NAME

SDL_keysym - Keysym structure

STRUCTURE DEFINITION

typedef struct{


  Uint8 scancode;


  SDLKey sym;


  SDLMod mod;


  Uint16 unicode;
} SDL_keysym;

STRUCTURE DATA

scancode

Hardware specific scancode

sym

SDL virtual keysym

mod

Current key modifiers

unicode

Translated character

DESCRIPTION

The SDL_keysym structure is used by reporting key presses and releases since it is a part of the SDL_KeyboardEvent.

The scancode field should generally be left alone, it is the hardware dependent scancode returned by the keyboard. The sym field is extremely useful. It is the SDL-defined value of the key (see SDL Key Syms. This field is very useful when you are checking for certain key presses, like so:

.
.
while(SDL_PollEvent(&event)){


  switch(event.type){


    case SDL_KEYDOWN:


      if(event.key.keysym.sym==SDLK_LEFT)


        move_left();


      break;


    .


    .


    .


  }
}
.
.

mod stores the current state of the keyboard modifiers as explained in SDL_GetModState. The unicode is only used when UNICODE translation is enabled with SDL_EnableUNICODE. If unicode is non-zero then this a the UNICODE character corresponding to the keypress. If the high 9 bits of the character are 0, then this maps to the equivalent ASCII character:

char ch;
if ( (keysym.unicode & 0xFF80) == 0 ) {


  ch = keysym.unicode & 0x7F;
}
else {


  printf("An International Character.
");
}

UNICODE translation does have a slight overhead so don't enable it unless its needed.

SEE ALSO

SDLKey