|
|
The Keyboard sample program enables the exploration of Foreground versus Background and Exclusive versus Non-Exclusive cooperative levels, and Buffered versus Immediate data retrieval from the keyboard.
| Source: | (SDK root)\Samples\C++\DirectInput\Keyboard |
| Executable: | (SDK root)\Samples\C++\DirectInput\Bin\Keyboard.exe |
Through the user interface, any combination of cooperative level and data styles can be created and the resulting keyboard behavior observed. Each setting is explained as it is selected, and the expected behavior is predicted when the device is created.
Note that holding down a key in immediate mode holds that key indefinitely as subsequent snapshots of the keyboard are taken by DirectInput. This is an optical illusion because DirectInput is taking individual snapshots at the rate of twelve times a second, but it demonstrates that, in immediate mode, only the state of the keyboard at that time is considered, while anything that has happened between snapshots is ignored.
Holding down a key in buffered mode briefly displays the data indicating that the key has been pressed, then quickly clears that data as it is flushed from the buffer. Releasing the key generates another briefly displayed key-up event. This is a significant difference from immediate mode.