How to check keys status in x86 assembly?

Question

I took x86 assembly as a hobby this past january so I could make games that would work on old 8086-powered computers like the PCj and Tandy 1000, but the books I found don\'

Answer 1

Example of polling the keyboard using port 60h and port 64h:

       cli            ; stop software-Interrupts
       mov  al, 2     ; stop IRQ 1
       out  21h, al
       sti
P1:
       in   al, 64h     ; get Status
       test al, 1       ;  is there something in the outputbuffer?
       jz  P1
       test al, 20h     ;  it is a byte from the PS2-Mouse?
       jnz  P1
       in   al, 60h     ; get a key
       cmp  al, 1       ;  Escape-key?
       jz  XRAUS        ; then goto end
;───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       mov  si, OFFSET SONTAB  ; get the offsetaddress of our special-key table
       mov  cl, Extablen       ; lenght
XSUCH: cmp  al, [si]
       jz  XFOUND
       lea  si, [si+1]         ; instead of "inc si"
       dec  cl
       jnz XSUCH
;───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
       mov  si, OFFSET TASTTAB  ; get the offsetaddress of our key table
       mov  cx, tablen
       mov  bx, OFFSET TEXTTAB  ; our corresponding ASCII table
SUCH:  cmp  al, [si]
       jz  short FOUND
       lea  si, [si+1]
       dec  cx
       jnz SUCH
       jmp  P1
;───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
XRAUS: in   al, 60h ; clear outputbuffer
       cli
       xor  al, al  ; enable IRQ 1
       out  21h, al
       sti
       mov  ah, 1  ; clear buffer in the ram
       int  16h
; ...some more instructions
;───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
FOUND:  mov  si, tablen   ; Length
        sub  si, cx
        xor  ecx, ecx
        mov  cl, [bx+si]  ; get the ASCII from our table
;  ...some more instructions
;───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
XFOUND:
;  Tab,shift li.,shift re.,HOME,UP,LEFT,RIGHT,END,DOWN
        cmp  cl, 1       ; DOWN-key
        jnz short  ...   ; jump to next
        ....
        ....
        cmp  cl, 9       ; Tab-key
        jnz  P1
;  ...some more instructions
:------------------------Data area----------------------
TASTTAB DB 02h,03h,04h,05h,06h,07h,08h,09h,0Ah,0Bh,0Ch,0Dh
        DB 10h,11h,12h,13h,14h,15h,16h,17h,18h,19h,1Ah,1Bh,1Eh,1Fh
        DB 20h,21h,22h,23h,24h,25h,26h,27h,28h,29h,2Bh,2Ch,2Dh,2Eh,2Fh
        DB 30h,31h,32h,33h,34h,35h,39h
        DB 56h
tablen =  ($-TASTTAB)
TEXTTAB DB "1234567890ß'"     ; with some german letters inside
        DB "qwertzuiopü+as"
        DB "dfghjklöä^#yxcv"
        DB "bnm,.- "
        DB "<"
Textablen  =  ($-TEXTTAB)
;---------------------------------------------------------------------------
;  Tab,shift left.,shift rigth.,HOME,UP,LEFT,RIGHT,END,DOWN
;----------
SONTAB  DB 0Fh,2Ah,36h,47h,48h,4Bh,4Dh,4Fh,50h
Extablen  =  ($-SONTAB)
        DB 0,0,0 ; for data_alignment of following entries