Ctrl up and down sensing

To answer why your original code doesn't work, you're using KeyboardEvent to indicate the current state of the 2 keys in an "if/else" manner.

For example, when you release CTRL, event.ctrlKey is always going to be false (because it's no longer down of course). Same thing with releasing SHIFT if you release that, it will always be false.

Use the keyCode as moccamaximum mentioned but you should detect combinations by not limiting it to "if/else".

e.g.:

var ctrlIsDown:Boolean = false; var shiftIsDown:Boolean = false; function onKeyBoardDown(e:KeyboardEvent):void {     if ( e.keyCode == 17 )     {         trace ('CTRL on');         // set state var for CTRL                ctrlIsDown = true;     }     // don't use else here, separate logic     if ( e.keyCode == 16 )     {         trace ('SHIFT on');                // set state var for SHIFT                shiftIsDown = true;     } } function onKeyBoardUp(e:KeyboardEvent):void {     if ( e.keyCode == 17 )     {         trace ('CTRL off');                // set state var for CTRL                ctrlIsDown = false;     }     // dont use else here, separate logic     if ( e.keyCode == 16 )     {         trace ('SHIFT off');                // set state var for SHIFT                shiftIsDown = false;     }     // make a function to check key states     // if necessary here and do any adjustments     // based on shift or control separately }

keyCode has limits, beware. Alternate keyboards are known to change keyCode values to unexpected results. Change as necessary. Consider charCode as well as keyCode has other limits:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/flex/using/WS2db454920e96a9e51e63e3d11c0bf64a29-7fdb.html#WS2db454920e96a9e51e63e3d11c0bf64a29-7fed