Here is the current doc for KeyEvent.getKeyChar()

    /**
     * Returns the character associated with the key in this event.
     * For example, the key-typed event for shift + "a" returns the
     * value for "A".
     *
     * @return the Unicode character defined for this key event.
     *         If no valid Unicode character exists for this key event,
     *         keyChar is <code>CHAR_UNDEFINED</code>.
     */

Although the class docs for KeyEvent explain that the keyChar is for 
character input, and that character input is reported in KEY_TYPED events, 
users are sometimes confused about this.  We should explain that getKeyChar() 
should not be used for KeyReleased or KeyPressed methods.  

N/A

This came up most recently as bugid 4835748.  
 xxxxx@xxxxx  2003-03-31