Key Down event does not fire

[GraeagleBill]

I haven't been able to determine why the Key Down event won't fire. I use the Access Switchboard form in the current case and want to add some functionality triggered by holding down the Alt key, but can't get the event to fire. (test code below) Any ideas?

Private Sub Form_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
MsgBox "KeyDown event fired"
If KeyCode = acAltMask Then MsgBox "acAltMask key pressed"
End Sub

[June7]

Since Alt and Ctrl are intended to perform in conjunction with other keys, I would not expect either to trigger event on their own.

Pressing Alt key long enough displays shortcut keys on the ribbon. Buttons on form set up with shortcut can be accessed with Alt+ltr.

[GraeagleBill]

Explaining further, my OP should have indicated that the Alt key would be used in conjunction with a mouse click on one of the Switchboard items.

[pbaldy]

In a brief test, the form level event didn't work for me until the form's Key Preview property was Yes.

[GraeagleBill]

Okay, the event fires okay, but what's the key code for the Alt key, apparently NOT acAltMask!

[pbaldy]

Private Sub Form_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
  Debug.Print KeyCode
End Sub

[GraeagleBill]

Smarty-pants
Yes, it's value is 18 (Shift = 1 + Alt = 7)
But I couldn't find the Access constant for that key.
There's more to be said about this caper and I'll get back a bit later.

[June7]

Okay, learning something new.

Event does fire with the Alt and Ctrl keys with KeyPreview Yes.

Alt is 18 and Ctrl is 17. Possibly these do not have ac constants. Do other keys? Check out the VBA Editor Object Browser for Access intrinsic constants and look at the vbKey___ list.

Your code is using acAltMask with the wrong argument parameter.

If Shift = acAltMask Then MsgBox "Alt key pressed"

Review
Intrinsic constants as bit masks | Microsoft Learn
Access VBA bit masking in KeyDown Event - Stack Overflow

[GraeagleBill]

The key constant for the ALT key is vbKeyMenu. Not sure the thinking behind the choice, but at least now happy to know what it is.
Thanks All,
Bill

[pbaldy]

As I recall when testing, the ALT key was toggling menu choices on and off. Computer is off so can't test right now.