Using InputMap and ActionMap to detect any key pressed...plz help

Question

Hi,
I am quite new to Java. I have a tiny problem. I wanna put an actionlistener into a JTextField, so it printout something whenever a key is pressed (when the textField is selected).
I can only get it to print if I assign a specific key to pressed...example below (works):
JTextField searchBox = new JTextField();
InputMap imap = searchBox.getInputMap();
ActionMap amap = searchBox.getActionMap();
imap.put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_A, 0), "pressed");
amap.put("pressed", new AbstractAction() {
          public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
               System.out.println("TYPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE");
HOWEVER, when i change keystroke to any key pressed, it doesn't work. Example below(doesn't work):
JTextField searchBox = new JTextField();
InputMap imap = searchBox.getInputMap();
ActionMap amap = searchBox.getActionMap();
imap.put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.KEY_PRESSED, 0), "pressed");
amap.put("pressed", new AbstractAction() {
          public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
               System.out.println("TYPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE");
Somebody plz helps me. I am really confused how to use KeyEvent.KEY_PRESSED. I thought it would work the same way as KeyEvent.VK_A...if i can't use KEY_PRESSED for that purpose, what KeyEvent do I use?
Thank you very much in advance.

Answer 1

Sounds like you want a KeyListener.
textField.addKeyListener(new KeyListener() {
    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {
        System.out.println("Key typed.");
    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
        System.out.println("Key pressed.");
    public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
        System.out.println("Key released.");
});See the API documentation for more information.