Reading keyboard input

Question

This is how I read the keyboard in my game:

    @Override
public void keyPressed(KeyEvent key) {
    keypressed=true;

    if (key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_UP) {
        keyup=true;
    }  

    if (key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_DOWN) {
        keydown=true;
    }  

    if (key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER) {
        keyenter=true;
    }  

    if (key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_ESCAPE) {
        keyesc=true;
    }  

    if (key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_W) {
        keyw=true;
    }  

    if (key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_S) {
        keys=true;
    }  

    if (key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_A) {
        keya=true;
    }  

    if (key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_D) {
        keyd=true;
    }  
}

Is there a more efficient, simpler, or neater way to do this?

So you've succeeded in setting some variables based on the keys pressed. Then what do you do with all those variables? — 200_success
– 200_success, Commented Apr 15, 2014 at 7:42

Jamal · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-15 07:53:38Z

Yes there is. As KeyEvent is an enumeration type, you can instead use a switch-statement:

char key;
boolean isSpecialKey = false;
SpecialKey specialKeyValue;
switch(key.getKeyCode()){
    case KeyEvent.VK_UP:
       key = '';
       isSpecialkey = true;
       specialKeyValue = SpecialKey.ARROW_UP;
       break;
    case KeyEvent.VK_W:
       key = 'w';
       break;
    //Continue...
}

I took the liberty of creating a new SpecialKey enum that is supposed to handle special keys when pressed. For these, there is also the isSpecialKey flag. You simply wouldn't create a case for Keys that you don't handle. Instead, do nothing in the default case.

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