KEY message parameters

When a key is pressed in a dialog, graph or display, a KEY message is sent to the controlling shell. The message parameter describes which key was pressed, and whether the control and/or shift keys were up or down at the time. A description of the parameter follows.

Please note that the KEY message parameter is case sensitive.

Alpha characters

e.g. for the character 'a'

key	control	shift	message	notes
a	no	no	'a'
a	yes	no	'Ca'
a	no	yes	'A'
a	yes	yes	'CA'

Numerical characters

e.g. for the number '1'

key	control	shift	message	notes
1	no	no	'1'
1	yes	no	'C1'
1	no	yes	'1'	same as without shift
1	yes	yes	'C1'	same as without shift

key

control

shift

controlshift

keyname				key - description and comment
normal
chlowercase	Cchlower	chupper	Cchupper	ch is any character key (a – z); e.g.: [control][c] -> 'Cc', [shift][s] -> 'S', [a] -> 'a'
num	Cnum	snum	*	num is a numeric key and snum the corresponding symbol if pressed with shift (depends on keyboard layout); e.g. [8] -> '8', [shift][4] -> '$'
sym	*	ssym	*	sym is a symbol key and ssym the corresponding symbol if pressed with shift (depends on keyboard layout); e.g. [+] -> '+', [shift][-] -> '_'

key	control+key	shift+key	control+shift+key	description
Fn	CFn	SFn	CSFn	Function key[Fn]; with: n = 1 .. 12
left	Cleft	Sleft	CSleft	The left arrow button
right	Cright	Sright	CSright	The right arrow key
up	Cup	Sup	CSup	The up arrow key
down	Cdown	Sdown	CSdown	The down arrow key
previous	Cprevious	Sprevious	CSprevious	The page up key (PgUp)
next	Cnext	Snext	CSnext	The page down key (PgDn)
home	Chome	Shome	CShome	The home key
end	Cend	Send	CSend	The end key
insert	Cinsert	Sinsert	CSinsert	The insert key
delete	CS	delete [DEL]
space	CS	space bar (blank) [ ]
add	CS	numeric pad add [+]
subtract	CS	numeric pad subtract [-]
multiply	CS	numeric pad multiply [*]
divide	CS	numeric pad divide [/]
enter	CS	enter / return RETURN

Notes: The key [ESC] (Escape) is never sent as a key message. It is always translated into the message itemtype itemname CANCEL.Not all [control][key] codes are defined in the ASCII character set and some are directly processed by the system. Therefore some combinations can not be translated and keyname is set to '*'. For the special keys (replaced with name strings) not all [control] and/or [shift] states are defined.

See the key_messages.sts example script to see this all in action.