Apart from the computer mouse, the keyboard is the other common interface that we work with a computer system. In GEM library, there are two objects: gemkeyboard and gemkeyname. In the following patch Keyboard001.pd, we take a look at the behavior of the two objects. Similar to gemmouse, we have to click upon the GEM window to make it active first, before the keyboard events can be detected.
The first object—gemkeyboard, will return a number when you press a key on your keyboard. It detects the key down event, not the key up. The number is the key code representing that particular key in GEM library. Please note that different operating systems, such as Windows, OSX, and Linux may have different key codes for the same key. You need to test the number before porting a patch from one platform to others.
The second object—gemkeyname, will return a symbol when you press a key. It is the actual symbol itself, for example, the character a, b. The first outlet is a toggle...