Develop Reference

c# Detect mouse clicks anywhere (Inside and Outside the Form)

Is this possible to detect a mouse click (Left/Right) anywhere (Inside and Outside the Form) in an if statement? And if it's possible, how?
if(MouseButtons.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Pressed){
...
}

Here is a starter, if I understood your needs of "clicking from outside the window" and Hans Passant's suggestion doesn't fit your needs. You might need to add an event handler for Form1_Click.
CAUTION: This code is provided to illustrate the concept. The threading synchronization in this sample is not 100% correct. Check the history of this answer for an attempt at a more "threading correct" one that sometimes throws exceptions. As an alternative, to get rid of all threading issues, you could have the task in StartWaitingForClickFromOutside be instead always running (aka be always in "listen" mode) as opposed to trying to detect the "within the form" or "outside the form" states and starting/stopping the loop accordingly.
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApp1
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.MouseLeave += Form1_MouseLeave;
this.Leave += Form1_Leave;
this.Deactivate += Form1_Deactivate;
this.MouseEnter += Form1_MouseEnter;
this.Activated += Form1_Activated;
this.Enter += Form1_Enter;
this.VisibleChanged += Form1_VisibleChanged;
}
private AutoResetEvent are = new AutoResetEvent(false);
// You could create just one handler, but this is to show what you need to link to
private void Form1_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e) => StartWaitingForClickFromOutside();
private void Form1_Leave(object sender, EventArgs e) => StartWaitingForClickFromOutside();
private void Form1_Deactivate(object sender, EventArgs e) => StartWaitingForClickFromOutside();
private void StartWaitingForClickFromOutside()
{
are.Reset();
var ctx = new SynchronizationContext();
var task = Task.Run(() =>
{
while (true)
{
if (are.WaitOne(1)) break;
if (MouseButtons == MouseButtons.Left)
{
ctx.Send(CLickFromOutside, null);
// You might need to put in a delay here and not break depending on what you want to accomplish
break;
}
}
});
}
private void CLickFromOutside(object state) => MessageBox.Show("Clicked from outside of the window");
private void Form1_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e) => are.Set();
private void Form1_Activated(object sender, EventArgs e) => are.Set();
private void Form1_Enter(object sender, EventArgs e) => are.Set();
private void Form1_VisibleChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (Visible) are.Set();
else StartWaitingForClickFromOutside();
}
}
}
If I understood you incorrectly, you might find this useful: Pass click event of child control to the parent control

When user clicks outside the form control, it losses the focus and you can make use of that.which means you have to use the _Deactivate(object sender, EventArgs e) event of the form control to make this work. Since which will trigger when the form loses focus and is no longer the active form. Let Form1 be the form, then the event will be like the following:
private void Form1_Deactivate(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Your code here to handle this event
}

One method is to cover the entire screen with a borderless form with the properties set to transparent (a few percent above completely transparent, not sure if total transparency works but you won't notice the difference) and also set to topmost. Then use the events from the form. As soon as a click is detected this will not affect anything underneath the form (which in my application is something I want to happen) but the form could be closed and another mouse click simulated a fraction of a second later to activate the controls that are underneath. I had no problem using the windows API to use mouse hooks in VB6 but cannot seem to find something that works in c# with the 2019 version of .NET so this is a good workaround. Of course to be really clever you could use an irregular forms method to make the transparent form the same shape as the mouse and follow it.
Note: I have just found the complete code to do it using hooks that mere mortals can get up and running at once! KeyboardMouseHooks C# Library - CodePlex Archive
PS if you use my (dumb) method remember to create an escape key or button or you will have to restart your computer unless the form is programmed to disappear for real clicks as suggested!

I know this is late but maybe it helps someone. Using the MouseEventArgs of the MouseUp event of any control you can check for mouse button and wheel among other things. Here is an example.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.MouseUp += Form1_MouseUp;
}
private void Form1_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if(e.Button == MouseButtons.Left)
{
DoSomething_LeftClick();
}
else if(e.Button == MouseButtons.Right)
{
DoSomething_RightClick();
}
}
private void DoSomething_LeftClick()
{
//Here some code
}
private void DoSomething_RightClick()
{
//Here some code
}
}

How can I use mousemove event in c#

The question is this:
when the mouse cursor moved on the button some thing should be happen but I don't know what exactly have to write

When you select the button in the VS-designer you will have access to the properties and events (lightning Icon in the property window).
In the events-listing are all events that the button can fire. May be for your purpose the events: ´MouseEnter´ and ´MouseLeave´ would be a good choice. Just double click the event and Visual Studio will generate the appropriate method. Like this:
private void button1_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// my code
this.button1.BackColor = Color.Red;
}
private void button1_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// my code
this.button1.BackColor = Color.Green;
}
In my example I just change the backcolour of the button when the mouse is on the button and change it again when it leaves the button.
Practically you could run any code inside the generated method.

You can create eventHandler like this :
myButton.MouseMove += new MouseEventHandler(doSomething);
Where myButton is the button from which you want to trigger the event when mouse moves over it. and doSomething() is the method defined as like the following:
public void doSomething(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
// do what ever you want
}

Add OnClick Action to Shape Objects in MS PowerPoint

I Have a requirement to add a OnClick action to Shape object in Micro Soft Power Point Addin for Office 2010 and above which is built using C# language. There are events like
SlideSelectionChanged
WindowBeforeRightClick
Which doesn't work as needed, Right Click Event doesn't even work on the Shape Objects.
Is there a way to subscribe to such type of events, I would not prefer to use MACRO however if that is inevitable I will use it.

This solution would work.
private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
this.Application.WindowSelectionChange += OnWindowSelectionChanged;
}
void OnWindowSelectionChanged(PowerPoint.Selection Sel)
{
if (Sel.Type == PowerPoint.PpSelectionType.ppSelectionShapes)
{
PowerPoint.ShapeRange shapeRange = Sel.ShapeRange;
//Do some work
}
}
private void ThisAddIn_ShutDown(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
this.Application.WindowSelectionChange -= OnWindowSelectionChanged;
}
It's Good to have some flag to make sure you are doing the needful only on desired Shape Objects by setting some flag by using AltText like
if (Sel.ShapeRange.AlternativeText.Contains("SomeFlag"))
{
//Do some thing
}

Mouse up event doesn't get triggered

I have the following problem: I have a panel which has a specific color, say red.
When the user presses his mouse, the color of this panel gets stored in a variable. Then the user moves, his mouse still pressed, over to another panel. When he releases the mouse there, this panel should get the background color of the first that had been stored in the variable. My code looks something like this:
public Color currentColor;
private void ColorPickMouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
Panel pnlSender = (Panel)sender;
currentColor = pnlSender.BackColor;
}
private void AttempsColorChanger(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
Panel pnl = (Panel)sender;
pnl.BackColor = currentColor;
}
I need to identify the sender first because there are many possible panels that can trigger this event. The first MouseDown method works totally fine, the color is stored nicely in the variable. The secon one however doesn't even get triggered when the user does what I described above. When the ser clicks on the second panel, it works (there is an MouseUp part in a click aswell I guess).
What's wrong here? Why is the event not triggered when the user holds the mouse key down before?

(This answer assumes you are using Windows Forms.)
It could be that you need to capture the mouse by setting this.Capture = true in the MouseDown of the source control. (See Control.Capture)
If you did that, the source window would get the MouseUp event, and it would be the source window that had to determine the destination window under the mouse coords. You can do that using Control.GetChildAtPoint() (see this answer on Stack Overflow).
Use Windows Forms Drag and Drop Support Instead! <- Click for more info
I'm going to suggest you bite the bullet and use the .Net Drag and Drop methods to do this. It requires some reading up, but it will be much better to use it.
You start a drag in response to a MouseDown event by calling Control.DoDragDrop().
Then you need to handle the Control.DragDrop event in the drop target control.
There's a few more things you might need to do to set it up; see the Control.DoDragDrop() documentation for an example.
(For WPF drag and drop support, see here.)

when your mouse enter the target control , mouse down triggerd ang get target BackColor! you need add an boolean flag to your code :
public Color currentColor;
bool flag=false;
private void ColorPickMouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if(flag==false)
{
flag=true
Panel pnlSender = (Panel)sender;
currentColor = pnlSender.BackColor;
}
}
//assume mouse up for panles
private void AttempsColorChanger(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if(flag==true)
{
Panel pnl = (Panel)sender;
pnl.BackColor = currentColor;
flag=flase;
}
}
and also you need change your flag in mouseMove( if )

As I mentioned in my comment Mouse Events are captured by the originating control, You would probably be better off using the DragDrop functionality built into Windows Forms. Something like this should work for you. I assigned common event handlers, so they can be assigned to all of your panels and just work.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void panel_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
((Control)sender).DoDragDrop(((Control)sender).BackColor,DragDropEffects.All);
}
private void panel_DragDrop(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
((Control)sender).BackColor = (Color)e.Data.GetData(BackColor.GetType());
}
private void panel_DragEnter(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
e.Effect = DragDropEffects.Copy;
}
}

I know it's an old question but I had the same issue and none of the above answers worked for me. In my case I had to handle the MouseMove event in the target control and check for the mouse to be released. I did set 'BringToFront' on my target panel just in case that helped at all.
public Color currentColor;
private void ColorPickMouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
Panel pnlSender = (Panel)sender;
currentColor = pnlSender.BackColor;
}
private void panelTarget_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
//the mouse button is released
if (SortMouseLocation == Point.Empty)
{
Panel pnl = (Panel)sender;
pnl.BackColor = currentColor;
}
}

Custom Component On Click Event

I've built a custom component that basically has a picture box and label in it. In the parent form, I want to be able to detect when its been clicked on. The standard .click event doesn't seem to be working, but I've never used events before so am unsure if I'm using them correctly. Heres the code I'm using (in the parent) to try and make it recognise the click:
Item aItem = new Item();
aItem.Icon = ItemImage;
aItem.Title = Title;
aItem.Click += new EventHandler(ItemClicked);
aItem.Filename = File;
and heres the method its calling:
public void ItemClicked(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("Item Clicked!");
}
This code never fires. Do I need to put anything into the component or am I just doing this wrong?
Cheers

Right I finally worked it out. Tejs response just confused me more so here's what I did.
In my UserControl I had the following event:
public event EventHandler Clicked;
Then I had an event for when the image was clicked (still in the UserControl) and I just called the Clicked event:
private void imgItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Clicked(this, e);
}
Then in my parent form, when I created the object, I had the following:
Item aItem = new Item();
aItem.Clicked += new EventHandler(ItemClicked);
void ItemClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("Clicked!");
}

You would do this by exposing an event':
Your custom component:
// A custom delegate like MyItemClickedHandler, or you could make a Func<> or Action<>
public event MyItemClickedHandler ItemClickedEvent;
public void ItemClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(ItemClickedEvent != null)
ItemClickedEvent(); // Your delegate could pass parameters if needed
}
Then your parent form simply observes the event:
myCustomControl.ItemClickedEvent += new MyItemClickedHandler(SomeMethod);
Then, whenever the event is raised on your custom control, the parent is notified because it subscribed the event.