CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.net
Jonny Piazzi
Jonny Piazzi

Reputation: 3794

Reading characters in a background application

Hi I'm trying to make a simple program that read keys from keyboard even if my application is running in the background.

Situation
I want make a timer to help me in a game. I already have the program with the timer, the problem is I can not start the timer without switching of the game window to my app window. So I configured the game keyboard to release the keys F11, F12. Now in game this keys do nothing.

Problem
I built a windows forms containing a listener for keydown event and a conditional for F11. But when I trigger another window (eg the game window) my application no longer hears the keyboard, cuz it's in the background.

Question
How can I build a app that hears the keyboard, even if it's not active window?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 90

Answers (1)

Mike Dinescu
Mike Dinescu

Reputation: 55750

You need to install a global, low-level keyboard hook using the SetWindowHookEx API call. Using the WH_KEYBOARD_LL hook will set your application up to intercept keyboard events at all times, even when your application is not active.

This post on MSDN shows an example of how to achieve something close to what you want from C#.

Upvotes: 4

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