Hello
You can build a simple command line programme to get current key modifiers' hardware state.
1) Save C source below as plain text file named, .e.g, GetCurrentKeyModifiers.c, on desktop.
#include <Carbon/Carbon.h>
int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) {
unsigned int m = GetCurrentKeyModifiers();
printf("%u ", m);
return 0;
}
2) In Terminal.app, change current directory to desktop and use gcc to compile it as follows.
(You need Developer Tools installed to use gcc.).
cd ~/Desktop
gcc -framework Carbon -o GetCurrentKeyModifiers GetCurrentKeyModifiers.c
3) Test the yielded command in Terminal.app.
./GetCurrentKeyModifiers
If it prints 1024 (or any number N where N & 0x0400 = 1) when CAPS LOCK is on, you're done.
---
Now in AppleScript you'd write as follows to detect caps lock.
--SCRIPT
do shell script ("~/Desktop/GetCurrentKeyModifiers")
set n to result as number
set _capslocked to n div 1024 mod 2 = 1
--END OF SCRIPT
cf.
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Reference/Event_Manager/
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Reference/EventManager/EventManager.pdf
Event Modifier Constants
enum {
activeFlagBit =0,
btnStateBit =7,
cmdKeyBit =8,
shiftKeyBit =9,
alphaLockBit =10,
optionKeyBit =11,
controlKeyBit =12,
rightShiftKeyBit =13,
rightOptionKeyBit =14,
rightControlKeyBit =15
};
typedef UInt16 EventModifiers;
Good luck,
H
