Facing problem in detecting keyboard events in c++

Question

char ch[30];
while(1){
if((GetAsyncKeyState(VK_UP)<0)){
cout<<"up";
}else if((GetAsyncKeyState(VK_DOWN)<0)){
cout<<"down";
}else{
cin.getline(ch,30);
}
}

this is my code
and what I am trying to do is I am checking for the event when the user presses "up" or "down" arrow key but in case they don't then the program simply just takes input a string ch. when I am running the program it is only taking input but not detecting the key event but when I remove the else part it detects the up and down key on pressing. Can anyone help me how can I implement both key detection and taking string input?

Answer 1

Consider this code:
while(1)
{
if(kbhit())
{
ch = _getch();
if(int(ch)==-32||int(ch)==0)
{
switch(_getch())
{
case 72:
//cout<<"UP";
break;
case 80:
//cout<<"DOWN";
break;
default:
//take string
} }
else
//take string
} }

first time _getch() if return -32 or 0 then this means it is an arrow key.
next _getch() checks if it is up or down key.
(you can also check for left and right key)
You can also search on web about working of this code.

Answer 2

computer is so fast that before you can press up or down else condition gets reached, what i think you can do is take an input using getch() by using conio.h (it still works in c++14) then using if else statements check if its up key or down key or any other if it is any other then input a string.

Answer 3

Lakshay thank you , your code worked perfectly for me

Answer 4

Lakshay can you please provide me an alternative to kbhit() cuz I want to implement this on ubuntu