Bug Report: ALT key cannot be used as input in game

[leonowski]

The ALT (and Shift - thanks gb_away) key on the keyboard cannot be used as an input for in game. When the ALT key is pressed, the menu bar at the top of the window becomes active (and the "File" menu is highlighted). At this point, all input stops as the nullDC thinks you want to work with the menu at the top. In essence, the game loses focus to the emulator window.

Unfortunately, this bug prevents me from using my arcade stick which sends out keyboard commands. One of the buttons on my stick uses the ALT key.

If you are running nullDC in full screen, you will not notice the menu bar change status. So, it appeared to me at the controller input had failed. It wasn't until I switched to windowed mode that I noticed the ALT key was causing the problem.

My OS: Vista

Thank you,

-leonowski

***UPDATE***

Thanks to gb_away for also reporting that the problem happens to the shift key as well. Although, the menus are not activated with SHIFT as they are with ALT.

[gish_gish]

The ALT key on the keyboard cannot be used as an input for in game. When the ALT key is pressed, the menu bar at the top of the window becomes active (and the "File" menu is highlighted). At this point, all input stops as the nullDC thinks you want to work with the menu at the top. In essence, the game loses focus to the emulator window.

Unfortunately, this bug prevents me from using my arcade stick which sends out keyboard commands. One of the buttons on my stick uses the ALT key.

If you are running nullDC in full screen, you will not notice the menu bar change status. So, it appeared to me at the controller input had failed. It wasn't until I switched to windowed mode that I noticed the ALT key was causing the problem.


I wouldn't say this is a bug ... but a feature that could be (should be?) changed in the future. Since I use an APAC instead of JPAC or IPAC, I have no problem with the current configuration of nullDC. :thumb:

[leonowski]

From a usability standpoint, I consider it to be a bug because:

A) In fullscreen mode, there is no feedback to the user that the menu has been activated by the ALT key. In this case, it may appear to the user that the input plugin has stopped functioning.

B) If it were a feature, the ALT key should not be allowed as a key in the configuration menu.

So, the bug can be fixed in 2 ways:

A) Allow the ALT key to be used in fullscreen mode. (My desired fix :D )

or

B) Fix the configuration menu so that the ALT key is not allowed. This is the "easy" but less desirable fix.

I realize how development works so I understand if you need to go with the easy route. I just hope you go with option A. Most Windows games allow the use of the ALT key when the game takes the full screen.

[gb_away]

Yes, you can configure either the alts or also shifts but they wont work ingame. It's not a bug, is more like a feature ;)

[leonowski]

Thanks, gb_away.

Bug report posting has been updated to reflect the SHIFT key problem.