How to detect key being held down instead of a press?

[Miail]

I am currently working on implementing a feature which "does something while a key is being held down".. As I understand pynput, it seems impossible to implement such feature? or am i missing something?

This implementation:

from pynput import keyboard

def on_press(key):
    if key == keyboard.Key.cmd_l:
        try:
            print('- Started recording -'.format(key))
        except IOError:
            print "Error"
    else:
        print('incorrect character {0}, press cmd_l'.format(key))


def on_release(key):
    print('{0} released'.format(key))
    if key == keyboard.Key.cmd_l:
        print('{0} stop'.format(key))
        keyboard.Listener.stop
        return False


with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press, on_release=on_release) as listener:
    listener.join()

Only detect one press, also when the key is being held down.. It doesn't seem to read the stream..

I thought maybe the use of a while loop would help, also giving the way the problem is stated, so i tried this...

from pynput import keyboard

def on_press(key):
    while key == keyboard.Key.cmd_l:
        try:
            print('- Started recording -'.format(key))
        except IOError:
            print "Error"
    else:
        print('incorrect character {0}, press cmd_l'.format(key))


def on_release(key):
    print('{0} released'.format(key))
    if key == keyboard.Key.cmd_l:
        print('{0} stop'.format(key))
        keyboard.Listener.stop
        return False

with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press, on_release=on_release) as listener:
    listener.join()

Which resulted in being stuck in a while loop.. and not come outside..
can the library be used like this, can it detect "a key being held down"?

[moses-palmer]

The operating system, or input handling system, will generally only generate events upon press and release. You will probably have to decide on a reasonable time out, schedule a timer with your task and cancel it if the key is released. On 4 Jul 2017 15:12, "Miail" <notifications@github.com> wrote: I am currently working on implementing a feature which "does something while a key is being held down".. As I understand pynput, it seems impossible to implement such feature? or am i missing something? This implementation: from pynput import keyboard def on_press(key): if key == keyboard.Key.cmd_l: try: print('- Started recording -'.format(key)) except IOError: print "Error" else: print('incorrect character {0}, press cmd_l'.format(key)) def on_release(key): print('{0} released'.format(key)) if key == keyboard.Key.cmd_l: print('{0} stop'.format(key)) keyboard.Listener.stop return False with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press, on_release=on_release) as listener: listener.join() Only detect one press, also when the key is being held down.. It doesn't seem to read the stream.. I though maybe the use of a while loop would help, also giving the way the problem is stated, so i tried this... from pynput import keyboard def on_press(key): while key == keyboard.Key.cmd_l: try: print('- Started recording -'.format(key)) except IOError: print "Error" else: print('incorrect character {0}, press cmd_l'.format(key)) def on_release(key): print('{0} released'.format(key)) if key == keyboard.Key.cmd_l: print('{0} stop'.format(key)) keyboard.Listener.stop return False with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press, on_release=on_release) as listener: listener.join() Which resulted in being stuck in a while loop.. and not come outside.. can the library be used like this, can it detect "a key being held down"? — You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#36>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAjOY1PbB21sRIahSpIERVmZDRjRAcZ6ks5sKjo_gaJpZM4ONVh7> .

[Miail]

Sorry?.. Not sure I understand how the timer should be involved, and how on_release should turn it off..

Are thinking of a solution in which on_press and on_release toggle a boolean, and the the boolean either start/stops an while loop outside the function defintion... if thats the case, how will it update the state of the boolean when it is being stuck inside the while loop?

[moses-palmer]

You could use, for example, threading.Timer. It has a cancel method to stop the timer. You could keep a dict of pynput keys to timers.

I am currently on a flight, so I can't really help you more; as this is out of scope for this library, I'll close this issue.