KeyCode Variables

// create constants for all letter and number keys:
var alphabet:Array = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ".split("");
var nums:Array = ["ZERO","ONE","TWO","THREE","FOUR","FIVE","SIX","SEVEN","EIGHT","NINE"];

var key:Object = new Object();
for (var i:int  = 0; i<alphabet.length; i++)
	 key[alphabet[i]] = 65 + i;
	 
for (i = 0; i<nums.length; i++){
	 var code:int = 48 + i;
     key[nums[i]]= code;
	 key[i] = code;
}
	 

// test them out
stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, onKeyPressed);
function onKeyPressed(evt:KeyboardEvent):void {
	if (evt.keyCode == key.A){
		trace("the a was pressed");
	}
	if (evt.keyCode == key.B){
		trace("the b was pressed");
	}
	if (evt.keyCode == key.NINE){
		trace("the 9 key was pressed");
	}
	if (evt.keyCode == key["0"]){
		trace("the 0 key was pressed");
	}
}

This is an easy way to store values for alphanumeric keys in variables that make sense… instead of having to do things like this:

// hit the zero key
if (evt.keyCode == 48){
   trace("the zero key was hit");
}