emulate SHIFT key on Arduino Micro + CD4021BE shiftin register

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The schematic is unchanged from my first post reference:

I have a problem with creating key combinations using a simple ShiftIn circuit with Arduino Micro and CD4021BE - arranged like in the official tutorial

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ShiftIn

944×797 13.7 KB

I'm not a professional programmer, but I guess the code that verify the switches is:

boolean translate_buttons_2_keys(byte buttons, char* keys){
  for(int i = 0 ; i < 8; i++){
     if ( (1 << i) & buttons ){
       cur_char = keys[i];
       Keyboard.print(keys[i]);
       char_index++;
       return true;
     }     
  }
 return false;
}

reading the keys based on this:

char* letters[] ={"abcdefgh"};

Did a little research, and I was thinking if is possible to make an integer array and with hexadecimals values like this ( where 0x81 is the SHIFT key)? :

int letters[] = { 0x81, 0x61, 0x62, 0x63, 0x64, 0x65, 0x66, 0x67 }; // { KEY_LEFT_SHIFT, a, b, c, d, e, f, g }

Would it work if I just replace char* with int?