Hey there. Is there a better way to get the key a user typed and save it to a string than to use al_keycode_to_name? As a test, I want to create a high score table that saves the user's name. This is what I've got so far:
1#include <string>
2#include <iostream>
3
4#include <allegro5/allegro.h>
5#include <allegro5/allegro_font.h>
6
7using std::cout;
8using std::string;
9
10void checkReturn(const bool condition) {
11
12 if (!condition) {
13
14 cout << "Error: something failed.\n";
15
16 exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
17 }
18}
19
20int main(void) {
21
22 // Initialize Allegro and addons.
23 checkReturn(al_init());
24 checkReturn(al_init_font_addon());
25 checkReturn(al_install_keyboard());
26
27 ALLEGRO_TIMER *timer;
28 ALLEGRO_DISPLAY *display;
29 ALLEGRO_EVENT_QUEUE *event_queue;
30
31 // Create events.
32 checkReturn((timer = al_create_timer(1.0 / 60.0)));
33 checkReturn((display = al_create_display(720, 480)));
34 checkReturn((event_queue = al_create_event_queue()));
35
36 // Register events.
37 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_keyboard_event_source());
38 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_timer_event_source(timer));
39 al_register_event_source(event_queue, al_get_display_event_source(display));
40
41 al_start_timer(timer);
42
43 bool render = true;
44 bool running = true;
45
46 // Whatever the user types will be saved to this string.
47 string name = "";
48
49 // Use the built-in font, as it's easiest to use.
50 ALLEGRO_FONT *font = al_create_builtin_font();
51
52 // Blow up the screen 500% to accommodate for the small font (above).
53 ALLEGRO_TRANSFORM transform;
54 al_identity_transform(&transform);
55 al_scale_transform(&transform, 5, 5);
56 al_use_transform(&transform);
57
58 while (running) {
59
60 ALLEGRO_EVENT event;
61
62 al_wait_for_event(event_queue, &event);
63
64 if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_DISPLAY_CLOSE) {
65
66 // The window was closed; break the loop and end the program.
67 running = false;
68 }
69 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_KEY_DOWN) {
70
71 switch (event.keyboard.keycode) {
72
73 case ALLEGRO_KEY_SPACE:
74
75 // Add a space to the string.
76 name += " ";
77 break;
78
79 case ALLEGRO_KEY_BACKSPACE:
80
81 if (name.length() > 0) {
82
83 // Remove the last character from the string.
84 name.erase(name.end() - 1, name.end());
85 }
86 break;
87
88 default:
89
90 // Add whatever the user typed to the string.
91 name += al_keycode_to_name(event.keyboard.keycode);
92 break;
93 }
94 }
95 else if (event.type == ALLEGRO_EVENT_TIMER) {
96
97 render = true;
98 }
99
100 if (render && al_is_event_queue_empty(event_queue)) {
101
102 render = false;
103
104 al_clear_to_color(al_map_rgb(255, 255, 255));
105
106 al_draw_text(font, al_map_rgb(255, 0, 0), 720 / 2 / 5, 16, ALLEGRO_ALIGN_CENTER, "What's your name?");
107
108 // Draw text that user entered.
109 al_draw_textf(font, al_map_rgb(255, 0, 0), 720 / 2 / 5, 480 / 2 / 5, ALLEGRO_ALIGN_CENTER, "%s", name.c_str());
110
111 al_flip_display();
112 }
113 }
114
115 // Free up memory.
116 al_destroy_font(font);
117 al_destroy_timer(timer);
118 al_destroy_display(display);
119 al_destroy_event_queue(event_queue);
120
121 return 0;
122}
The above is self-explanatory, but it takes the user's keystrokes and saves it to a string named "name", then displays it as the user types. The problem with the above, however, is that it saves shift keys and caps lock (and others) as "SHIFT_*" and "CAPS_LOCK", which isn't what I want.
What's a better way to just get alphanumeric input and to ignore all the rest without writing a bunch of if statements to continue for each?
Thanks in advance. 
Thanks a bunch!