Is there any way to get key events in a Windows console? I need a way to get keydown and keyup events quickly without a GUI. I've tried using getch(), but it doesn't get keyups and waits until a key has been pressed to return.
Use ReadConsoleInput() API. Watch for events of kind KEY_EVENT. This won't work for all keydown events (Ctrl-key, shift-key, Pause-key cannot be read), but most can be read.
Use GetNumberOfConsoleInputEvents to avoid blocking.
You can use GetKeyState or GetAsyncKeyState, but that won't give you keydown/keyup events. It will only tell you what keys are currently down.
So if you really need to get the keydown/keyup events, you could install a hook.
A Console window has a window handle that is owned by code in Windows and a message pump, also owned by code in Windows.
You can get the window handle of of the console window by using GetConsoleWindowThen install a WH_CALLWNDPROC hook using SetWindowsHookEx to listen in on messages send to the console window.
You might try a WH_MSGFILTER hook instead. I don't know if this works for console windows, but it would generate less messages to be ignored if it does work.
I was just curious, how comes such a logical question doesn't have any explanation on Google,
So one has to ask it here. So I googled for: "keyboard events console application" and
guess what ... first 2 links are interesting (but unfortunately, not exactly answers to your question):
Processing mouse / keyboard input on MSDN.
Console event handlers (like Ctrl-C and window close button).
There are a number of ways. GetKeyboardState would be one of the most obvious.
You can also try SetConsoleCtrlHandler
Related
I am creating a simple C++ console program for fun and I am looking for a way to allow a user to return to a “Main Menu” output at any time if they were to hit a function key like F1 or F2.
Is there anyway I can have my program be at the ready to accept this key at any time or do I need to have a switch statement that can call the “Main Menu” print function everytime the program accepts user input? Is this something that is perhaps out of reach for a console-based program?
EDIT: For now, I am only working on a Windows-based program.
If you are using Windows:
You can use GetKeyState or GetAsyncKeyState, but that won't give you keydown/keyup events. It will only tell you what keys are currently down.
So if you need to get the keydown/keyup events, you could install a hook. A Console window has a window handle that is owned by code in Windows and a message pump, also owned by code in Windows.
You can get the window handle of of the console window by using GetConsoleWindowThen install a WH_CALLWNDPROC hook using SetWindowsHookEx to listen in on messages send to the console window.
You might try a WH_MSGFILTER hook instead. I don't know if this works for console windows, but it would generate less messages to be ignored if it does work.
I`m making a c++ application with the KINECT. I basically want to use it to send alt f4 to close the current focused window not my application, as you would normally pressing alt f4 on the keboard. Thanks in advance.
Im already using VkKeyScanA to input a few other keys but i just cant find the key code for alr+f4
There's more than one way to do this. Emulating keystrokes is the last thing you should do, very hard to get right since you cannot control the keyboard state of the process well enough.
First one is GetForegroundWindow + SendMessage to send the WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_CLOSE command. Which is what Alt+F4 does when it is processed by the default window procedure. Which in turn sends WM_CLOSE by default if the program did not override the WM_SYSCOMMAND processing.
If you create your own window then you should favor avoiding trying to find the foreground window. Send WM_APPCOMMAND with the APPCOMMAND_CLOSE command to your own window. Your call to DefWindowProc() forwards the command through several layers to the shell.
In case you are considering a more forceful way, like WM_CLOSE then do review Raymond Chen's recent blog post.
Or to clarify this question, how can I make Windows think I hit a key, when I really didn't? I know I could possibly use SendMessage and specify the input there, but then wouldn't only my application receive it? I'd like control to the extent of all applications receiving the "fake" input. Any advice?
What you describe, faking input, is implemented by the SendInput function. Input goes to the thread which has input focus.
You can SendMessage to whatever window you want, even on other processes. You can even use HWND_BROADCAST to send it to every to-level window on the system. But is that what you really want? If you're only interested in a specific program, you can get its window's handle using FindWindow, and then send the message only to that window.
Note that if all you want to do is a simple keystrokes injection into another process, then SendInput is indeed the way to go. If you'd like to send some global keyboard shortcut it doesn't matter who has the focus. If you'd like to send the same input to more than one window using SendInput, you'll have to loop over the list of windows, and for each window first set the focus and then send the input.
I would like to obtain a key press signal without using hook or keyboard monitoring functions like getasynckeystate which seems to overkill my problem. I am in need of a function that can work globally (outside its created windows), something like GetCursorPos but for a key press (a PageUp key press) to fire some customized event. Thank you for any guidance you could offer.
I believe DirectInput can do this. A long time ago, my product team had a voice-comm app where the "push to talk" key could be caught by our app regardless if another app was in the foreground or not.
If memory server me correctly, we used DirectInput with a dedicated thread listening for DInput to signal our HEVENT handle. When the even thread woke up, it would ask directinput what key was pressed. If it was our hot key down, we unmuted the microphone (and muted it on an up event).
Most of the DirectInput docs have been take off of MSDN. (Replaced by XInput). I have no idea if xinput can accomplish the same thing. But if you can find a legacy DirectX SDK package (like DirectX 8 SDK), the docs included should have all you need for DirectInput.
I try to send a mouse click event to a game application. First, i use Spy++ to find what message the application receive. I see something like : WM_MOUSEACTIVATE, WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGING, WM_ACTIVATEAPP, WM_ACTIVATE, WM_SETFOCUS, ...
i try to send the same as i see on Spy++ but it doesn't work. How to send mouse click to a game application without give it focus? . it's run in window mode. Thanks in advance.
You want WM_LMOUSEDOWN. You can always check MSDN for the documentation on which messages mean what.
The best way to automate applications and games is via SendInput. While in theory it should be possible to drive an application via WM_LUBTTONDOWN etc, many applications read the key state directly via lower level APIs (such as GetAsyncKeyState) which don't change their state to reflect the messages processed from the message queue.
Using SendInput requires actually setting the game to the foreground as the input events are synthesized at a low level and are thus delivered to the active/focused window.