[RESOLVED]Capturing mouse click event in vb.net(Thanks so much Mr.Polite)

[uniquegodwin]

Hello..
Can someone help on how I can detect the mousedown,mouseup etc even outside my application using vb.net?
I have an API here,but,doesnt seem to work the way I expect it to..

Private Declare Function GetAsyncKeyState Lib "user32" (ByVal vKey As Long) As Integer
 
    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        If GetAsyncKeyState(1) = "1" Then
            Label1.Text = ("Left mouse button clicked")
        Else
            Label1.Text = "mouse button up"
        End If
    End Sub

Should that API be modified to be used or something?? or what should I do to capture the mouse click events..both left and right buttons...
Thanks

[MrPolite]

hey it's not the answer, but take a look at the codeproject page here.... I was reading on MSDN about assigning a global mouse hook and it says that you cant have global hooks in .NET (I think a global mouse hook would let you recieve a mouse click event without you having to check the mouse state in a timer like that )

anyways this page says the same but has a solution. I think this is what you want keep in mind that using hooks can be a bit risky, cuz if you mess up your whole app will vanish (ie, crash) I'm not so familiar with APIs but this seems like a better solution

also I looked over at it, and when the form closes it doesn't remove the hook (it has to call the Stop function of that helper class... look at the code). If you ask a API guru I think they'd tell you that it's a better idea to unhook it before closing your form? I'm still not sure, someone needs to confirm this (does the hook need to be removed before the app exists?)

so many frogs so little time

edit: the frogs distracted me and I forgot the link
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/globalhook.asp


edit #2: the frogs made me think the world knows C#. Let me know if you need help converting it to VB

edit #3: there are 9 frogs in this post, count for yourself

[virtual_manu]

Thanks Thanks Thanks Mr Polite....
Yes,I do need help converting to vb.net if possible...Please help if u can,I would be really grateful.
Thanks again so much,..
And about the frogs,there r 10 frogs in the post totally

[virtual_manu]

WOW,This code project link you gave me...That c# app is EXCELLENT...It works sooo perrrfecttlyyy when I execute it...
I tried searching on google on detecting mouse clicks...but never found a solution like this I wonder how u found it.It is Awesomeee...I will try figuring out to convert it into vb.net on my own and if Im not,Ill ask for help,please give me a hand if possible at that time...Thanks Mr.Polite

[virtual_manu]

oops,never realised my classmates id was logged on here..ohh noo..i was posting thinking its my id...nevermind anyway..Its me Godwin right now

[MrPolite]

Thanks Thanks Thanks Mr Polite....
Yes,I do need help converting to vb.net if possible...Please help if u can,I would be really grateful.
Thanks again so much,..
And about the frogs,there r 10 frogs in the post totally

haha 10 including my sig
you got me so confused, I thought someone else wanted this same thing too lol

if you don't already have it, download Reflector
it's more like a decompiler, but in this case, if you try to decompile that codeproject sample to VB, it's a good tool for converting from C# to vb.net


minutes later...
listen, it turns out that my VB skills are fading away I copy pasted a lot of code from the decompiler and did everything that I could just to make it compile. I STRONGLY descourage you from using it,. it's most likely unsatble. I couldnt even find a nice way to add the event handlers in. ugh
the C# version isnt all that nice either. the guy uses classes where he could use structures (for the api calls)
for reference, in the next two posts

I didn't even double check ANYTHING. it's a horrible mess that I'm posting. I'm posting it in case you had trouble converting something from c# to vb... it compiles and the click events seem to work fine. But it won't detect mouse move, and the keyboard keys seem to get lost...

[MrPolite]

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
 
Public Class UserActivityHook
    Public Delegate Function HookProc(ByVal nCode As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As IntPtr) As Integer
 
    Public KeyboardHookProcedure As HookProc
    Public KeyDown As KeyEventHandler
    Public KeyPress As KeyPressEventHandler
    Public KeyUp As KeyEventHandler
 
    Public OnMouseActivity As MouseEventHandler
 
 
    Private Shared hKeyboardHook As Integer
    Private Shared hMouseHook As Integer
    Public MouseHookProcedure As HookProc
    Public Const WH_KEYBOARD_LL As Integer = 13
    Public Const WH_MOUSE_LL As Integer = 14
    Private Const WM_KEYDOWN As Integer = 256
    Private Const WM_KEYUP As Integer = 257
    Private Const WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK As Integer = 515
    Private Const WM_LBUTTONDOWN As Integer = 513
    Private Const WM_LBUTTONUP As Integer = 514
    Private Const WM_MBUTTONDBLCLK As Integer = 521
    Private Const WM_MBUTTONDOWN As Integer = 519
    Private Const WM_MBUTTONUP As Integer = 520
    Private Const WM_MOUSEMOVE As Integer = 512
    Private Const WM_RBUTTONDBLCLK As Integer = 518
    Private Const WM_RBUTTONDOWN As Integer = 516
    Private Const WM_RBUTTONUP As Integer = 517
    Private Const WM_SYSKEYDOWN As Integer = 260
    Private Const WM_SYSKEYUP As Integer = 261
 
#Region "dll imports"
    ' Methods
    <DllImport("user32.dll", CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall, CharSet:=CharSet.Auto)> _
    Public Shared Function CallNextHookEx(ByVal idHook As Integer, ByVal nCode As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As IntPtr) As Integer
    End Function
 
    <DllImport("user32")> _
    Public Shared Function GetKeyboardState(ByVal pbKeyState As Byte()) As Integer
    End Function
 
 
 
    <DllImport("user32.dll", CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall, CharSet:=CharSet.Auto)> _
    Public Shared Function SetWindowsHookEx(ByVal idHook As Integer, ByVal lpfn As HookProc, ByVal hInstance As IntPtr, ByVal threadId As Integer) As Integer
    End Function
 
    <DllImport("user32")> _
    Public Shared Function ToAscii(ByVal uVirtKey As Integer, ByVal uScanCode As Integer, ByVal lpbKeyState As Byte(), ByVal lpwTransKey As Byte(), ByVal fuState As Integer) As Integer
    End Function
 
    <DllImport("user32.dll", CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall, CharSet:=CharSet.Auto)> _
    Public Shared Function UnhookWindowsHookEx(ByVal idHook As Integer) As Boolean
    End Function
#End Region
 
#Region "Structures and whatnot"
    <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
     Public Class KeyboardHookStruct
        ' Fields
        Public dwExtraInfo As Integer
        Public flags As Integer
        Public scanCode As Integer
        Public time As Integer
        Public vkCode As Integer
    End Class
 
    <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
    Public Class MouseHookStruct
        ' Fields
        Public dwExtraInfo As Integer
        Public hwnd As Integer
        Public pt As POINT
        Public wHitTestCode As Integer
    End Class
 
    <StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> _
    Public Class POINT
        ' Fields
        Public x As Integer
        Public y As Integer
    End Class
#End Region
 
 
 
 
    Public Sub New()
        Start()
    End Sub
 
    Protected Overrides Sub Finalize()
        Try
            Me.Stop()
        Finally
            MyBase.Finalize()
        End Try
    End Sub
 
 
 
 
 
    Public Sub Start()
        If (UserActivityHook.hMouseHook = 0) Then
            Me.MouseHookProcedure = New HookProc(AddressOf Me.MouseHookProc)
            UserActivityHook.hMouseHook = UserActivityHook.SetWindowsHookEx(14, Me.MouseHookProcedure, Marshal.GetHINSTANCE(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly.GetModules()(0)), 0)
            If (UserActivityHook.hMouseHook = 0) Then
                Me.Stop()
                Throw New Exception("SetWindowsHookEx failed.")
            End If
        End If
        If (UserActivityHook.hKeyboardHook = 0) Then
            Me.KeyboardHookProcedure = New HookProc(AddressOf Me.KeyboardHookProc)
            UserActivityHook.hKeyboardHook = UserActivityHook.SetWindowsHookEx(13, Me.KeyboardHookProcedure, Marshal.GetHINSTANCE(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly.GetModules()(0)), 0)
            If (UserActivityHook.hKeyboardHook = 0) Then
                Me.Stop()
                Throw New Exception("SetWindowsHookEx ist failed.")
            End If
        End If
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub [Stop]()
        Dim flag1 As Boolean = True
        Dim flag2 As Boolean = True
        If (UserActivityHook.hMouseHook <> 0) Then
            flag1 = UserActivityHook.UnhookWindowsHookEx(UserActivityHook.hMouseHook)
            UserActivityHook.hMouseHook = 0
        End If
        If (UserActivityHook.hKeyboardHook <> 0) Then
            flag2 = UserActivityHook.UnhookWindowsHookEx(UserActivityHook.hKeyboardHook)
            UserActivityHook.hKeyboardHook = 0
        End If
        If (Not flag1 OrElse Not flag2) Then
            Throw New Exception("UnhookWindowsHookEx failed.")
        End If
    End Sub
 
 
    Private Function MouseHookProc(ByVal nCode As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As IntPtr) As Integer
        If ((nCode >= 0) AndAlso (Not Me.OnMouseActivity Is Nothing)) Then
            Dim buttons1 As MouseButtons = MouseButtons.None
            Dim num3 As Integer = wParam
            If (num3 <> 513) Then
                If (num3 = 516) Then
                    buttons1 = MouseButtons.Right
                End If
            Else
                buttons1 = MouseButtons.Left
            End If
            Dim num1 As Integer = 0
            If (buttons1 <> MouseButtons.None) Then
                If ((wParam = 515) OrElse (wParam = 518)) Then
                    num1 = 2
                Else
                    num1 = 1
                End If
            End If
            Dim struct1 As MouseHookStruct = CType(Marshal.PtrToStructure(lParam, GetType(MouseHookStruct)), MouseHookStruct)
            Dim args1 As New MouseEventArgs(buttons1, num1, struct1.pt.x, struct1.pt.y, 0)
            Me.OnMouseActivity.Invoke(Me, args1)
        End If
        Return UserActivityHook.CallNextHookEx(UserActivityHook.hMouseHook, nCode, wParam, lParam)
    End Function
 
 
    Private Function KeyboardHookProc(ByVal nCode As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As IntPtr) As Integer
        If ((nCode >= 0) AndAlso (((Not Me.KeyDown Is Nothing) OrElse (Not Me.KeyUp Is Nothing)) OrElse (Not Me.KeyPress Is Nothing))) Then
            Dim struct1 As KeyboardHookStruct = CType(Marshal.PtrToStructure(lParam, GetType(KeyboardHookStruct)), KeyboardHookStruct)
            If ((Not Me.KeyDown Is Nothing) AndAlso ((wParam = 256) OrElse (wParam = 260))) Then
                Dim args1 As New KeyEventArgs(CType(struct1.vkCode, Keys))
                Me.KeyDown.Invoke(Me, args1)
            End If
            If ((Not Me.KeyPress Is Nothing) AndAlso (wParam = 256)) Then
                Dim buffer1 As Byte() = New Byte(256 - 1) {}
                UserActivityHook.GetKeyboardState(buffer1)
                Dim buffer2 As Byte() = New Byte(2 - 1) {}
                If (UserActivityHook.ToAscii(struct1.vkCode, struct1.scanCode, buffer1, buffer2, struct1.flags) = 1) Then
                    Dim args2 As New KeyPressEventArgs(Convert.ToChar(buffer2(0)))
                    Me.KeyPress.Invoke(Me, args2)
                End If
            End If
            If ((Not Me.KeyUp Is Nothing) AndAlso ((wParam = 257) OrElse (wParam = 261))) Then
                Dim args3 As New KeyEventArgs(CType(struct1.vkCode, Keys))
                Me.KeyUp.Invoke(Me, args3)
            End If
        End If
        Return UserActivityHook.CallNextHookEx(UserActivityHook.hKeyboardHook, nCode, wParam, lParam)
    End Function
 
End Class

[MrPolite]

Public Class Form1
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
 
#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "
 
    Public Sub New()
        MyBase.New()
 
        'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
        InitializeComponent()
 
        'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
 
    End Sub
 
    'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
        If disposing Then
            If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
                components.Dispose()
            End If
        End If
        MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
    End Sub
 
    'Required by the Windows Form Designer
    Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer
 
    'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer
    'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer.  
    'Do not modify it using the code editor.
    Friend WithEvents textBox As System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
    Friend WithEvents labelMousePosition As System.Windows.Forms.Label
    Friend WithEvents buttonStop As System.Windows.Forms.Button
    Friend WithEvents buttonStart As System.Windows.Forms.Button
    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()
        Me.textBox = New System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
        Me.labelMousePosition = New System.Windows.Forms.Label
        Me.buttonStop = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
        Me.buttonStart = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
        Me.SuspendLayout()
        '
        'textBox
        '
        Me.textBox.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Courier New", 11.0!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.World)
        Me.textBox.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(8, 126)
        Me.textBox.Multiline = True
        Me.textBox.Name = "textBox"
        Me.textBox.ScrollBars = System.Windows.Forms.ScrollBars.Vertical
        Me.textBox.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(280, 240)
        Me.textBox.TabIndex = 7
        Me.textBox.Text = ""
        '
        'labelMousePosition
        '
        Me.labelMousePosition.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(40, 94)
        Me.labelMousePosition.Name = "labelMousePosition"
        Me.labelMousePosition.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(184, 23)
        Me.labelMousePosition.TabIndex = 6
        Me.labelMousePosition.Text = "labelMousePosition"
        '
        'buttonStop
        '
        Me.buttonStop.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(144, 46)
        Me.buttonStop.Name = "buttonStop"
        Me.buttonStop.TabIndex = 5
        Me.buttonStop.Text = "Stop"
        '
        'buttonStart
        '
        Me.buttonStart.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(40, 46)
        Me.buttonStart.Name = "buttonStart"
        Me.buttonStart.TabIndex = 4
        Me.buttonStart.Text = "Start"
        '
        'Form1
        '
        Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
        Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(296, 413)
        Me.Controls.Add(Me.textBox)
        Me.Controls.Add(Me.labelMousePosition)
        Me.Controls.Add(Me.buttonStop)
        Me.Controls.Add(Me.buttonStart)
        Me.Name = "Form1"
        Me.Text = "Form1"
        Me.ResumeLayout(False)
 
    End Sub
 
#End Region
 
    Private actHook As UserActivityHook
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Me.actHook = New UserActivityHook
        Me.actHook.OnMouseActivity = New MouseEventHandler(AddressOf MouseMoved)
        Me.actHook.KeyDown = New KeyEventHandler(AddressOf MyKeyDown)
        Me.actHook.KeyPress = New KeyPressEventHandler(AddressOf MyKeyPress)
        Me.actHook.KeyUp = New KeyEventHandler(AddressOf MyKeyUp)
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub buttonStart_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles buttonStart.Click
        actHook.Start()
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub buttonStop_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles buttonStop.Click
        actHook.Stop()
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub MouseMoved(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)
        Me.labelMousePosition.Text = String.Format("x={0}  y={1}", e.X, e.Y)
        If (e.Clicks > 0) Then
            Me.LogWrite(("MouseButton " & ChrW(9) & "- " & e.Button.ToString))
        End If
    End Sub
 
 
    Public Sub MyKeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As KeyEventArgs)
        Me.LogWrite(("KeyDown " & ChrW(9) & "- " & e.KeyData.ToString))
    End Sub
 
 
    Public Sub MyKeyPress(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As KeyPressEventArgs)
        Me.LogWrite(("KeyPress " & ChrW(9) & "- " & e.KeyChar))
    End Sub
 
 
    Public Sub MyKeyUp(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As KeyEventArgs)
        Me.LogWrite(("KeyUp " & ChrW(9) & ChrW(9) & "- " & e.KeyData.ToString))
    End Sub
 
 
 
 
    Private Sub LogWrite(ByVal txt As String)
        Me.textBox.AppendText((txt & Environment.NewLine))
        Me.textBox.SelectionStart = Me.textBox.Text.Length
    End Sub
End Class

[uniquegodwin]

Mr.Polite,Thank you so so so so sooo muchhhh...
The detecting click was the main thing.Im trying to make an open source remote desktop application..its opensource..but,all source isnt mine though..i took some code from the internet too to help me with it I wonder if I have to ask their permission to make it opensource.
Never mind the mouse move Mr.Polite ..
for the mouse move,I was already using this concept to get it...

Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        Me.Text = Cursor.Position.X & "x" & Cursor.Position.Y
    End Sub

Thanks again Mr.Polite I did do a little bit reading on the windows hook thing,but it was about some kind of messages passed between windows or something and theres some point there which we control? something like that,i understood something..im not clear how exactly we are able to detect mouse using this windows hook.Ill still read again and further and try to understand.Thank you so much Mr.Polite

[JuggaloBrotha]

Mr.Polite

is there a way to use that class you posted to have a timer be enabled only with the left mouse button is pressed?

ie: if the user holds down the left mouse button (even outside of this application) a timer is going, but as soon as the left mouse button is no longer being pressed the timer is set to false?

[ImDaFrEaK]

Conctact me if you need help with Hooking please... I have written and taught how to perform Low Level Hooks in VB.NET and C# and can explain clearly the entire process as well as distribute professionally written code.

[Schurchel]

I am a beginner in VB.net and I cannot figure out how to do a mouseclick hook.


I know how to do it on forms but I get totally lost on the API and other stuff.


If someone can please walk me through the process step by step I would really appreciate it. My yahoo messenger id is x_shakespear_x

Or you can post it up here as a tutorial, because I know I cannot be the only one that is totally lost over the whole Hook scenario.

[OrcA]

Sorry for reopening a resolved post. I have tried running the above code. Unfortunately it runs into the exception on line 112 in the UserActivityHook class.

Throw New Exception("SetWindowsHookEx failed.")

I look back the code and found out that on line 109

UserActivityHook.hMouseHook = UserActivityHook.SetWindowsHookEx(14, Me.MouseHookProcedure, Marshal.GetHINSTANCE(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly.GetModules()(0)), 0)

the function SetWindowsHookEx does not return a value and when i look back at the function on line 46 to 48 and found out that there is nothing in the function.

<DllImport("user32.dll", CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall, CharSet:=CharSet.Auto)> _
    Public Shared Function SetWindowsHookEx(ByVal idHook As Integer, ByVal lpfn As HookProc, ByVal hInstance As IntPtr, ByVal threadId As Integer) As Integer
    End Function

I am not familiar with DllImport. Did i miss out something? Do i need to add any reference or import any dll into this project? I believe i must have missed out some steps. Please advise. Thanks a lot in advance.

[OrcA]

Juz saw this FAQ question in the link above. Done that and tested that. Works fine. Sorry for not going through the link before asking..

Question
The project cannot be run in Visual Studio .NET 2005 in debug mode because of an exception error caused by calling the SetWindowsHookEx. Why? Is it a problem of .NET 2.0?

Answer
The compiled release version works well so that cannot be a .NET 2.0 problem. To workaround, you just need to uncheck the check box in the project properties that says: "Enable Visual Studio hosting process". In the menu: Project -> Project Properties... -> Debug -> Enable the Visual Studio hosting process.