Keypress that will always be read by program wether it has focus or not?

[matalog]

Is there any way to get a key or combination of keys to always be recognised by a running program whether the running program is the one last clicked with the mouse or not? That is, it may not have the system's focus.

[HeX0R]

like a keylogger you mean?

[matalog]

like a keylogger you mean?

I have never heard the term, but searched and it is a horrible thing. I had a third party Android keyboard app once, and I happened to press shift and something by accident, and every single thing I typed on that phone in the previous months was pasted to the document I was in at the time. I guessed that that was how some people harvest passwords etc.

I suppose a keylogger would use the same procedure, but I just want one key or combination to definitely be recognised by a window, that I suspect not all users will remember to click before following the on screen instructions, as it is a stickywindow, it will always be on top and may not be obvious that it isn't active.

[idle]

windows only you can do it like this

Code: Select all

If Bool(GetAsyncKeyState_(#VK_SHIFT) And GetAsyncKeyState_(#VK_S)) 
	 Debug "shift + S "  
	EndIf 

[Quin]

How about using a global hotkey (also Windows-only).

[idle]

How about using a global hotkey (also Windows-only).

I think you would need to set a window callback for that to work as it doesn't come through the pb event loop

[Quin]

You're correct, in fact one of my main PB projects has a massive WndProc bound with SetWindowCallback mostly for hotkeys like this.

[AZJIO]

WM_HOTKEY (example)
Example of use in the TextCorrection program

[BarryG]

like a keylogger you mean?

Another term is macro recorder.

[Axolotl]

At least on windows you can use a keyboard hook when RegisterHotkey_() failed.
I once made a small example years ago:
LowLevelKeyboardHook.pb

[matalog]

At least on windows you can use a keyboard hook when RegisterHotkey_() failed.
I once made a small example years ago:
LowLevelKeyboardHook.pb

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I went with the last eample from Axolotl on their link and it works great with VK's.