unable to do alt code (alt+11) with send_input - c++

Question

What I an trying to do is send the alt code alt+1 which = ☺ with send input. so i have to hold atl, press numpad 1, then let go of alt. Currently when the code runs it does hold the alt button, but has no output into the active window (notepad). I verified sendinput is working with key combos (ctrl+a) work. Num lock is turned on while this program is running. alt+f also works. I think the problem is that it is maybe sending '1' instead of numpad '1', which does not work with alt codes.
Sleep(1000 * 3);
INPUT tabinput[4];
tabinput[0].type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
tabinput[0].ki = { VK_LMENU, 0 };
tabinput[1].type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
tabinput[1].ki = { VK_NUMPAD1, 0 };
tabinput[2].type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
tabinput[2].ki = { VK_NUMPAD1, 0, KEYEVENTF_KEYUP };
tabinput[3].type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
tabinput[3].ki = { VK_LMENU, 0, KEYEVENTF_KEYUP };
SendInput(4, tabinput, sizeof(INPUT));
getchar();

Answer 1

You can use Unicode characters directly. If code point is less than 0xFFFF use:
input.ki.wScan = L'☺';
Some characters have code point greater than 0xFFFF, they require two key strokes for each code point, in which case use a wide string to handle it:
const wchar_t *buf = L"বাংলা ☺ 🙂 Abc";
std::vector<INPUT> vec;
for(size_t i = 0, len = wcslen(buf); i < len; i++)
{
INPUT input = { 0 };
input.type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
input.ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_UNICODE;
input.ki.wScan = buf[i];
vec.push_back(input);
input.ki.dwFlags |= KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;
vec.push_back(input);
}
SendInput(vec.size(), vec.data(), sizeof(INPUT));

Answer 2

the following code can be used to type unicode chars
using http://www.unicodemap.org/search.asp to find the correct code
INPUT tabinput[2];
tabinput[0].type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
tabinput[0].ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_UNICODE;
tabinput[0].ki.wVk = 0;
tabinput[0].ki.wScan = 0x00E1; // This is a Bengali unicode character
tabinput[1].type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
tabinput[1].ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_UNICODE | KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;
tabinput[1].ki.wVk = 0;
tabinput[1].ki.wScan = 0x00E1; // This is a Bengali unicode character
SendInput(2, tabinput, sizeof(INPUT));