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From: p554mve@mpirbn.UUCP (Michael van Elst)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Reading the keyboard without a window.
Keywords: keyboard,read,easy?
Message-ID: <550@mpirbn.UUCP>
Date: 10 Feb 90 16:07:33 GMT
References: <6675@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Reply-To: p554mve@mpirbn.UUCP (Michael van Elst)
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn
Lines: 27

In article <6675@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> rogers@iris.ucdavis.edu (Brewski Rogers) writes:
>For a game I am working on, I need to be able to read the keyboard
>without having a window open. I already have a routine that intercepts
>input events before intuition sees them, but before I write down the
>code and qualifier for each key, I'd like to know if there is an easier
>way, or if someone has already written it. While the game DOES multitask,
>the current interface with intuition is a total kludge, and we are trying
>to make it cleaner/more reliable.

Hmm, if the game multitasks, it should conform to the intuition paradigm.
There is no reason to NOT have a window open since windows can be made
completely invisible.

If your games display is on the workbench, it would be better to use a
keyboard to avoid user confusion.

If your games display uses an Intuition screen, then you can easily open
an BACKDROP|BORDERLESS window and use it only for gathering input.

If your games display uses a custom built View then you can open a small
screen (small to spare memory) with a window. Note that a screen cannot
be made too small since some rendering (Title bar, screen gadgets) is
done through the screen's rastport. However this display method isn't
quite comfortable.

Michael van Elst
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