I'm working with a JavaScript routine I didn't write. It is called from a text box's onkeydown attribute to prevent unwanted keystrokes.

The first argument is apparently not used. The second argument is a list of characters that should be allowed.

function RestrictChars(evt, chars) {
    var key;
    var keychar;

    if (window.event)
        key = window.event.keyCode;
    else if (e)
        key = e.which;
    else
        return true;

    keychar = String.fromCharCode(key);

    if ((key == null) || (key == 0) || (key == 8) ||
        (key == 9) || (key == 13) || (key == 27))
        // Control key
        return true;
    else if (((chars).indexOf(keychar) > -1))
        return true;
    else
        return false;
}

This seems to work for alpha-numeric characters. However, characters such as . and / cause this function to return false, even when these characters are included in the chars parameter. For example, if the . key is pressed, key is set to 190, and keychar gets set to the "3/4" character.

Can anyone see how this was meant to work and/or why it doesn't? I don't know enough about JavaScript to see what it's trying to do.