e.which keycode for minus-hyphen has changed

Question

I am running under Ubuntu Linux. I have a JavaScript function that edits data as it is being entered by a user. The data is edited using the $,.-+ characters.

<script type="text/javascript" src="/static/jquery/jquery-1.4.2.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/static/jquery/jquery-ui-1.8.1.custom.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/static/js/json_sans_eval.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/static/edit.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/static/cdpUtils.js"></script>

function onkeypressFunc (event)
{
    var data = event.target.value;
    var keyNum = event.which;
    var keyCode = event.keyCode;
    var shiftKey = event.shiftKey;
    var charCode = event.charCode;
    if (keyNum == 9 && keyCode == 9) // this works when using keydown
    {

I have been testing keyNum for months and the + key has been 43 and the - key has been 45. Today I noticed that I can no longer enter a negative number using the - key on the main keyboard. After checking, I can see that the keyNum code is now 173. Is there any explanation for the change. I believe that this same thing occurred several months ago and I had to change the software then to look for the new codes.

This has only been tested on Firefox 22.0.

Answer 1

I think it's a bug(at least a compatibility Issues) for firefox, as

String.fromCharCode(173)

outputs ""

Normally the keypress code is more reliable, e.g. for char '+', you can press shift(16) and =(187) , or the +(107) on the number panel, but the keypress keyCode will always be 43.

Also, as you use jQuery, event.which is prefered.

event.which property normalizes event.keyCode and event.charCode