well you can do this, I don't reccomend this. but you can get a key press based on an event.

this is if you're using the Carbon Event Manager.

to your Event Type Spec add this a kEventClassKeyboard, and a kEventRawKeyDown. This will allow you to test for keyboard events when a key is down. However you're limited in the fact modifier keys won't work of the bat but it is really easy to get the key pressed.

sample Event Type Spec:

EventTypeSpec mainSpec[] = {
{ kEventClassCommand, kEventCommandProcess },
{ kEventClassMouse, kEventMouseDown },
{ kEventClassControl, kEventControlHit },
{ kEventClassWindow, kEventWindowBoundsChanged },
{ kEventClassWindow, kEventWindowClose },
{ kEventClassKeyboard, kEventRawKeyDown},
{ kEventClassKeyboard, kEventRawKeyRepeat }
};


just add this when you're testing if a key was pressed to get the pressed key.
char macKey;
GetEventParameter(event,kEventParamKeyMacCharCodes,typeChar,NULL,sizeof(macKey),​NULL,&macKey);

that'll get you you're key, provided your event handler is setup correctly .