GetKeyboardState

GetKeyboardState

The GetKeyboardState function copies the status of the 256 virtual keys to the specified buffer.

BOOL GetKeyboardState(

PBYTE lpKeyState	// address of array to receive status data
);

Parameters

lpKeyState

Points to the 256-byte array that will receive the status data for each virtual key.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

An application can call this function to retrieve the current status of all the virtual keys. The status changes as a thread removes keyboard messages from its message queue. The status does not change as keyboard messages are posted to the message queue.

When the function returns, each member of the array pointed to by the lpKeyState parameter contains status data for a virtual key. If the high-order bit is 1, the key is down; otherwise, it is up. If the low-order bit is 1, the key is toggled. A key, such as the CAPS LOCK key, is toggled if it is turned on. The key is off and untoggled if the low-order bit is 0. A toggle key's indicator light (if any) on the keyboard will be on when the key is toggled, and off when the key is untoggled.

To retrieve status information for an individual key, use the GetKeyState function.

An application can use the virtual-key code constants VK_SHIFT, VK_CONTROL and VK_MENU as indices into the array pointed to by lpKeyState. This gives the status of the SHIFT, CTRL, or ALT keys without distinguishing between left and right. An application can also use the following virtual-key code constants as indices to distinguish between the left and right instances of those keys:

VK_LSHIFT	VK_RSHIFT
VK_LCONTROL	VK_RCONTROL
VK_LMENU	VK_RMENU

These left- and right-distinguishing constants are available to an application only through the GetKeyboardState, SetKeyboardState, GetAsyncKeyState, GetKeyState, and MapVirtualKey functions.