How to handle multiple keypresses at once with SDL? - c++

been getting myself familiar with OpenGL programming using SDL on Ubuntu using c++. After some looking around and experimenting I am starting to understand. I need advice on keyboard event handling with SDL.
I have a 1st person camera, and can walk fwd, back, strafe left and right and use the mouse to look around which is great. Here is my processEvents function:
void processEvents()
{
int mid_x = screen_width >> 1;
int mid_y = screen_height >> 1;
int mpx = event.motion.x;
int mpy = event.motion.y;
float angle_y = 0.0f;
float angle_z = 0.0f;
while(SDL_PollEvent(&event))
{
switch(event.type)
{
case SDL_KEYDOWN:
switch(event.key.keysym.sym)
{
case SDLK_ESCAPE:
quit = true;
break;
case SDLK_w:
objCamera.Move_Camera( CAMERASPEED);
break;
case SDLK_s:
objCamera.Move_Camera(-CAMERASPEED);
break;
case SDLK_d:
objCamera.Strafe_Camera( CAMERASPEED);
break;
case SDLK_a:
objCamera.Strafe_Camera(-CAMERASPEED);
break;
default:
break;
}
break;
case SDL_MOUSEMOTION:
if( (mpx == mid_x) && (mpy == mid_y) ) return;
SDL_WarpMouse(mid_x, mid_y);
// Get the direction from the mouse cursor, set a resonable maneuvering speed
angle_y = (float)( (mid_x - mpx) ) / 1000;
angle_z = (float)( (mid_y - mpy) ) / 1000;
// The higher the value is the faster the camera looks around.
objCamera.mView.y += angle_z * 2;
// limit the rotation around the x-axis
if((objCamera.mView.y - objCamera.mPos.y) > 8) objCamera.mView.y = objCamera.mPos.y + 8;
if((objCamera.mView.y - objCamera.mPos.y) <-8) objCamera.mView.y = objCamera.mPos.y - 8;
objCamera.Rotate_View(-angle_y);
break;
case SDL_QUIT:
quit = true;
break;
case SDL_VIDEORESIZE:
screen = SDL_SetVideoMode( event.resize.w, event.resize.h, screen_bpp, SDL_OPENGL | SDL_HWSURFACE | SDL_RESIZABLE | SDL_GL_DOUBLEBUFFER | SDL_HWPALETTE );
screen_width = event.resize.w;
screen_height = event.resize.h;
init_opengl();
std::cout << "Resized to width: " << event.resize.w << " height: " << event.resize.h << std::endl;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}
now while this is working, it has some limitations. The biggest one and the purpose of my question is that it seems to only process the latest key that was pressed. So if I am holding 's' to walk backwards and I press 'd' to strafe right, I end up strafing right but not going backwards.
Can someone point me in the right direction for better keyboard handling with SDL, support for multiple keypresses at once, etc?
Thanks

SDL keeps track of the current state of all keys. You can access this state via:
SDL_GetKeyState()
So, each iteration you can update the movements based on the key state. To make the movement smooth you should update the movement magnitude based on the time elapsed between updates.

A good approach will be to write a keyboard ("input") handler that will process input events and keep the event's state in some sort of a structure (associative array sounds good - key[keyCode]).
Every time the keyboard handler receives a 'key pressed' event, it sets the key as enabled (true) and when it gets a key down event, it sets it as disabled (false).
Then you can check multiple keys at once without pulling events directly, and you will be able to re-use the keyboard across the entire frame without passing it around to subroutines.
Some fast pseudo code:
class KeyboardHandler {
handleKeyboardEvent(SDL Event) {
keyState[event.code] = event.state;
}
bool isPressed(keyCode) {
return (keyState[keyCode] == PRESSED);
}
bool isReleased(keyCode) {
return (keyState[keyCode] == RELEASED);
}
keyState[];
}
...
while(SDL Pull events)
{
switch(event.type) {
case SDL_KEYDOWN:
case SDL_KEYUP:
keyHandler.handleKeyboardEvent(event);
break;
case SDL_ANOTHER_EVENT:
...
break;
}
}
// When you need to use it:
if(keyHandler.isPressed(SOME_KEY) && keyHandler.isPressed(SOME_OTHER_KEY))
doStuff(TM);

If you're using SDL2 then use SDL_GetKeyboardState.
Example:
const Uint8 *keyboard_state_array = SDL_GetKeyboardState(NULL);
SDL_PollEvent(&event);
if(event.type == SDL_KEYDOWN || event.type == SDL_KEYUP)
{
// Move centerpoint of rotation for one of the trees:
if (keyboard_state_array[SDL_SCANCODE_UP] && !(keyboard_state_array[SDL_SCANCODE_DOWN]))
{
--location.y;
}
else if (!keyboard_state_array[SDL_SCANCODE_UP] && keyboard_state_array[SDL_SCANCODE_DOWN])
{
++location.y;
}
if (keyboard_state_array[SDL_SCANCODE_RIGHT] && !keyboard_state_array[SDL_SCANCODE_LEFT])
{
++location.x;
}
else if (!keyboard_state_array[SDL_SCANCODE_RIGHT] && keyboard_state_array[SDL_SCANCODE_LEFT])
{
--location.x;
}
}

Instead of only looking at keydown events, any solution which is going to be caring about multiple keys at once is going to have to be looking at both keydown and keyup events, and keeping track of the state of the keys in question.
So instead of (pseudocode):
on keydown:
case left_key:
object.setMovement(left)
case forward_key:
object.setMovement(forward)
instead you'd have something more like (again pseudocode):
on keydown:
case left_key:
keystates[left] = true
object.updateMovement(keystates)
case forward_key:
keystates[forward] = true
object.updateMovement(keystates)
on keyup:
case left_key:
keystates[left] = false
object.updateMovement(keystates)
case forward_key:
keystates[forward] = false
object.updateMovement(keystates)
Then the updateMovement routine would look at keystates and figure out a composite movement based on the states of all movement keys together.

use SDL_GetKeyState to get the keyboard state

Related

Clueless about how to use switch

this is my very first post :)
I'm a graphic design student in my second year and we have to make code for business cards.
What I want is when I click with my mouse the background of the business card will change.
It worked with a boolean for two pictures.
But now I want it to work with four images.
Have asked the teacher for help and she sent me information about Switch.
But I have no idea where to put in my code and how to fill it in.
This is my code so far
String Instagram="#Famoys_Saz";
String quote = "Guess my passion ;)";
PFont font;
PImage bg;
PImage Snake2;
PImage snake3;
PImage snake4;
boolean click = true;
void setup() {
size(850, 550);
font = createFont("Galaxyfaceano-4yM9.ttf", 45);
textFont(font);
textAlign(CENTER);
bg = loadImage("Snake.jpg");
Snake2= loadImage ("Snake2.jpg");
click = true;
}
void draw() {
background(bg);
if (click == true ) {
image(bg, 0, 0);
} else {
image(Snake2, 0, 0);
}
text(Instagram, mouseX, mouseY);
text(quote, mouseY, mouseX, 05);
}
void mousePressed() {
click =! click;
}
and this is the code my teacher send me:
if( imageNumber == 1 ) {
} else if ( imageNumber == 2 ) {
} else {
}
Could someone help me out? I'm quite a beginner when it comes to coding.
it will look something like this:
switch( imageNumber ) {
case 1: // same as saying imageNumber == 1
//some code
break;
case 2: // same as saying imageNumber == 2
//some code here
break;
}
switch(imageNumber) {
case 1:
// do stuff
break;
case 2:
// do stuff
break;
case 3:
// do stuff
break;
case 4:
// do stuff
break;
default:
// if no case was selected, do this
}
Switches are easy to read and efficient, and some programmers prefers them to else if. Both are fine, as long as they are readable, but the switch has some unique particularities, like having to use break; between cases. The break; will exit the switch, else it would evaluate every other possible case (thus you're saving some execution time).
It happened to me in a robotic project to deliberately skip the break; statement so the robot would do "everything from this point on", but it's very uncommon and a source of many beginner's bugs to forget the break;.
Depending on the language, switches can evaluate different things, but the classics are integers and strings.
Have fun!

C++ How do I Handle all possible Player Movement inputs?

I am trying to clean up movement code I followed from a video tutorial series that was never finished. My intent is for the character to only ever be able to move on X or Y at any given time (so no diagonal). The character has direction facing to keep in mind.
My issue is the player can still press any key they want, or accidently press two keys at the same time.
Ex. if you move Up and make a right turn, accidentally press Right before letting go of Up.
Or if you press Up, press and let go Right to make a slight movement right while continuing to press Up, the player should continue to move up after letting go of Right without having to re-press Up. etc.
Just to make sure all possible input cases are handled intuitively.
EDIT: This is the code so far and I'm getting weird errors I don't know what's wrong
#pragma once
#include "../game.h"
#include "ECS.h"
#include "Components.h"
#include <list>
using namespace std;
class KeyboardController : public Component
{
public:
TransformComponent *transform;
SpriteComponent *sprite;
std::list<SDL_Event> keyDownList;
SDL_Event lastDirection;
void updateKeyState()
{
if (Game::event.type == SDLK_ESCAPE) {
Game::isRunning = false;
}
else if (Game::event.type == SDL_KEYDOWN) {
keyDownList.push_back(Game::event.key.keysym.sym);
}
else if (Game::event.type == SDL_KEYUP) {
keyDownList.remove(Game::event.key.keysym.sym);
}
}
void init() override
{
transform = &entity->getComponent<TransformComponent>();
sprite = &entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>();
}
void update() override
{
void updateKeyState();
void updateMovement();
}
};
Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Error (active) E0304 no instance of overloaded function "std::list<_Ty, _Alloc>::push_back [with _Ty=SDL_Event, _Alloc=std::allocator]" matches the argument list Sandbox C:\file_path\KeyboardController.h 31
Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Error (active) E0415 no suitable constructor exists to convert from "SDL_Keycode" to "SDL_Event" Sandbox C:\file_path\KeyboardController.h 34
You should basically clean up your code by separating the logic between key events and player movement. So your update() method could look like this:
void update() override
{
updateKeyState();
updateMovement();
}
Since you want the player to move only vertically or horizontally (never diagonally), you have to store the key press order in a data structure that can be easily accessed. I think you could use a doubly-linked list:
std::list<SDL_Event> keyDownList;
and we should also store the last key pressed in order to restore the idle animation of the player:
SDL_Event lastDirection;
The updateKeyState() method should add or remove the key to/from the linked list. We should also check if the player wants to leave the game by pressing ESC:
void updateKeyState() {
if (Game::event.type == SDLK_ESCAPE) {
Game::isRunning = false;
} else if (Game::event.type == SDL_KEYDOWN) {
keyDownList.push_back(Game::event.key.keysym.sym);
} else if (Game::event.type == SDL_KEYUP) {
keyDownList.remove(Game::event.key.keysym.sym);
}
}
The updatePlayerMovement() method is where the magic happens. We should basically check which key was pressed first and update the player position accordingly. We also save the down key in the lastDirection field in order to use it when no key is pressed.
void updateMovement() {
// if any key is down
if (keyDownList.size() > 0) {
const SDL_Event downKey = keyDownList.front();
switch (downKey) {
case SDLK_w:
transform->velocity.y = -1;
transform->velocity.x = 0;
sprite->Play("BackWalk");
lastDirection = downKey;
break;
case SDLK_a:
transform->velocity.x = -1;
transform->velocity.y = 0;
sprite->Play("SideWalk");
sprite->spriteFlip = SDL_FLIP_HORIZONTAL;
lastDirection = downKey;
break;
case SDLK_s:
transform->velocity.y = 1;
transform->velocity.x = 0;
sprite->Play("FrontWalk");
lastDirection = downKey;
break;
case SDLK_d:
transform->velocity.x = 1;
transform->velocity.y = 0;
sprite->Play("SideWalk");
sprite->spriteFlip = SDL_FLIP_NONE;
lastDirection = downKey;
break;
}
} else {
// no key is down, handle idle situations
transform->velocity.x= 0;
transform->velocity.y = 0;
switch (lastDirection) {
case SDLK_w:
sprite->Play("BackIdle");
break;
case SDLK_a:
sprite->Play("SideIdle");
break;
case SDLK_s:
sprite->Play("FrontIdle");
break;
case SDLK_d:
sprite->Play("SideIdle");
break;
}
}
}
Note: I haven't tested this code because I don't have the code and structures from your game. So you may have to edit a piece here and there to make it work for you.

SDL_Events how to make it

I wrote a func that help me move my car with SDL
if (events.type == SDL_KEYDOWN)
{
switch(events.key.keysym.sym)
{
case SDLK_UP:
y_val -=main_car_speed;
break;
case SDLK_DOWN:
y_val +=main_car_speed;
break;
case SDLK_RIGHT:
x_val +=main_car_speed;
break;
case SDLK_LEFT:
x_val -=main_car_speed;
break;
}
It's pretty simple. But I got a problem that when I press up and left. My car just go ahead, instead of go ahead and left at the sametime.
How can I solve this problem?
Using events, if you press 'left' after having pressed 'up', your program will stop receiving events for the 'up' key-presses and will instead receive only 'left' key-presses. If you want to know whether keys are pressed or not pressed at any moment in time, rather than react to when they are first pressed, the following code should help you:
// inside main loop, after events have been handled
const Uint8* keystates = SDL_GetKeyboardState(NULL);
if (keystate[SDL_SCANCODE_UP]){
y_val -= main_car_speed;
}
if (keystate[SDL_SCANCODE_LEFT]){
x_val -= main_car_speed;
}
Have a look at the Documentation for SDL_GetKeyboardState for details

OpenGL - Left mouse click keeps removing my grid

I have created a drawGrid() function that draws a squared grid along my X and Y axis, which works fine. I have then created a menu() function (called in the main()), that toggles the grid on and off, here's the code for that:
void menu(int item)
{
switch (item)
{
case MENU_SWITCH_OFF_GRID:
{
if (gridActive == true)
{
gridActive = true;
}
}
break;
case MENU_SWITCH_ON_GRID:
{
if (gridActive == true)
{
gridActive = false;
}
}
break;
default:
{ /* Nothing */ }
break;
}
glutPostRedisplay();
return;
}
}
The menu switch works fine, as I have created a global variable called gridActive without a true or false value so it doesn't reset each time, that way it can be accessed in my display() function like so:
if (gridActive != true)
{
drawGrid();
gridActive = true;
}
All of this works just fine.
What's my issue?
My issue is, whenever I click the left mouse button, my grid disappears, which I don't want. So I've made a mouse() function like this:
case GLUT_LEFT_BUTTON: if (state == GLUT_DOWN)
{
exit(0); // this has been added to see if
// my program will exit!
}
break;
To test if my program exits when I click the left mouse, and it does.
So instead of using exit(0); what code can i put here so that my grid doesn't disappear when I click the left mouse button? Or is the issue beyond that?
UPDATE:
Here's the mouse function:
void mouse(int button, int state, int x, int y)
{
// these have simply been set-up for me to use
// in the future
switch (button)
{
case GLUT_LEFT_BUTTON: if (state == GLUT_DOWN)
{
}
break;
case GLUT_RIGHT_BUTTON: if (state == GLUT_DOWN)
{
}
break;
default: break;
}
}
Based on your code:
if (gridActive != true)
{
drawGrid();
gridActive = true;
}
You only draw the grid when gridActive is false. However, after every time you draw it, you set gridActive=true which will then stop it from being drawn.
Without more of your code, it's impossible to tell exactly what's going on, but these lines may not be doing what you think they are, and that may be causing some issues.
This never does anything.
if (gridActive == true)
{
gridActive = true;
}
This:
if (gridActive == true)
{
gridActive = false;
}
is the same as:
gridActive = false;
In order to tell what's going on, though, we need to know what happens when you click your mouse button when the exit call isn't there, but you didn't post that code yet.
Also, i don't quite know what you mean by:
I have created a global variable called gridActive without a true or false value so it doesn't reset each time
but it sounds like you made an uninitialized global variable and expect that it has some specific meaning because it's uninitialized?

Detect only one keypress in C++

I'm trying to use the glut framework to handle keypresses for a game I'm writing in c++. When a specific key is pressed, I want to start drawing a new curve and so I create a new curve and add it to my container of curves. However, when I use onKeyboard and debug I see that this function is called over and over when a key is pressed, not just on the initial press. Therefore, it's creating about 12 curves every time a key is pressed. My code for onKeyboard is below. Any help would be appreciated greatly!
void onKeyboard(unsigned char key,int x, int y) {
keysPressed[key] = true;
switch (key) {
case 'l':
curvesContainer.addCurve(new lCurve());
break;
case 'p':
curvesContainer.addCurve(new pCurve());
}
glutPostRedisplay();
}
You would simply check if keyPressed[key] is already true, and only add your curve if it is false.
void onKeyboard(unsigned char key,int x, int y)
{
if (keysPressed[key] == false)
{
keysPressed[key] = true;
switch (key)
{
case 'l':
curvesContainer.addCurve(new lCurve());
break;
case 'p':
curvesContainer.addCurve(new pCurve());
break;
}
}
glutPostRedisplay();
}
You will additionally need to clear keysPressed[key] in an onKeyUp event, using glutKeyboardUpFunc
void onKeyUp(unsigned char key,int x, int y)
{
keysPressed[key] == false;
}
glutIgnoreKeyRepeat(1) is probably what you want. (1 = on)
Use input flush define in studio.in
It avoid rest of input