How to move a character with arrow keys like in Nethack?

[NetHacker]

Hi, I'm wondering how to move a character around the console using the arrow keys, like in Nethack. This isn't a homework assignment, I'm just fooling around with text adventures in my spare time. Thanks!

[Disch]

http://cplusplus.com/forum/articles/28558/

[Duthomhas]

You've got a religious hobby, Disch. Adventure games are specifically console stuff...

If you are on Windows, you'll need to use SetConsoleMode() to turn off echo and line-buffering, and ReadConsoleInput() to get the arrow keys. Here's a little example to help you get started:

#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
#include <windows.h>

using std::cout;
using std::setw;

int main()
  {
  cout << "Press keys. Press 'Esc' to quit.\n";

  DWORD mode;
  HANDLE hstdin = GetStdHandle( STD_INPUT_HANDLE );
  GetConsoleMode( hstdin, &mode );
  SetConsoleMode( hstdin, 0 );

  while (true)
    {
    INPUT_RECORD ir;
    DWORD n;

    if (!ReadConsoleInputA( hstdin, &ir, 1, &n )) break;
    if (ir.EventType != KEY_EVENT) continue;
    if (!ir.Event.KeyEvent.bKeyDown) continue;

    cout << "ASCII = " << setw( 3 ) << (int)ir.Event.KeyEvent.uChar.AsciiChar
         << ", '"      <<                   ir.Event.KeyEvent.uChar.AsciiChar
         << "'; VK = " <<                   ir.Event.KeyEvent.wVirtualKeyCode
         << "\n";

    if (ir.Event.KeyEvent.uChar.AsciiChar == 27) break;
    }

  SetConsoleMode( hstdin, mode );
  return 0;
  }

You will probably also want to wait using WaitForSingleObject() to yield process time until the user presses a key. (My example doesn't do this, but you can see how to do it here: http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/beginner/5619/#msg25047 .)

If you are using *nix, you'll have to do things differently.

If you plan to use both, then I suggest you look into NCurses instead of using the OS directly.

Good luck!

[Disch]

Adventure games are specifically console stuff...

Not really. Graphical ones are better.

Angband... Elona... etc

Doing it in the console when you don't have to is absurd.