[as2] counteract buffered keyrepeat

Question

I'm moving an movieclip using the cursor keys. The device it has to run on, is too slow to process the keys realtime, so the keys are placed in a some sort of buffer and the object keeps on moving for a while when the key is released.
The device places 8 keys in the buffer per second, but flash can only process 5 per second, so holding the key for a second, will look like I've pressed it almost twice as long.
Does anyone know of a way to counteract this?
I've tried using Key.isDown, but that returns true, even though they key is released, until the buffer is emptied.
I've tried using the onKeyDown event to start the movement and stop the movement using the onKeyUp event, but it seems like the onKeyUp event only occurs when the buffer becomes empty. Even when I remove the onKeyDown listener, it seems like the buffer only decreases 1 key per frame.
It might have worked when there is no keyrepeat in the hardware, but that is not an option.
It would be helpfull if there was a timestamp indicating when the key was pressed, or some way to clear the buffer, but I've not found one.

Answer 1

I agree, it should work, and on a PC it does.
I've created a test movie that does 10 seconds of heavy rendering (at 0.9 fps) and then 10 seconds of very little load (which can run at 32fps, but the movie is set to 25) I've added logging with a timestamp which shows when the onKeyDown and onKeyUp events are triggered.
I can see the keys being entered with the flashing led on the device, this always happens at 4 keys per second (I thought it was 8, but the led flashes twice per key)
I hold the key for 5 seconds, thus entering aproximately 20 'keys'
FLASH_TRACE: [63076] Heavy load: true
-- this is where I physically press the button --
FLASH_TRACE: [65229] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [66331] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [66358] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [67514] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [68711] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [69903] onKeyDown event triggered
-- this is where I physically release the button --
FLASH_TRACE: [71006] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [72067] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73198] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73215] Heavy load: false
FLASH_TRACE: [73261] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73303] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73354] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73398] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73439] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73478] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73517] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73558] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73617] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73659] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73699] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73735] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73773] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [73815] onKeyUp event triggered
I clearly see keys being added to the buffer at 4fps, but only removed from the buffer at the framerate the movie is rendering.
Adding a fast (1ms) interval does increase the rate at which the buffer is emptied, but only when there is 'some time left'.
When the rendering is done within the 1/25th of a second, the interval is triggered as fast as possible (every 6ms).
But when the desired framerate can not be matched, the interval is only triggered once in between frames.
-- this is where I physically press the button --
FLASH_TRACE: [5069] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [5075] Key.isDown==true
FLASH_TRACE: [5132] Key.isDown==true
FLASH_TRACE: [6319] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [6426] Key.isDown==true
FLASH_TRACE: [7581] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [7601] Key.isDown==true
FLASH_TRACE: [8726] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [8733] Key.isDown==true
-- this is where I physically release the button --
FLASH_TRACE: [9892] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [9900] Key.isDown==true
FLASH_TRACE: [11038] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11045] Heavy load: false
FLASH_TRACE: [11046] Key.isDown==true
FLASH_TRACE: [11099] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11105] Key.isDown==true
FLASH_TRACE: [11134] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11147] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11154] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11160] Key.isDown==true
FLASH_TRACE: [11184] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11190] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11197] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11203] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11210] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11216] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11223] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11229] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11235] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11241] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11247] onKeyDown event triggered
FLASH_TRACE: [11255] onKeyUp event triggered
The wierdest thing is happening here:
The interval appears to speed up the onKeyDown events, but not trigger the interval itself??
(I've also tried setting 5 intervals, but that makes no difference: the 5 intervals are all triggered, but only 1 key is removed, not 5)
Anyway, I could make a small delay before doing the heavy rendering to create some time to remove a few frames from the buffer. but at 6ms per key, that's pretty expensive. In the most optimistic case, that would mean an extra 25ms wait to handle the 4 frames per second.