
case ARROW_UP:
//code her...
break;
case ARROW_DOWN:
//code her...
break;
case ARROW_LEFT:
//code her...
break;
case ARROW_RIGHT:
//code her...
break;
default:
//code her...
break;
}
}
}
return 0;
}
The upper code is an example, you can do this for any key of keyboard. In this sites you can find the ASCII code of keys:
http://www.jimprice.com/jim-asc.shtml#keycodes
https://brebru.com/asciicodes.html
Say me if it has help you!
I'm studing now and I got this homework / tasks to do:
1) If you press the CTRL + L key, all numeric symbols should change the color.
2) If you press the CTRL + S key, you will get the length of the word, left from the cursor.
I found this function int bioskey(int cmd);
So now I can check if the key is pressed, but how to change the color only of numeric symbols, or read words from console to get their length ?
Some of us still remember the MS-DOS (let it rest in peace or pieces...)
if you are really in MS-DOS then you can not expect that the content of the console would be changed in colors for only specific areas. You need to do that your self. The problem is we do not know anything about your project background so we do not know what and how yours stuff is represented,rendered/outputed/inputed etc...
I assume EGA/VGA BIOS text mode is used so you can exploit direct access to the VRAM. So you need to set pointer to the address B800:0000 and handle it as array where each character on screen has 2 BYTEs. one is color attribute and the other is ASCII code (not sure in which order anymore)...
So for already rendered stuff you just:
loop through whole screen
usually 80x25x2 Bytes
test each ASCII for alpha numeric value
so ASCII code >= '0' and code<='9' for numbers or add all the stuff you are considering as alphanumeric like code>' ' and code<='9'.
change colors for selected characters
just by changing the attribute byte.
When you put it together for numbers it will look like this:
char far *scr=(char far*)0x0B0000000;
int x,y,a;
for (a=0,y=0;y<25;y++)
for (x=0;x<80;x++,a+=2)
if ((scr[a+0]>='0')&&((scr[a+0]<='9'))
{
scr[a+1]=7; //attribute with the different color here
}
if it does not work than try swap scr[a+0] and scr[a+1]. If an exception occur then you are not in MS-DOS and you do not have access to VRAM. In that case use DOS-BOX or driver that allows access to memory like dllportio ...
For more info see some more or less related QA's:
Display an array of color in C
What is the best way to move an object on the screen?
If you got problem with the CTRL+Key detection not sure if in-build function in TC++ allows CTRL (was too long ago) then you can exploit BIOS or even hook up the keyboard ISR. See the second link where ISR for keyboard handler is there present... You can port it to C++ or google there must be a lot of examples out there especially TP7.0 (which is pascal but easily portable to TC++)
I am making Pacman in C++ with the Ncurses library. I am able to move Pacman with my code, but I want to move it so that pacman keeps moving even when I am not pressing any key and when I press another direction key, it changes direction. Right now, the pacman only takes one step when I press a key. Also I have to press a key 2 or 3 times before pacman moves in that direction.
if (ch==KEY_LEFT)
{
int b,row,column;
getyx(stdscr,row,column);
int h;
do // do-whileloop to move the pacman left until it hits the wall
{
column-=1;
mvprintw(row,column,">"); //print the ">" symbol
refresh();
waitf(0.1); //this pauses the game for 0.1sec
attron(COLOR_PAIR(1));
mvprintw(row,column,">");
attroff(COLOR_PAIR(1));
refresh();
waitf(0.1);
mvprintw(row,(b),"O"); //showing the open mouth of pacman
refresh();
waitf(0.1);
attron(COLOR_PAIR(1));a
mvprintw(row,column,"O");
attroff(COLOR_PAIR(1));
h = getch();
}
while(h == KEY_LEFT);
}
right = getch();
loop to move right in an if condition
up = getch();
loop to move up in an if condition
down = getch();
oop for moving down in an if condition.
The standard solution to this is the finite-state machine. The character has six or so possible states: standing, moving up, moving right, moving down, moving left, dead. Rather than a keypress directly moving the character, the keypress should change the character's state.
In such a small application, rather than implementing an incredibly flexible finite-state machine, you may use a very simple implementation as such:
enum PlayerState {
Standing,
MovingUp,
MovingRight,
MovingDown,
MovingLeft,
Dead
};
Then, inside your game loop you can add a very simple state check which then takes the appropriate action for the frame.
switch(state) {
case Standing:
break;
case MovingUp:
player.PositionY += 1;
break;
// ...
}
The last step is to hook input, which depends on your method of retrieving input. Using callbacks, an example is:
void KeyDown(Key k) {
switch(k) {
case UpArrow:
if(state != Dead)
state = MovingUp;
break;
case RightArrow:
if(state != Dead)
state = MovingRight;
// ...
}
}
You can see why in a larger project it would be important to implement a more flexible finite-state machine, but hopefully this example has given you an easy-to-understand idea.
You need an equivalent of kbhit, ie. a non-blocking getch. Which really gives the solution, set O_NONBLOCK on the input. See an example here. Once you have this, simply loop contiguously and just check for the key hit, w/o waiting on actual key press.
Function getch is blocked until some key is pressed. If you don't want to be blocked then call _kbhit before getch too make sure that there is something in input buffer.
EDIT: Take a look at ncurses functions nodelay and cbreak. They enable asynchronous input.
I suggest you take a look at the model-view-controller model, it will help you with this problems and all the other problems that you will have if you continue your program like this.
Edit: shortcut
To move your pacman continuously you will need a separate thread to control it and make it move. Take a look at pthreads for that.
If you keep only the user input in the main run loop of your program, the problem that you have to press the keys a few times will go away too (the problem here is that the processor has to be on the getch() line when you press the key, otherwise it will not be detected.
It is pretty easy
for each direction make 4 function
and inside the function,put in the other 3 direction function which get activated by kbhit.
and put a else statement in which it keeps moving forward if you do not hit a button i.e (!kbhit());
and then put all this in a loop.
If you do this for all the direction functions you should be able to get the desirable outcome.
I can't get this movement binding to work. I'm using the ncurses library, update_ch and oldch are global variables. KEYERR is a macro set to -120 (I just don't handle those keypresses). I'm trying to restrict the player so he can't hold up, down, left, or right, but he has to keep pressing them to move. It's not working, you can still hold the keys down and move. Any suggestions? My logic must be off.
if(update_ch != KEYERR)
{
oldch = update_ch;
}
update_ch = getch();
if(oldch == update_ch)
{
update_ch = KEYERR;
}
I'm trying to restrict the player so
he can't hold up, down, left, or
right, but he has to keep pressing
them to move.
I am pretty sure this isn't possible with curses. If I remember correctly curses only receives characters from a terminal. It doesn't control anything about the process.
Measuring the time between to such readings might give you a hint if the user is holding a key instead of continuously pressing. I mean, when you do a reading, record the following
Key read
Time of read (millisecond precision)
When you read a value, ask the following:
Is it the same as the last key ?
What's the difference between the current time and the time of the last read ?
If it's the same key and the time difference is smaller than some threshold you can decide he's holding the key down.
I have just tested my DirectX game on a Windows 2000 SP4 system but it won't receive any mouse clicks!
This is how I check for mouse clicks :
unsigned int mButtons = 0;
if (GetKeyState(VK_LBUTTON) < 0) mButtons |= HIDBoss::MOUSE_LEFT;
if (GetKeyState(VK_RBUTTON) < 0) mButtons |= HIDBoss::MOUSE_RIGHT;
if (GetKeyState(VK_MBUTTON) < 0) mButtons |= HIDBoss::MOUSE_MIDDLE;
if (GetKeyState(VK_XBUTTON1) < 0) mButtons |= HIDBoss::MOUSE_4;
if (GetKeyState(VK_XBUTTON2) < 0) mButtons |= HIDBoss::MOUSE_5;
etc...
This code works perfectly on Windows 7 and XP 32/64bit.
The problem is fixed if I use the OIS library instead - which uses DirectX input - but it contains a few bugs so I would rather avoid it.
Can anyone suggest why GetKeyState won't work on W2K? Could it be because the system hasn't been updated - through Windows Update - for the last couple of years..?
Thank you for your time,
Bill
I'm not sure why it doesn't work but I'd recommend using GetAsyncKeyState instead.
Edit: In answer to your comment. It is merely a suggestion but its, equally, pretty easy to find out if the buttons are swapped by calling:
GetSystemMetrics(SM_SWAPBUTTON)
Your big problem arises from the fact that GetKeyState is not supposed to return a value for mouse buttons only keyboard buttons. the fact it DOES work in some OSs is not something you are supposed to be able to rely on across all OSs.
An application calls GetKeyState in
response to a keyboard-input message.
This function retrieves the state of
the key when the input message was
generated.
Its worth noting that it makes specific mention of calling it in response to a keyboard-input message (ie WM_KEY[UP/DOWN]). Equally there is no mention that this should work for mice. As such you really are better off just using GetAsyncKeyState...