optionKeyDown
Type
message
Summary
Sent when the user presses an Option key, Meta key, or Alt key combination.
Syntax
optionKeyDown <pKeyName>
Description
Handle the optionKeyDown message if you want to provide Option key shortcuts, or do something special when the user types an Option key combination.
The optionKeyDown message is sent only when the user types a key combination that produces a character. For example, typing Option-F11 does not send an optionKeyDown message, because Option-F11 does not produce a character.
On MacOS 9, some key codes are not sent if the preceding character is one that produces an international diacritical. In those cases, the key code is held until the second character is typed, which then produces a character with an umlaut or other diacritical. So there is no way to trap these option keys until the user types the second character.
The message is sent to the active (focused) control, or to the current card if no control is focused.
The terminology varies depending on platform. The optionKeyDown message is sent when the user types a character while holding down the Option key (Mac OS systems), Meta key (Unix|Unix systems), or Alt key (Windows systems).
Parameters
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
pKeyName | The actual character typed. |
Examples
on optionKeyDown theKey -- strip high bit
answer numToChar(charToNum(theKey) - 128)
end optionKeyDown
Related
glossary: Meta key, key combination, Option key, character, Windows, message, Mac OS, Unix, Alt key
message: commandKeyDown, keyDown, rawKeyDown, controlKeyDown
Compatibility and Support
Introduced
LiveCode 1.0
OS
mac
windows
linux
Platforms
desktop
server