User mode: black keys and alpha

[ramon_ea1gth]

Unless I missed something, the black keys on the HP Prime cannot be reassigned in alpha mode. However, the (latest) version of the manual (2017) suggests this possibility. Chapter 29 "Programming in HP PPL", section '"Key names", displays the internal name of the keys for customization. For example, the Menu key has these two names:

• K_Menu
• KA_Menu (when the Alpha key is pressed)
  

However, if you do a custom assignment, only K_Menu will work. For example, this program will work when the Menu key is pressed in user mode:

Code:

KEY K_Menu()
BEGIN
RETURN "Hello"
END;

But the same program, in user mode, will not work when assigned to Alpha + Menu:

Code:

KEY KA_Menu()
BEGIN
RETURN "Hello"
END;

Enabling the alpha mode for the black keys would allow an amazing degree of customization, whether for creating custom menus/programs or assigning simple commands. The rest of the keys (and shifted keys) are already too useful to be reassigned.

Does anyone know why this key customization is not available, despite what is stated in the manual?

Regards,

[matalog]

Something like this will allow you to use as many deep menus as you want, with a bit of imagination.

Code:

KEY KA_Dot()
BEGIN
RECT();
LOCAL LI:={};
LOCAL ST:="";
LOCAL F:=0;
LOCAL K:=0;
TEXTOUT_P("HIDDEN MENU",70,8);
REPEAT
ST:="";
FOR F FROM 0 TO 50 DO
IF ISKEYDOWN(F) THEN
IF F<>41 AND F<>36 THEN
ST:=ST+STRING(F)+" ";
END;
IF F=41 THEN
ST:=ST+"SHIFT ";
END;
IF F=36 THEN
ST:=ST+"ALPHA ";
END;
K:=K+1;
LI(K):=F;
END;
END;
RECT_P(0,90,320,240);
TEXTOUT_P(ST,0,100);
UNTIL ISKEYDOWN(4);
RETURN 46;
END;

Alpha DOT to open the menu system.

[ramon_ea1gth]

Good tip! I was focusing on the black keys, so I didn't pay attention to the four keys without predefined alpha mapping (dot, space, enter, and cancel).
My idea would be to launch (with alpha-dot) some kind of custom nested menus/choose boxes, with a second custom key (alpha-enter) to return to the last used menu. Thanks for the code suggestion for inspiration!

[Wes Loewer]

See this related post from 2019:
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-12813.html

I have just filed a bug report on this issue. I hope this gets fixed as it would be really nice to use Alpha and Shift-Alpha with these black keys since they don't already have assignments.

[ramon_ea1gth]

Dear Wes,
I didn't notice your early 2019 post (the forum search I did was too quick), so you got this problem earlier. So thank you for reporting the bug, now the Prime development is back on track.