Tips&Tricks #Retrieve the status of keyboard and mouse buttons in the background

# -------------------------------------------
# (c) 2020 Fouad AMANSOUR fd.amansour@gmail.com
# This code can retrieve the status (whether a key is up or down)
# of keyboard and mouse buttons using Virtual-Key Codes in the background
# Replace 0x04 in win32api.GetKeyState(0x04) everywhere in the file
# with Virtual-Key Code of the button for which you want to retrieve the status
# -------------------------------------------

import win32api
import time

CurrentKeyState = win32api.GetKeyState(0x04)  # "0x04" is the Virtual-Key Code of the Middle mouse button (VK_MBUTTON)

while True:
    NewKeyState = win32api.GetKeyState(0x04)

    if NewKeyState != CurrentKeyState:  # Button state changed

        """
        WHEN THE BUTTON IN QUESTION IS :
        * pressed the 1st time: the value of win32api.GetKeyState() is -128
        * Releases the 1st time: the value of win32api.GetKeyState() is 0
        * pressed the 2nd time: the value of win32api.GetKeyState() is -127
        * Releases the 2nd time: the value of win32api.GetKeyState() is 1
        """
        if NewKeyState < 0:  # KeyState = -127 or -128
            print('BUTTON PRESSED ---', 'NewKeyState = ', NewKeyState )

        else:                # KeyState =1 or 0
            print('BUTTON RELEASED ---', 'NewKeyState = ', NewKeyState)

        CurrentKeyState = NewKeyState

    time.sleep(0.001)