Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getLockingKeyState(...) never updates during program execution

Question

I have the problem that Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getLockingKeyState(...) never updates. It reports correctly the first time I query it, then when I change the state using keyboard, the change is never reflected.

Is this by design (doesn't seem so in the API doc), a bug, or is there something with my code?

Here's a short, self-contained example to demonstrate the issue:

public class LockingStateIssue {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Timer timer = new Timer();
        timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
            @Override public void run() {
                if (Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getLockingKeyState(KeyEvent.VK_NUM_LOCK)) {
                    System.out.print("*");
                } else {
                    System.out.print(".");
                }
            }
        }, 0, 200);
    }
}

When run, on my Windows machine, using Java 1.7.0_45, it prints either ....... or ********* depending on the initial state of the num lock key, but never a mix like ..**.** like I expect it to, when toggling the button.

Answer 1

1. there isn't a correct way in plain Java without visible Java container and with focus in windows too, KeyLoggers are blocked in Java,

2. (could not be main issue, but nothing will be printed too) loop from util.Timer is out of EDT, more in Concurency in Swing, Toolkit is from AWT package, EDT issue is valid for most of AWT packages too

3. work for me (in the case that previous two points, requirements are met..), for testing purpose to try move focus to another active window in Windows OS durring this program execution

code

import java.awt.AWTEvent;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.event.AWTEventListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import javax.swing.AbstractAction;
import javax.swing.Action;
import javax.swing.JFrame;

public class ToolkitAndNumLock {

    private javax.swing.Timer timer = null;
    private JFrame frame = new JFrame();

    public ToolkitAndNumLock() {
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setSize(400, 300);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        start();
        //uncomment Toolkit.getXxx listening a KeyEvents, you can (start();) block SwingTimer 
        //Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().addAWTEventListener(listener, AWTEvent.KEY_EVENT_MASK);
    }
    AWTEventListener listener = new AWTEventListener() {
        @Override
        public void eventDispatched(AWTEvent event) {
            if (event instanceof KeyEvent) {
                KeyEvent ke = (KeyEvent) event;
                if (ke.getID() == KeyEvent.KEY_PRESSED) {
                    if (ke.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_CAPS_LOCK) {
                        System.out.println("CapsLock Pressed");
                    }
                    if (ke.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_SCROLL_LOCK) {
                        System.out.println("ScrollLock Pressed");
                    }
                    if (ke.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_NUM_LOCK) {
                        System.out.println("NumLock Pressed");
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    };

    private void start() {
        timer = new javax.swing.Timer(2500, updateCol());
        timer.setRepeats(true);
        timer.start();
    }

    public Action updateCol() {
        return new AbstractAction("text load action") {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
            private Boolean bol = true;

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                if (Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getLockingKeyState(KeyEvent.VK_NUM_LOCK)) {
                    System.out.println("true");
                } else {
                    System.out.println("false");
                }
                if (bol) {
                    Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().setLockingKeyState(KeyEvent.VK_NUM_LOCK, true);
                } else {
                    Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().setLockingKeyState(KeyEvent.VK_NUM_LOCK, false);
                }
                bol = !bol;
            }
        };
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        Runnable runner = new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                new ToolkitAndNumLock();
            }
        };
        EventQueue.invokeLater(runner);
    }
}