Google gives this but it seems to only work for a WindowsForms class. I'm completely new to C#. What I'm trying to make is a program that monitors for an event, and then (for example), acts as if the 'H' key has been pressed. I don't really want to worry about what the active window is or anything, or sending a keystroke to an application, I just want the program to act as if I have physically pressed the 'H' button on my keyboard. The SendKeys class doesn't seem to work in a general class. Am I going about this completely the wrong way?
From How to: Simulate Mouse and Keyboard Events in Code:
Windows Forms provides several options for programmatically simulating mouse and keyboard input.
Simulating Mouse Input
The best way to simulate mouse events is to call the OnEventName method that raises the mouse event you want to simulate.
Simulating Keyboard Input
Although you can simulate keyboard input by using the strategies discussed above for mouse input, Windows Forms also provides the SendKeys class for sending keystrokes to the active application.
Related
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?
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#.
I am writing a WinForm program in C#, to move mouse cursor, click mouse, stroke keyboard, to operate another running GUI application in Windows.
Is this possible, how to do it? I mean the simulation of mouse and keyboard and operation of another GUI application.
Thanks a lot!
SendInput is your friend here. It doesn't have a direct C# wrapper, but it's easy to use with P/Invoke.
SendInput places input into the input queue, which then gets dispatched normally, so you will need to set focus to the target application first.
Is it possible to programmatically create input events in c#.
I want to be able to simulate any input, such as pressing a button on the keyboard or moving the mouse pointer from my application. The events generated by the application need to behave (preferably) in exactly the same way that an actual key press for instance does (post an event to the system event queue that is given for applications to process).
I seem to be unable to find any documentation about doing this from c# code after googling for an hour.
As always, any answers will be greatly appreciated.
You can try SendKeys for keyboard input. For more control, and mouse events too, you should P/invoke SendInput().
Be warned that this is difficult to get right and you may find alternative approaches more amenable.
how can i record and playback mouse and keybaord events.
i need this to capture the user interactions with my application so that later on i can play to see what user did.
There are literally hundreds of keyboard / mouse automation apps out there:
http://www.nonags.com/nonags/auto.html
I recommend Do It Again - its free, easy to use and works well, although if I remember correctly it has a quirk where it doesn't work particularly well over a remote desktop connection.
UPDATE: Just re-read the question, I dont think what you want is the ability to record keyboard / mouse actions, as its not guarenteed that the application will "keep up" with the mouse clicks (windows could open in slightly different places, or there could be a slight delay etc...)
What you want is some screen capture software.
You should hook keyboard and mouse events, see Processing Global Mouse and Keyboard Hooks in C# , Low-Level Mouse Hook in C# or Processing Global Windows Mouse and Keyboard Hooks in C#
I want to send an Application Key Presses, To Automate some stuff that has to be done repeatedly and So I don't always have to cramp my fingers.
In C#, it's nice to use SendKeys.Send(), but this won't work because the Application doesn't take Windows Messages. SendKeys.SendWait() does nothing at all.
How would I STILL Simulate the Keyboard events?
Come To Think of It, I was going to use some P/Invoke to simulate Mouse Events too, but If it takes no messages, How Can I get around that?
EDIT - I can use mouse and keyboard to interact with the program, I just cannot manipulate it with Windows Messages sent from my own Code.
Have you tried AutoIt?
Is it a console app? If so, maybe you should be SendKeys'ing to the command shell instance it is running in.