Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!psuvm.bitnet!cunyvm!unknown
From: rrk@byuvax.bitnet
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Reading single keystrokes - how do I cope with PF keys?
Message-ID: <122rrk@byuvax.bitnet>
Date: 10 May 88 04:28:50 GMT
Lines: 16

An easy solution to your problem was included in a recent (somewhere between
4.0 and 4.4) revision of the operating system.  I don't remember the exact
names of the codes.  Please refer to your I/O reference manual.  This much
I do remember.  You have to revise the form of your terminal QIO to use
the terminal QIO extended itemlist.  You can do this without changing the
basic way your QIO works--it is just a different way of passing parameters
because they ran out of parameter/qualifier space in the $QIO with only
six parameters.  Anyway, there is a code you can include to reserve N
characters of the buffer for receiving the rest of an escape sequence.
If you specify a buffer size of 20 and an escape overflow of 19, this will
cause any keystroke from the terminal to terminate the I/O, but if the key
generated an escape sequence, the entire sequence (up to 20 characters
including the escape) will be placed in your buffer.  I hope this helps.

                                AMMON::RAY