Ignoring getch()

[undeadsoldier]

I was wondering if there was a way to ignore getch() after an amount of time has passed.
Like, if i wanted the user to press a key within 5 seconds of me telling them to, or else the program closes, or something like that. How would I do that, or is there something other than getch() that has to bee used?

[LB]

You shouldn't be using the console at this point, it's best to move on to Windowed programming. Check out SFML, for example.

[Superdude]

The best way to do this would be to use threads.
One for the 5 second timer, one for waiting for input.

[LB]

That's actually the worst possible way to do this. Never use threads with console input.

[undeadsoldier]

It seems you two have different opinions :P. I checked out SFML, and ill probably get into that. I'm just using console until i learn some more in a class im taking soon.

[kevinkjt2000]

SDL is pretty fun solution too.

[Superdude]

@L B Why is that?

Make sure there are no other input operations while the thread is running. Otherwise, behavior is undefined. ;)

[LB]

@Superdude: Because threads and console I/O are generally messy and hard to get right (just like threading in general) except moreso since console I/O is not meant to be used with threads.

[IWishIKnew]

One f the more easier alternatives for beginners would be to use _kbhit() from the (severely depricated) conio.h header file. it will return true if a key was pressed (or if there is a character key code in the buffer), and false otherwise.

If you are up to it, I would suggest following LB's approach.

Example:

Psuedo Code:

char ch;
while(time != time_up)
{
    //update the time here... etc...
    if(kbhit())
    {
        ch = getch();
    }
}
//user pressed nothing, return nothing, or somthing 

that's a rough outline, but you get the picture.