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• sf::Keyboard::Key
• static bool sf::Keyboard::isKeyPressed(sf::Keyboard::Key)
• sf::Event::KeyEvent
  • sf::Keyboard::Key code
  • bool alt
  • bool control
  • bool shift
  • bool system
• sf::Event::TextEvent
  • sf::Uint32 unicode

• sf::Keyboard::Key
• ✨ sf::Keyboard::Scancode
• static bool sf::Keyboard::isKeyPressed(sf::Keyboard::Key)
• ✨ static bool sf::Keyboard::isKeyPressed(sf::Keyboard::Scancode)
• ✨ static sf::Keyboard::Key localize(sf::Keyboard::Scancode code)
• ✨ static sf::Keyboard::Scancode delocalize(sf::Keyboard::Key key)
• ✨ static sf::String getDescription(sf::Keyboard::Scancode code)
• sf::Event::KeyEvent
  • sf::Keyboard::Key code
  • ✨ sf::Keyboard::Scancode scancode
  • bool alt
  • bool control
  • bool shift
  • bool system
• sf::Event::TextEvent
  • sf::Uint32 unicode

• Receive the scancode from the OS APIs
• Translate to SFML scancode enum
• Return scancode via SFML APIs

There are three scancode sets, plus USB keyboard have their own set:

• Set 1: IBM PC XT
• Set 2: IBM PC AT
• Set 3: IBM 3270 PC
• USB Keyboard

See also the Microsoft scancode specification.

Windows requires PS/2 keyboards to use Set 2, but will provide Set 1 key codes on their API for backwards compatibility. USB keyboards will also be provided as Set 1 key codes. As such our API needs to handle Set 1 scancodes.

The WM_KEYDOWN, WM_SYSKEYDOWN, WM_KEYUP and WM_SYSKEYUP events provide the scancode values on the 16-23 bits of the lParam argument (lParam explained). which can be extracted with the following bit shifting: (lParam & (0xFF << 16)) >> 16

If the scancode value provided from the event is 0, we try to resolved the scancode by mapping the virtual key.

Once the scancode value has been extracted, it's a simple matter of mapping the values according to the Set 1 to the custom SFML scancode enum.

Make use of X Keyboard Extension (XKB) for creating keycode and scancode mappings.

• Get keycode name with XkbGetNames and map the names to SFML scancodes as primary mapping
• Get the system key with XkbKeycodeToKeysym and map with XK_* values as fallback mapping

The GitHub Wiki is slightly limited when it comes to large tables. Instead I've moved the mapping to an Excel sheet that you can also edit online.