Question

If I add a listener to KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, I can find out the keyCode and the charCode.

The keyCode maps to a different character depending on the keyboard.

The charCode is just as useless, according to the help:

The character code values are English keyboard values. For example, if you press Shift+3, charCode is # on a Japanese keyboard, just as it is on an English keyboard.

So, how can I find out which character the user pressed?

Answer 1

You left out a pretty important part of the quote or it was missing where you found it:

For example, if you press Shift+3, the
getASCIICode() method returns # on a
Japanese keyboard, just as it does on
an English keyboard.

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/201/langref/flash/events/KeyboardEvent.html

This is probably more helpful:

The charCode property is the numeric value of that key in the current character set (the default character set is UTF-8, which supports ASCII).

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/2/docs/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=LiveDocs_Parts&file=00000480.html

Your application determines what characters set is used, meaning that the even if you have to use separate keys of different keyboard locals to produce the same character, it will have the same charCode.