Getting Key Events during animation loop

Question

I'm having a problem recieving Key events during my animation loop. Here is my example program
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.BufferStrategy;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.Iterator;
import GAME.graphics.Animation;
import GAME.sprites.MainPlayer;
import GAME.util.MapData;
import GAME.input.*;
public class ImageTest extends JFrame {
    private static final long DEMO_TIME = 20000;
    private Animation      anim;
    private MainPlayer     mPlayer;
    private MapData               mapData;
    private InputManager      inputManager;
    private GameAction moveLeft;
    private GameAction moveRight;
    private GameAction exit;
    public ImageTest()
     requestFocus();
     initInput();
     setSize(1024, 768);
     setUndecorated(true);
     setIgnoreRepaint(true);
     setResizable(false);
     loadImages();
     anim = new Animation();
        mPlayer = new MainPlayer(anim);
        setVisible(true);
        createBufferStrategy(2);
        animationLoop();
     // load the player images
     private void loadImages()
          // code that loads images...
     // Initialize input controls
     private void initInput() {
        moveLeft = new GameAction("moveLeft");
        moveRight = new GameAction("moveRight");
        exit = new GameAction("exit",
            GameAction.DETECT_INITAL_PRESS_ONLY);
        inputManager = new InputManager(this);
        inputManager.setCursor(InputManager.INVISIBLE_CURSOR);
        inputManager.mapToKey(moveLeft, KeyEvent.VK_LEFT);
        inputManager.mapToKey(moveRight, KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT);
        inputManager.mapToKey(exit, KeyEvent.VK_ESCAPE);
    // Check player input
    private void checkInput(long elapsedTime) {
        if (exit.isPressed()) {
            System.exit(0);
        if (mPlayer.isAlive()) {
            float velocityX = 0;
            if (moveLeft.isPressed()) {
                velocityX-=mPlayer.getMaxSpeed();
            if (moveRight.isPressed()) {
                velocityX+=mPlayer.getMaxSpeed();
            mPlayer.setVelocityX(velocityX);
    // main animation loop
    public void animationLoop() {
        long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
        long currTime = startTime;
        while (currTime - startTime < DEMO_TIME) {
            long elapsedTime =
                System.currentTimeMillis() - currTime;
            currTime += elapsedTime;
            checkInput(elapsedTime);
            mPlayer.update(elapsedTime);
            // draw and update screen
            BufferStrategy strategy = this.getBufferStrategy();
            Graphics2D g = (Graphics2D)strategy.getDrawGraphics();
            if (!(bgImage == null))
                 draw(g);
                 g.dispose();
                 if (!strategy.contentsLost()) {
                     strategy.show();
            // take a nap
            try {
                Thread.sleep(20);
            catch (InterruptedException ex) { }
    public void draw(Graphics g) {
        // draw background
        if (bgImage != null)
                     // draw image
             g.drawImage(mPlayer.getImage(), (int)mPlayer.getX(), (int)mPlayer.getY(), null);
}My InputManager implements KeyListener. When running print statements on my Key events, they are not being called until after the animation demo is done running. Can someone help me with getting the Key events to update during the animation loop? Thank you!

Answer 1

I've used the post from Abuse on the following thread with success. Maybe it will clue you in to what you might be doing wrong:
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jsp?forum=406&thread=498527