PythonScript - How to get status of Ctrl , Alt , Shift keys also CapsLock and Scroll lock

hcchen

I can’t find the answer here, that’s strange. I’d like to alter the behavior of my PythonScript thus need to get the status of them (alt shift ctrl Capslock Scrollock)

Thanks in advance!

H.C. Chen

Ekopalypse

@hcchen

see for example here.

Alan Kilborn

@hcchen

Here’s an example script which shows how I do it most-often:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import print_function

from ctypes import (WinDLL)

user32 = WinDLL('user32')
gaks = user32.GetAsyncKeyState
gks = user32.GetKeyState

VK_SHIFT         = 0x10
VK_CONTROL       = 0x11
VK_MENU = VK_ALT = 0x12
VK_CAPITAL       = 0x14
VK_SCROLL        = 0x91

shift_down = (gaks(VK_SHIFT) & 0x8000) != 0
control_down = (gaks(VK_CONTROL) & 0x8000) != 0
alt_down = (gaks(VK_ALT) & 0x8000) != 0
capslock_down = (gks(VK_CAPITAL) & 0x0001) != 0
scrolllock_down = (gks(VK_SCROLL) & 0x0001) != 0

print('shift_down:', shift_down)
print('control_down:', control_down)
print('alt_down:', alt_down)
print('capslock_down:', capslock_down)
print('scrolllock_down:', scrolllock_down)

Note that these calls cannot be done in all contexts. For example if you run this script from the menus while holding the Ctrl key, it won’t run the script (and thus you won’t run the code that detects the Ctrl key state), it will open the script into the editor!

Alan Kilborn

I guess “down” is a misnomer for caps lock and scroll lock. What it (down = true) means in this context is that the corresponding keyboard light is on and that the functionality is active, i.e. pressing the a key without Shift will generate A (for caps lock).

hcchen

@alan-kilborn Ha, this worked. Thank you very much!