Okay we know that the sensing for keys like delete, shift, ctrl, esc, enter, \, /, etc. is already used in scratch in the editor, so why on earth has the

<key [ v] pressed?>

not had these keys added? I've looked and found zero reasons stated by the scratch team. If someone wants to link me to a reason feel free, but I can't think of any nor have I seen any.

If you want to use any other keys, use this base: http://scratch.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/projects/12562667/ It even includes capitals and shift for other symbols! However, I dunno why the Scratch Team didn't add those to the block in the first place.

I completely understand how to use the other keys, its just that the scratch team has said that they don't approve of JSON hacking. This goes for a lot of other things too, they're just so basic that it really shouldn't require JSON editing to use them.

How about these?
Booleans:

<key [shift v] pressed?>
<key [delete/backspace v] pressed?>
<key [esc v] pressed?>
<key [enter v] pressed?>
<key [any v] pressed?>

Reporters:

([last v] key pressed)
([current v] key pressed)

This is a duplicate.

ScratchGames0 wrote:

How about these?
Booleans:

<key [shift v] pressed?>
<key [delete/backspace v] pressed?>
<key [esc v] pressed?>
<key [enter v] pressed?>
<key [any v] pressed?>

Reporters:

([last v] key pressed)
([current v] key pressed)

Those would be great, although It'd be nice just to have it as a dropdown that is not read-only, so you could enter any symbol. Adding reporters would help greatly also.

AonymousGuy wrote:

This is a duplicate.

That only mentions the shift and enter keys… I'd really just like to be able to enter any symbol/ascii code.

There are actually a few problems however, such as the fact that some keys may have special functions, and things like that. So only really shift, enter, ctrl, alt, tab, and caps lock could be detected for those kinds of keys, while the rest of the symbols would work.

Well the alt or function keys would probably not be needed, nor pageup/down or end, home, delete. But everything else has a high likelihood of not being bound to anything. Also, the fact that it has no numpad support makes me angry.

FalconGunner99 wrote:

ScratchGames0 wrote:

How about these?
Booleans:

<key [shift v] pressed?>
<key [delete/backspace v] pressed?>
<key [esc v] pressed?>
<key [enter v] pressed?>
<key [any v] pressed?>

Reporters:

([last v] key pressed)
([current v] key pressed)

Those would be great, although It'd be nice just to have it as a dropdown that is not read-only, so you could enter any symbol. Adding reporters would help greatly also.

Try this.

<key [space] pressed?>

Click on the word “space”. You press the key you want, and then this will happen.

<key [key you pressed] pressed?>

To do any key, double-click the area.

<key [any] pressed?>

ScratchGames0 wrote:

-snip-

Try this.

<key [space] pressed?>

Click on the word “space”. You press the key you want, and then this will happen.

<key [key you pressed] pressed?>

To do any key, double-click the area.

<key [any] pressed?>

Yes, although having a dropdown with basic keys would also be nice. This, however would require a bit more coding on the scratch team's side, and the point of this post is that it would take like 1 1/2 hours of coding to add all the keys, and there is no valid reason so far that the ST hasn't added them.

The only one I know that has a reason it's not added is the enter key, and that's because the enter key also starts a project. Other than that, I don't know why they're not added.

- 1 ^ 40176834. (aka +1)

mitchboy wrote:

The only one I know that has a reason it's not added is the enter key, and that's because the enter key also starts a project. Other than that, I don't know why they're not added.

- 1 ^ 40176834. (aka +1)

Yea I could see that being a problem. Maybe either change it to another key or disable that feature once the project has been started? Heck who am I kidding I'd be happy without the enter key just give me my freaking symbols already.

100% support.
If you want full game controls, you need:
F keys
shift
enter
most other keys

1234abcdcba4321 wrote:

100% support.
If you want full game controls, you need:
F keys
shift
enter
most other keys

Function keys are probably not a good idea, as most are usually bound to something, and, if someone is inexpirienced with a computer, they might mess up settings while trying to play a game.

My computer for instance, requires me to press ctrl when using the function keys to keep them from messing with my brightness/volume/screen settings. The only key that isn't bound to something is f5.

If someone didn't know this they might blame scratch for making their screen dim, or causing a video they were playing in the background to go full blast. OR they might accidentally be pressing another key when using them, which can cause it to go bad quickly, with alt+f4, etc.

Hey - so I forwarded this question to the Scratch Team to see if anybody remembered the reasons for the design decisions that were made in this area. John (who has been with the Scratch project from the very beginning) sent me this in an email - maybe it will help

johnm wrote:

One difficulty in adding additonal keys is that keyboards differ in which
keys they have, how they are labelled, and how they work.

For example:

- we wanted to reserve enter/return to mean “press green flag”
- escape is reserved for exiting full-screen mode
- some keyboards do not generate shift key events until another key is
pressed
- the labeling of delete and backspace (and which character codes they
generate) varies
- some punctation keys don't appear on all keyboards

I'm not saying that one couldn't work around some of these issues, but the
current set of keys is “conservative” in the sense that virtually every keyboard
can generate the letters, numbers, arrows, and space key.

The “principle” here is that Scratch projects that use keys should work across
all
variations of keyboards.

That said, I think we decided to add a limited set of additional symbols; we
just haven't done it yet.

Paddle2See wrote:

Hey - so I forwarded this question to the Scratch Team to see if anybody remembered the reasons for the design decisions that were made in this area. John (who has been with the Scratch project from the very beginning) sent me this in an email - maybe it will help

johnm wrote:

One difficulty in adding additonal keys is that keyboards differ in which
keys they have, how they are labelled, and how they work.

For example:

- we wanted to reserve enter/return to mean “press green flag”
- escape is reserved for exiting full-screen mode
- some keyboards do not generate shift key events until another key is
pressed
- the labeling of delete and backspace (and which character codes they
generate) varies
- some punctation keys don't appear on all keyboards

I'm not saying that one couldn't work around some of these issues, but the
current set of keys is “conservative” in the sense that virtually every keyboard
can generate the letters, numbers, arrows, and space key.

The “principle” here is that Scratch projects that use keys should work across
all
variations of keyboards.

That said, I think we decided to add a limited set of additional symbols; we
just haven't done it yet.

Thanks for replying.

While I'm disappointed that we will never have official support for all the keys, it is nice to have an explanation as to why they haven't been added yet.
I have yet to see a keyboard without the ctrl and tab keys, however, so I hope that those are in the bunch they still plan to add.

I would like to add a little bit to this discussion.

I am currently doing a project where I want to use a simple usb connected switch interface to take input from two special buttons. This switch interface is designed to act as an input from the “space” and “enter” buttons. I believe some of these special switch interfaces are programmed to use either “space”, “enter” or both and so they can be the only options on offer for those developing something for the physically impaired. Therefore it would be excellent if there was some way to make the “enter” key available so such interfaces would be usable with Scratch.

Regards,
vamanos

I think you should be able to do any key you want on the keyboard for the key press block. I know Flash can do this so it is possible. Maybe you could click on the field in the key press block and instead of a drop down menu it says “Press the key you want” and then you press it and it goes in the block.

EDIT: except the Windows key, menu key, volume/media keys, or anything else that is not used by other applications

Seems good. Support.