Hi All,
In a DesktopSearchField control I am seeing the MessageBox get executed twice.
Here is my code in the KeyDown event:
If Keyboard.AsynckeyDown(&h24) or Keyboard.AsyncKeyDown(&h4c) Then
MessageBox("You pressed Enter")
Else
Return False
End If
Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
Edit: BTW I have tried using "Return True " and “Return False” right beneath the MessageBox and it makes no difference.
Thanks!
Mac, Windows, or Linux?
What OS version?
What Xojo version?
I can’t reproduce with Xojo 2023r4, macOS 13.6.3, I only get 1 MessageBox.
Sorry.
Windows 11 and 2023r4
Don’t worry.
Please create an Issue with a sample project, you can say that this happens using Windows 11 but not macOS 13.6.3 (at least the quick sample I created using your code above).
Thanks @AlbertoD
Here is the issue: https://tracker.xojo.com/xojoinc/xojo/-/issues/75249
maybe with the MessageBox this control raise a lost focus, which cause a KeyDown.
using the Keyboard status in this event looks odd.
in 2021r3.1 there was a Pressed Event if user ending the input by Enter or Lost Focus.
if focus changed the KeyDown get the tab key. (Win 10)
Function KeyDown(Key As String) Handles KeyDown as Boolean
System.DebugLog CurrentMethodName + " " + Str(Asc(Key))
Return True
End Function
Sub Pressed() Handles Pressed
System.DebugLog CurrentMethodName
End Sub
The problem lies in the first part of the code.
You need to tell the software to ignore the Enter; so Add Return True there.
Useing Return True means: do not pass the Key to the Event Loop. In your case, the MessageBox get it and the Event is another time fired…
New code:
If Keyboard.AsynckeyDown(&h24) or Keyboard.AsyncKeyDown(&h4c) Then
MessageBox("You pressed Enter")
Return True // Enter used…
Else
Return False
End If
No Xojo bug here.
More explanation [Here.](https://documentation.xojo.com/api/user_interface/desktop/desktopwindow.html#desktopwindow-keydown)Yeah you probably want to return true if you “handled the event”.
Maybe you missed this information from the first post:
I did read it yes…
99% of the issues are already solved by events or other means in this case.
Perhaps the question should be what are you trying to achieve?
Is the text changed after enter? → use Pressed event
Is the text changed otherwise? → use TextChanged event.
Case closed, i mean why would one make things hard if there is no need to ?
The issue is presented to xojo by a feedback case.
The features shown can be resolved by other means already provided by Xojo.
OP expressed an odd behavior using Windows 11. I can’t reproduce using macOS. That’s all. Maybe a difference in OS and is normal.
Maybe OP is debugging and if that is the case MessageBox should not be used.
Using MessageBox could explain why the odd behavior.
From MessageBox — Xojo documentation
Warning
You should avoid using MessageBox for displaying debugging messages. The displaying of the Message Box will alter event order and may give unexpected results. Instead use the Debugger, System.DebugLog or your own logging mechanism.
Adding this line:
system.DebugLog CurrentMethodName + " " + hex(asc(key))
Shows this:
1:45:03 PM : SearchFieldKeyDownIssue Launched
1:45:09 PM : Window1.SearchField1.KeyDown D
: Window1.SearchField1.KeyDown 9
When I hit the Enter key a single time.
If I change the call to MessageBox() to use System.DebugLog() instead, then you see this:
1:43:20 PM : SearchFieldKeyDownIssue Launched
1:43:23 PM : Window1.SearchField1.KeyDown D
: You pressed Enter
So it appears that what is happening is that the MessageBox() is indeed causing the SearchField to lose focus, but for some reason this is generating a keydown event with CHR(9) which is ASCII TAB.
Seems like a bug to me.
I think that is expected, no? I added FocusLost/FocusReceived and running on a mac I get:
//enter pressed
3:56:30 PM : FocusLost //messagebox shown
3:56:37 PM : FocusReceived
: Window1.SearchField1.KeyDown D
nothing extra (no KeyDown 9).
I am using the MessageBox to test / check to make sure that I was correctly capturing the Enter / Return keys.
Going forward I will follow the instructions you posted.
The flip side of this is that I do still believe the behavior to be incorrect.
You’d still be safer in trying to avoid to use a MessageBox. What I do in such cases is to change the window’s title (in debug only):
#if DebugBuild then
self.title=system.ticks.ToString
#endif
So I can simply watch the title changing when the condition happens.
Correct - I think that MessageBox() causing LostFocus() is expected behavior, and one of the main reasons to avoid using MessageBox() for debugging.
The bug as I see it, is this:
On Windows, Inside a SearchField.KeyDown Event, if the focus is lost during the event handler (such as by calling MessageBox()), a mysterious extra event of KeyDown(chr(9)) will be triggered.
Another issue:
the OP’s code does this:
If Keyboard.AsynckeyDown(&h24) or Keyboard.AsyncKeyDown(&h4c) Then
Since the keyDown event already includes the key as a parameter, this is a weird way to do it. It would be better to do this:
Event KeyDown(key as string) as boolean
if asc(key) = &h24 ...
This would also work around the bug since the “you pressed enter” condition would only happen once.
That doesn’t work for me. I’m learning this Keydown but looks like key is a string and asc converts to integer = 13 (return or enter for my extended keyboard with numeric keypad).
This works:
If Asc(key) = 13 Then
but doesn’t make a difference between Return and Enter, while Keyboard.AsynckeyDown(&h24) detects Return and Keyboard.AsyncKeyDown(&h4c) detects Enter. Maybe that doesn’t matter for OP but others may want to know if one key or the other is pressed.
Usually when I am typing, like right now, I will almost exclusively use the Return key. But sometimes, if numbers are involved I will use the Return key on numeric keypad and I expect Return and Enter to be functionally equivalent. Therefore, if I need to check for one I will check for the other as well.
FWIW, it’s one difference between Mac and Linux/Windows. On Macs, Enter=asc(3) and Return=asc(13); on others, both are equal to 13.
Weird that on my mac the following code executes for both Return and Enter
If Asc(key) = 13 Then
MessageBox("You pressed Enter")
maybe I’m doing something wrong?
Added
Dim test As String = key
Break
and both shows 0D when click ‘binary’
