Change GetStringForKeyCode() to Return the String of Keycodes

[Reditect]

As a Roblox developer, it is currently too hard to support all input types by sharing the correct input prompts to players.

@Reditect

I’m trying to use this API to effectively support non‑QWERTY keyboards, QWERTY keyboards, and gamepads as you show in the OP. However, when using my QWERTY keyboard, with the API, it returns a blank string. I do not have access to an non‑QWERTY keyboard.

Printing this:

UserInputService:GetStringForKeyCode(Enum.KeyCode.LeftShift)

Gives me this:

---

Here’s an example of the issue:

I thought this was a bug, but it’s apparently intentional behavior. To respond to @idevride here, my expectation is that the Enum.Keycode prints to the correct button for the user to press no matter what keyboard or gamepad they have. I shouldn’t have to check if the user has a non‑QWERTY keyboard or if they have a different gamepad. If I have a QWERTY keyboard, LeftShift should return “LeftShift”.

Here’s a feature request about the issue, from 2022: Expand Keys for UserInputService:GetStringForKeyCode . The OP there assumes the issue is a lack of support in the API for all the KeyCodes, yet the bug report I mention above would oppose that. If the intentional behavior is to print out an empty string, that should be changed.

This issue is impacting my game and I can’t fix the issues of the wrong prompts being shown to users without making my own system.

If this issue is addressed, it would improve my development experience because I wouldn’t have to make my own system for input displaying based on other Roblox features.

[index_self]

There is no standardized keyboard layout that changes the position of LeftShift, so it wouldn’t make sense to call GetStringForKeyCode on it.

Are you asking for a behavior change to return the name, even if the keycode won’t map differently? You can already achieve that:

local function GetStringForKeyCode(KeyCode: Enum.KeyCode): string
	local String = UserInputService:GetStringForKeyCode(KeyCode)
	
	if String == "" then
		return KeyCode.Name
	end
	
	return String
end

[Reditect]

No and yes then. It was a bad example.

For Qwerty and azerty keyboards, right. Q is the same as A. So, when using the API, with those keyboards and that relationship in mind (Q is A), it should give the string ‘Q’ on a Qwerty keyboard and the string ‘A’ on a azerty keyboard.

I don’t have an azerty keyboard to check if the API actually does give back ‘A’. So, idk if that works. But, I do have a qwerty keyboard, and when I give it Q it gives ’ ’ back, not ‘Q’ back. That’s not intuitive.

I don’t think there’s a way to check what kind of keyboard the player has (qwerty or otherwise). So, I can’t make my code tailor to keyboards OTHER than this API, right. And since I can’t check if the player is using qwerty, I don’t know if I need to do a check with the API. So, I have to always use the API.

The “solution” here can end up showing the name of the key code, which CAN be not the prompt the user has/needs to interact with whatever.

[index_self]

It appears to work fine for me, then.

I’m on Windows 11 with the default US keyboard layout. I’m able to change the layout by going to Time & language → Language & region → English (United States) → Language options → Installed keyboards.

If it’s returning you a blank string, you should file a bug report with your system info, keyboard manufacturer and settings.

[Reditect]

Wow. That’s very fair, it could be a bug specific to my stuff. I thought the enum printing nothing for Q was intentional and everyone had it because I saw this bug report. I must’ve misinterpreted it.

UserInputService:GetStringForKeyCode() doesn't return KeyCodes like Space?

Hi, @SkiuulLPcz Thank you for inquiring about this. I’m wondering what the expectation is here: what would you like UserInputService:GetStringForKeyCode(keyCode) to return? I tested the function and it works as documented: it returns a string that is associated with the keycode via my keyboard (and for space I got the space character [ ]). Your implementation seems to be working fine for the use case I think you’re trying to solve, but that seems to be different than what GetStringForKeyCode…

Sadly, for some personal reasons I won’t have Internet to test things on my laptop for IDK how long (I’m using mobile data and my phone rn). That makes dealing with this annoying. Thanks a bunch for testing it out on your end! I’ve been basically whining about this for like 2 months. Will test when I can.

[Reditect]

@Reditect

when I give it Q it gives ’ ’ back, not ‘Q’ back.

This was an issue in my personal project code that was fixed when I made a Repro. My bad.

---

Hi (also @idevride), and thanks, the solution of checking if the string returns "" fixed my issue with Enum.Keycode.LeftShift. However, I had to update the solution to include " " in addition to the "" to fix Enum.Keycode.Space returning how I didn’t want it to.

Code (drop down)

local UserInputService = game:GetService("UserInputService")

local inputTable = {
	testInput_1 = {
		name = "testInput_1",
		value = "Enum.KeyCode.Space",
	},
	
	testInput_2 = {
		name = "testInput_2",
		value = "Enum.KeyCode.LeftShift",
	},
	
	testInput_3 = {
		name = "testInput_3",
		value = "Enum.KeyCode.Q",
	},
}


local function updateText()
	local valueToShow = inputTable.testInput_1.value
	-- the above is a string
		
	local step_a = string.sub(valueToShow,14) 
	print(step_a)
	
	local step_b = Enum.KeyCode[step_a]
	local step_c = UserInputService:GetStringForKeyCode(step_b)
	
	print(step_c)
	
	if step_c == "" or step_c == " " then
		print("checked this?!")
		step_c = step_b.Name
		print(step_b.Name)
	end
	
	print(step_c)		
end

updateText()

I personally think UserInputService:GetStringForKeyCode(Enum.KeyCode.Space) should return "Space" and not " ". Are there any other Enum’s I should account for here? By that I mean are there any Enums that wouldn’t return "", " ", or the logical name I’d assume it would (i.e. space returning “space”)?