ControlKey - CharaterKey Combination doesnt work

Question

I am working on a simple text editor project.I need to map keys to some functions.I have tested some key combinations and a lot of them worked just fine.Problem arises when i try to combine the control and the character keys.I performed other key combinations(Shift-Character;Alt-Character)and worked just fine.But the Control-Character key combination fails to work.For the Shift-Character combination it generates the VK codes i wanted,and also for Alt-Character combination.But for Control-Character combinations it generates an empty space(or a null/box-like )character.I expect the same operation by all Modifier-Character mappings.Control gave an exception
I thought this was due to my platform(Windows)but i have tested it on a linux platform as well with the same experience.Any one interested in this.This is my handling module;
addKeyListener( new windowAdapter(){
public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e){
if (e.isControlDown() && e.getKeyChar == 'char')
doWhatIWant();
Note;I have tested the same keyTyped method with the line;
if (e.isShiftDown() && e.getKeyChar =='char'),and gave desired result,and also for Alt.thanks

Answer 1

Hi,
The problem is that you're listening for keyTyped events and looking at the character returned by getKeyChar. It appears that pressing control and the characters your looking for actually produce another Unicode character. keyTyped is typically to be used to listen for character input. What you should be doing instead is listening for keyPressed events. There, you should be checking the return value of getKeyCode. So, for example, say you wanted to check for control-A:
public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
  if (e.isControlDown() && e.getKeyCode == KeyEvent.VK_A) {
    doWhatYouWant();
}Also, you should know that Swing has a better mechanism for mapping keystrokes to actions. Here's how you'd hook up your editor to map CTRL-A to a certain action:
                       // note that "ctrl" is NOT in caps
editor.getInputMap().put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("ctrl A"), "myAction");
editor.getActionMap().put("myAction", new AbstractAction() {
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
        doWhatYouWant();
});Questions welcome :)
Shannon Hickey (Swing Team)