keyboard events

[mike smith]

I'm trying to output key the user presses. why won't this work? I don't think it is catching the key event.

 import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Keypress extends JApplet
implements KeyListener
{
private Container pane;
private JTextField showkey;

public void init(){
requestFocus();
showkey=new JTextField("Press a key");
pane=getContentPane();
pane.add(showkey);
pane.setBackground(Color.white);
pane.addKeyListener(this);

}

public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e){
String x=e.getKeyText();
System.out.print(x);
}
public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e){
char key=e.getKeyChar();
System.out.print(key);
}
public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e){
}
} 

[Dorothy Finkel-Laverty]

Well, first of all, it won't compile. In your keyPressed method, you are calling getKeyText(), which requires an int as an argument. I suspect you meant to use getKeyChar().
Second, you need to add the KeyListener object to the component that is visible - that is, to the JTextField showkey, not to the container pane.
Try it. You should see both your keyPressed and keyTyped event handlers for the character keys, and just your keyPressed for the non-typeable keys.
One more suggestion - while you're learning, you may want to include in your printout the name of method that is showing the information, such as "System.out.print("in keyPressed " + x);" or "System.out.print("in keyTyped " + key);". Helps you to learn the differences between a keyPressed, keyTyped, and keyReleased.
Have fun!

[mike smith]

thanks, i'll try that. And yea I have been using the system output commands for learning and debugging purposes.