in vb.net is there an event listener for clicking outside a button?

Question

I am creating a customized menu and I want the menu to close when the user clicks anywhere else on the form. I tried using .LostFocus, but that only works if the thing they click on can take the focus. Lots of things don't take focus and therefore the menu stays open. I need a listener on the button that says, "if the mouse was clicked and it wasn't on you, then do something (close)".

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Just in case its useful to someone at some point... This builds on Daniel's answer and other similar suggestions I've found via a web search. This does 2 things I didn't see in other examples. #1 - only add the click handler to non-input controls, and #2, it recursively adds the click handler for controls that contain other controls. This one goes 4 levels deep.

'Add Click Handler to all non-input controls
Private Sub FrmMain_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    For Each c1 As Control In Me.Controls
        If Not c1.CanSelect Then
            AddHandler c1.MouseClick, AddressOf ClickHandler
            For Each c2 As Control In c1.Controls
                If Not c2.CanSelect Then
                    AddHandler c2.MouseClick, AddressOf ClickHandler
                    For Each c3 As Control In c2.Controls
                        If Not c3.CanSelect Then
                            AddHandler c3.MouseClick, AddressOf ClickHandler
                            For Each c4 As Control In c3.Controls
                                If Not c4.CanSelect Then
                                    AddHandler c4.MouseClick, AddressOf ClickHandler
                                End If
                            Next
                        End If
                    Next
                End If
            Next
        End If
    Next
End Sub

'Click Handler
Private Sub ClickHandler(sender As Object, e As MouseEventArgs) Handles Me.MouseClick
    MsgBox("Do something!!!")
End Sub

Answer 2

The only way to do it is with the hook.

Here is some code. You should still read up on it. And you will need to go to project / properties / Debug and uncheck enable the visual studio hosting process checkbox.

This code will count all your left and right mouse clicks anywhere on the screen while the form is running.

For the Form you want it in:

Public Class Form1
    Private WithEvents MouseDetector As MouseDetector
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        MouseDetector = New MouseDetector
    End Sub
    Private Sub Form1_Disposed(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Disposed
        RemoveHandler MouseDetector.MouseLeftButtonClick, AddressOf MouseDetector_MouseLeftButtonClick
        RemoveHandler MouseDetector.MouseRightButtonClick, AddressOf MouseDetector_MouseRightButtonClick
        MouseDetector.Dispose()
    End Sub
    Private Sub MouseDetector_MouseLeftButtonClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles MouseDetector.MouseLeftButtonClick
        If IsNumeric(LabelLeft.Text) Then
            LabelLeft.Text = CInt(LabelLeft.Text) + 1
        Else
            LabelLeft.Text = 1
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Sub MouseDetector_MouseRightButtonClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles MouseDetector.MouseRightButtonClick
        If IsNumeric(LabelRight.Text) Then
            LabelRight.Text = CInt(LabelRight.Text) + 1
        Else
            LabelRight.Text = 1
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

Add a class to the project and name it MouseDetector and copy the following code into it.

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Public Class MouseDetector
    Public Event MouseLeftButtonClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)
    Public Event MouseRightButtonClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)
    Private Delegate Function MouseHookCallback(ByVal nCode As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As IntPtr) As Integer
    Private MouseHookCallbackDelegate As MouseHookCallback
    Private MouseHookID As Integer
    Public Sub New()
        If MouseHookID = 0 Then
            MouseHookCallbackDelegate = AddressOf MouseHookProc
            MouseHookID = SetWindowsHookEx(CInt(14), MouseHookCallbackDelegate, Marshal.GetHINSTANCE(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly.GetModules()(0)), 0)
            If MouseHookID = 0 Then
                'error
            End If
        End If
    End Sub
    Public Sub Dispose()
        If Not MouseHookID = -1 Then
            UnhookWindowsHookEx(MouseHookID)
            MouseHookCallbackDelegate = Nothing
        End If
        MouseHookID = -1
    End Sub
    Private Enum MouseMessages
        WM_LeftButtonDown = 513
        WM_LeftButtonUp = 514
        WM_LeftDblClick = 515
        WM_RightButtonDown = 516
        WM_RightButtonUp = 517
        WM_RightDblClick = 518
    End Enum
    <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
    Private Structure Point
        Public x As Integer
        Public y As Integer
    End Structure
    <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
    Private Structure MouseHookStruct
        Public pt As Point
        Public hwnd As Integer
        Public wHitTestCode As Integer
        Public dwExtraInfo As Integer
    End Structure
    <DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet:=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall)> _
    Private Shared Function CallNextHookEx( _
         ByVal idHook As Integer, _
         ByVal nCode As Integer, _
         ByVal wParam As IntPtr, _
          ByVal lParam As IntPtr) As Integer
    End Function
    <DllImport("User32.dll", CharSet:=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall, SetLastError:=True)> _
     Private Shared Function SetWindowsHookEx _
          (ByVal idHook As Integer, ByVal HookProc As MouseHookCallback, _
           ByVal hInstance As IntPtr, ByVal wParam As Integer) As Integer
    End Function
    <DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet:=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall, SetLastError:=True)> _
    Private Shared Function UnhookWindowsHookEx(ByVal idHook As Integer) As Integer
    End Function
    Private Function MouseHookProc(ByVal nCode As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As IntPtr) As Integer
        If nCode < 0 Then
            Return CallNextHookEx(MouseHookID, nCode, wParam, lParam)
        End If
        Dim MouseData As MouseHookStruct = Marshal.PtrToStructure(lParam, GetType(MouseHookStruct))
        Select Case wParam
            Case MouseMessages.WM_LeftButtonUp
                RaiseEvent MouseLeftButtonClick(Nothing, New MouseEventArgs(MouseButtons.Left, 1, MouseData.pt.x, MouseData.pt.y, 0))
            Case MouseMessages.WM_RightButtonUp
                RaiseEvent MouseRightButtonClick(Nothing, New MouseEventArgs(MouseButtons.Right, 1, MouseData.pt.x, MouseData.pt.y, 0))
        End Select
        Return CallNextHookEx(MouseHookID, nCode, wParam, lParam)
    End Function
End Class

Answer 3

Thanks for the info, but I solved my question by using the code on this page:

http://www.daniweb.com/software-development/vbnet/threads/369609/detecting-a-mouse-click

Apparently using a Hook is the only way to detect ANY mouse click. It even detects clicks outside of my program.

Answer 4

You could create a MouseDown-Eventhandler for every Control in your form

    For Each c As Control In Me.Controls
        AddHandler c.MouseDown, AddressOf c_MouseDown
    Next

Then check if the sender of the event is not your button

Private Sub c_MouseDown(sender As Object, e As MouseEventArgs)
    If sender Is Button1 Then
        MsgBox("Open costumized menu")
    Else
        MsgBox("Replace this with 'close something'")
    End If
End Sub

Edit: Of course you have to create an eventhandler for the form too

AddHandler Me.MouseDown, AddressOf c_MouseDown

Best to put the handler in the constructor

Answer 5

Setup the MouseClick event handler in the form constructor, like this:

Public Sub New()
    Me.MouseClick += mouseClick
End Sub

Then you can write your event handler code, like this:

Private Sub mouseClick(sender As Object, e As MouseEventArgs)
    ' Do whatever logic you want here
    ' For example you can capture which mouse button was clicked, like this:
    If e.Button = MouseButtons.Left Then

    End If
End Sub