Android:how to get any KeyPress event with example?

Question

i want to get the key value when user pressed any key and also perform action based on the key pressed in android.

e.g. if user pressed 'A' key then i want to get that value,compare,do something.

Answer 1

Answer to this question should be twofold. It is determined by the way how the key was generated. If it was press on the hardware key, then both approaches described below are valid. If it was press on the software key, then it depends on actual context.

1.) If key was result of the pressing on the soft keyboard that was obtained by long press on the Menu key:

You need to carefully override the following function:

@Override 
public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {

    switch (keyCode) {
        case KeyEvent.KEYCODE_A:
        {
            //your Action code
            return true;
        }
    }
    return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
}

2.) If your activity contains EditText, and softkeyboard was obtained from it, then first approach does not work because key event was already consumed by EditText. You need to use text changed Listener:

mMyEditText.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher()
{
    public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) 
    {
    }
    public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) 
    {
        /*This method is called to notify you that, within s, the count characters beginning at start are about to be replaced by new text with length after. It is an error to attempt to make changes to s from this callback.*/ 
    }
    public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) 
    {
    }
);