Simulate keydown event

Question

How can I simulate a key (ctrl) being hold down while some other code is executed? What would be the implementation of the following method?

self ctrlDownWhile: [self doSomething]

Answer 1

You could try to "trick" the input state, by changing its "ctrlDown" state. The bad news is that it does not have a setter-method to access it (maybe only in my version), so you may have to get there with a trick:

ctrlDownWhile:aBlock
  "aBlock will see ctrlDown as true"

  |indexOfCtrlState|

  indexOfCtrlState := InputState allInstVarNames indexOf:'ctrlState'.

  InputState default instVarAt:indexOfCtrlState put:1.   
  aBlock  
    ensure: [
      InputState default instVarAt:indexOfCtrlState put:0.
    ].

an alternative is to create keyPress & keyRelease-events for the CTRL-key, and enqueue them into the WindowSensor, before and after the block's evaluation.