Help with menu navigation via keyboard keys please.

k6aks

I would like to navigate through menus, I am new to coding and am creating my first game.
I am trying to make my code work so that when 1 is pressed, the play button will be pressed, when 2 is pressed the stats button will be pressed, when 3 is pressed the help button will be pressed and when 4 is pressed the exit button will be pressed.

Here is my code:

#----------------------------------NAVFUNCTION-----------------------------------------------------------

func ready(event):
		if event is InputEventKey:

#----------------------------------Stats-----------------------------------------------------------------

			if event.getscancode() == 16777352: # indicates Number 2 Key
				$StatsButton.grab_focus
				get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/statsmenu.tscn")
				# Takes user to statsmenu when the number 2 key is pressed

#----------------------------------Menu------------------------------------------------------------------

		elif event.getscancode() != 16777352: #If the number 2 key was not pressed
			if event.getscancode() == 16777354: # indicates Number 4 Key
				$ExitButton.grab_focus
				get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/mainmenu.tscn")
				# Takes user to mainmenu when the number 4 key is pressed

#----------------------------------Help------------------------------------------------------------------

		elif event.getscancode() != 16777354: #If the number 4 key was not pressed
			if event.getscancode() == 16777353: # indicates Number 3 Key
				$HelpButton.grab_focus
				get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/helpmenu.tscn")
				# Takes user to mainmenu when the number 4 key is pressed

#----------------------------------Play------------------------------------------------------------------

		elif event.getscancode() != 16777353: #If the number 3 key was not pressed
			if event.getscancode() == 16777351: # indicates Number 1 Key
				$PlayButton.grab_focus
				get_tree().change_scene_to_file("") # WILL BE FILLED LATER
				# Takes user to mainmenu when the number 4 key is pressed

#----------------------------------Invalid Input---------------------------------------------------------

		else:
			print(event)

#----------------------------------END-------------------------------------------------------------------
`

DaveTheCoder

k6aks when 1 is pressed, the play button will be pressed, when 2 is pressed the stats button will be pressed

Do you literally want a button to be pressed, or do you mean that pressing the key will have the same result as pressing a button?

It's better to use the InputMap for detecting key presses:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/4.0/tutorials/inputs/input_examples.html#inputmap

Please specify your Godot version (Help >> About) when asking questions, since that can affect the answers.

GlyphTheWolf

k6aks I am trying to make my code work so that when 1 is pressed, the play button will be pressed, when 2 is pressed the stats button will be pressed, when 3 is pressed the help button will be pressed and when 4 is pressed the exit button will be pressed.

Isn't it possible out of the box just by assigning shortcut to you buttons? If you assign 1 as shortcut for play button it will act exactly the same as you would pressed play button with mouse. At least that is how it works in Godot 4.x, I don't know which version you are using.

k6aks

DaveTheCoder for example, I want it to go back to the main menu scene when i press 1 ect. Been stuck for several hours now. It would be nice if it could have the same appearance as pressing a button but that seems unlikely

GlyphTheWolf

DaveTheCoder It's better to use the InputMap for detecting key presses:

And yes, using actions with InputMap would be a lot better way of handling input from code. If you hardcode input like:

if event.getscancode() == 16777352

It will be impossible to add controls customization for end user and also it is very hard to analyze such code. Whoever will read this later (it may be someone else or you after few years, who knows) probably will have no idea what 16777352 stands for and why such value was used 😛 Of course comments may help, but too many comments in code makes it as unreadable as not enough comments.

Compare it to something like:

if Input.is_action_just_pressed("stats_shortcut"):

In such case you don't even need any comment, because you just see what it is expected to do.

k6aks

GlyphTheWolf

This is my updated code.
I am attempting to make it so that the statsmenu, helpmenu and quit can only be accessed from the main menu. I am in godot 4

var scene1 = "Main"
var scene2 = "Stats"
var scene3 = "Help"
var valueset = "Main" 



func _unhandled_key_input(event):
	while valueset != "Game":
		await get_tree().create_timer(0.25).timeout
		match valueset:
			"Main":
				# Number 3 Key for Help Menu
				if event.is_action_pressed("SelectHelp"):
					valueset = scene3
					print(valueset)
					get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/helpmenu.tscn")
					
				# Escape Key for Quit
				if event.is_action_pressed("SelectQuit"):
					print(valueset)
					get_tree().quit()
				
				if event.is_action_pressed("SelectStats"):
					valueset = scene2
					print(valueset)
					get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/statsmenu.tscn")
			_:
				# Number 4 Key for Main Menu
				if event.is_action_pressed("SelectMenu"):
					get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/mainmenu.tscn")
					valueset = scene1
					print(valueset)







#----------------------------------Buttons---------------------------------------------------------------

#----------------------------------HELP------------------------------------------------------------------

func _on_HelpButton_pressed():
# Creates function called _on_HelpButton_pressed WHICH can then be reused
	valueset = scene3
	print(valueset)
	get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/helpmenu.tscn")
# Takes user to helpmenu when button is pressed

#----------------------------------STATS-----------------------------------------------------------------

func _on_StatsButton_pressed():
# Creates function called _on_StatsButton_pressed WHICH can then be reused
	valueset = scene2
	print(valueset)
	get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/statsmenu.tscn")
# Takes user to statsmenu when button is pressed

#----------------------------------MENU------------------------------------------------------------------

func _on_ExitButton_pressed():
# Creates function called _on_ExitButton_pressed WHICH can then be reused
	valueset = scene1
	print(valueset)
	get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/mainmenu.tscn")
# Takes user back to menu when button is pressed

#----------------------------------QUIT------------------------------------------------------------------

func _on_QuitButton_pressed():
# Creates function called _on_QuitButton_pressed WHICH can then be reused
	get_tree().quit()
# Closes game when button is pressed

#----------------------------------END-------------------------------------------------------------------

GlyphTheWolf

k6aks I would say it still looks very complicated as for code managing scene changes. Why using while loop in _unhandled_key_input() method? _unhandled_key_input() is called every time user press key and that key press is not handled by anything else (like for example textbox which may "consume" key press when user is typing something into it), so just need to take action based on received event. If it is not even you are expecting, just do nothing. Currently it seems like active waiting what is very bad pattern in programming, because it may unnecessarily use resources.

If you want to make stats menu, help menu and quit only accessible from main menu, and main menu accessible from game why not just have code related with handling that contained in relevant scenes?

I mean like:

MainMenuScene -> have script attached handling StatsMenu, HelpMenu, Quit and Play
Game -> have script attached handling go back to MainMenuScene

That way in game you will be only able go back to MainMenu and in MainMenu you will be able to do all other things you want (stats, help, quit, play). Also code will be contained in scenes it belongs to what is also good, because then if you see issue in MainMenu you know code which may cause issue is probably also in MainMenu scene.

What I am trying to say is you need to make it more modular I think. If you are just learning it may be not so easy and obvious how to do it, but the bigger your project will grow the harder it will be to maintain such monolithic code.

k6aks

GlyphTheWolf
Could you maybe write an example of how I could do that or send me some links. Thank you
This is my code after applying some of those changes you mentioned.

var scene1 = "Main"
var scene2 = "Stats"
var scene3 = "Help"
var valueset = "Main" 

func _ready():
	valueset = scene1

#----------------------------------NUMNAV---------------------------------------------------------------
func _unhandled_key_input(event):
	await get_tree().create_timer(0.25).timeout
	match valueset:
		"Main":
			handleMenuButtons(event)
		_:
			handleSubButtons(event)
#----------------------------------MainMenu-------------------------------------------------------------
func handleMenuButtons(event):
	if event.is_action_pressed("SelectHelp"):
		valueset = scene3
		print(valueset)
		get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/helpmenu.tscn")
        
	if event.is_action_pressed("SelectQuit"):
		print(valueset)
		get_tree().quit()
    
	if event.is_action_pressed("SelectStats"):
		valueset = scene2
		print(valueset)
		get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/statsmenu.tscn")
#----------------------------------SubMenus-------------------------------------------------------------
func handleSubButtons(event):
	if event.is_action_pressed("SelectMenu"):
		get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/mainmenu.tscn")
		valueset = scene1
		print(valueset)
#----------------------------------NumNavhandling-------------------------------------------------------
func handleButtonPress(scene):
	valueset = scene
	print(valueset)
#----------------------------------Buttons--------------------------------------------------------------

#----------------------------------HELP-----------------------------------------------------------------

func _on_HelpButton_pressed():
	handleButtonPress(scene3)
	get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/helpmenu.tscn")

#----------------------------------STATS----------------------------------------------------------------

func _on_StatsButton_pressed():
	handleButtonPress(scene2)
	get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/statsmenu.tscn")

#----------------------------------MENU-----------------------------------------------------------------

func _on_ExitButton_pressed():
	handleButtonPress(scene1)
	get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/mainmenu.tscn")

#----------------------------------QUIT------------------------------------------------------------------

func _on_QuitButton_pressed():
	if valueset == scene1:
		get_tree().quit()

It still will only navigate between the submenus on keypress and will not allow me to go back to main menu after pressing 4

GlyphTheWolf

k6aks Here is some example project.

Scenes are just placeholders with some text (and "main gameplay" scene have only sprite, but it doesn't do anything).
You can navigate pressing buttons in main menu (or with 1, 2, 3, 4 as you wanted, but not from numeric keypad however adding support for numeric keypad would be also possible and easy) and if you leave main menu only ESC will work and it will return back to main menu.

menunavigation.zip

419kB

k6aks

GlyphTheWolf this is my project could you have a look at it and tell me where im going wrong?

I have been able to add the buttons as shown from your project but cannot work out how to the letter shortcut system

extends Node

# Define scene constants
enum Scene { Main, Stats, Help }

# Initialize the current scene
var currentScene: Scene = Scene.Main

func _ready():
	currentScene = Scene.Main
	print("Main Menu Ready")

func _on_ready():
	print("Main Menu _on_ready")

# ----------------------------------NUMNAV---------------------------------------------------------------
func _unhandled_key_input(event):
	print("Key input detected:", event)
	await(get_tree().create_timer(0.25)).timeout
	match currentScene:
		Scene.Main:
			handleMainMenuInput(event)
		_:
			handleSubSceneInput(event)

# ----------------------------------MainMenu-------------------------------------------------------------
func handleMainMenuInput(event):
	if event is InputEventKey:
		var key = event as InputEventKey
		if key.is_action_pressed("SelectHelp"):
			changeScene(Scene.Help)
		elif key.is_action_pressed("SelectQuit"):
			quitGame()
		elif key.is_action_pressed("SelectStats"):
			changeScene(Scene.Stats)

# ----------------------------------SubMenus-------------------------------------------------------------
func handleSubSceneInput(event):
	if event is InputEventKey:
		var key = event as InputEventKey
		if key.is_action_pressed("SelectMenu"):
			goBackToMainMenu()
		else:
			print("4 key not pressed")

# Function to change the current scene
func changeScene(scene: Scene):
	var sceneName: String
	match scene:
		Scene.Main:
			sceneName = "mainmenu.tscn"
		Scene.Stats:
			sceneName = "statsmenu.tscn"
		Scene.Help:
			sceneName = "helpmenu.tscn"
	get_tree().change_scene_to_file("res://Scenes/" + sceneName)
	currentScene = scene

# Function to go back to the main menu
func goBackToMainMenu():
	var mainMenu = $MainMenu
	if mainMenu:
		reorderNode(mainMenu, 0)
		currentScene = Scene.Main
		print("Current scene set to Main")
	else:
		print("MainMenu node not found.")

# Function to reorder a node in the scene tree
func reorderNode(node: Node, new_index: int):
	var parent = node.get_parent()
	if parent:
		parent.move_child(node, new_index)

# ----------------------------------Buttons--------------------------------------------------------------
func _on_HelpButton_pressed():
	changeScene(Scene.Help)

func _on_StatsButton_pressed():
	changeScene(Scene.Stats)

func _on_ExitButton_pressed():
	goBackToMainMenu()

# ----------------------------------QUIT------------------------------------------------------------------
func _on_QuitButton_pressed():
	quitGame()

# Function to quit the game
func quitGame():
	if currentScene == Scene.Main:
		get_tree().quit()

GlyphTheWolf

k6aks For button shortcuts in MainMenu I haven't added any custom code. I just used built in shortcuts system. When you select button you can set shortcuts for button in properties dock on the right

play_shortcut is just name of action added in InputMap in project settings.