How to make the arrows keys act as another keys?

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I'm new to Silverlight and have simple experiance with C#. Now I'm working on Silverlight project.
My question is: In Silverlight, How to code keyboard keys to act as other keys from the keyboard, specificly how to make the left arrow act like . (dot), when a user press the left arrow while the focus in a textbox it will type . and also in the same way how to make the right arrow act like - ( dash)
Last code i got to is the following:

string s = string.Empty;
        public TextBoxKeyPress()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            txtInput.KeyUp += new KeyEventHandler(txtInput_KeyUp);
            txtInput.KeyDown += new KeyEventHandler(txtInput_KeyDown);
        }

        void txtInput_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
            s = "";
            switch (e.Key)
            {

                case Key.Left:
                    {
                        s = ".";
                        e.Handled = true;
                        break;
                    }

                case Key.Right:
                    {
                        s = "-";
                        e.Handled = true;
                        break;
                    }
            }
        }
        void txtInput_KeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
            TextBox txb = (TextBox)sender;

            if (Keyboard.Modifiers == ModifierKeys.Shift) return;
            if (Keyboard.Modifiers == ModifierKeys.Control) return;

            if (txb.SelectedText.Length > 0)
                txb.SelectedText = "";
            switch (e.Key)
            {

                case Key.Left:
                    {
                        s = ".";
                        e.Handled = true;
                        break;
                    }

                case Key.Right:
                    {
                        s = "-";
                        e.Handled = true;
                        break;
                    }
            }
            int i = txb.SelectionStart;
            txb.Text = txb.Text.Insert(i, s);
            txb.Select(i + 1, 0);
            e.Handled = true;
        }

But the problem is when I want to write in the textbox .-. actually I end up writing ..- because the arrows do move left/right one step and then write . or - , they do the both! how to disable the basic arrows functions ??

Posted 15-Apr-10 23:32pm

Lana_

Updated 15-Apr-10 23:35pm

Tom Deketelaere

v2

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6 solutions

Solution 1

Hey there,

So at the moment I don't really understand why you decided to have both KeyUp and KeyDown as i think KeyUp should not even come up as you've "handled" with it in KeyDown. Though i think you are aiming in a right direction I've smashed some code together for you (That did work for me)

I also couldn't really figure out why you are casting sender to a TextBox (the only reason i could come up with is that you'd like to use the mechanism on multiple textboxes). With that being said, if you ever want to cast sender to a specific object it's best to first check if it's actually that object otherwise you're code will crash.

Here's my KeyDown function for you:

C#

private void txtInput_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
    if (sender is TextBox)
    {
        TextBox textBox = (TextBox)sender;

        if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Left || e.KeyCode == Keys.Right)
        {
            e.Handled = true;
            char insert;

            if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Left)
            {
                insert = '.';
            }
            else
            {
                insert = '-';
            }

            int i = textBox.SelectionStart;
            textBox.Text = textBox.Text.Insert(i, insert.ToString());
            textBox.Select(i + 1, 0);
        }
    }
}

Posted 17-Apr-10 9:37am

Jordy "Kaiwa" Ruiter

Solution 2

Hello Jordy,
Thank you for your reply. I don't know how to reply to your answer so I'm putting it here. Your code works GREAT- no problems- with window form application as you used Keycode and Keys. But I'm working with Silverlight i tried to figure out the solution before but does not work. I changed your code- I replaced e.KeyCode with e.Key and Keys.Right with Key.Right- so I can compile it as Silverlight app. but does not work the arrow keys still do the both functions moving and writting . & -. I don't know is there HUGE different influence on the program between using Keycode/Keys and Key/Key or because of something else?!

The code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace SilverlightApplication4
{
    public partial class MainPage : UserControl
    {
        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
        private void Page_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {

            textBox1.KeyDown += new KeyEventHandler(textBox1_KeyDown);

        }


        private void textBox1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
        {
            if (sender is TextBox)
            {
                TextBox textBox = (TextBox)sender;
                if (e.Key == Key.Left || e.Key == Key.Right)
                {
                    e.Handled = true;
                    char insert;
                    if (e.Key == Key.Left)
                    { insert = '.'; }

                    else
                    { insert = '-'; }
                    int i = textBox.SelectionStart;
                    textBox.Text = textBox.Text.Insert(i, insert.ToString());
                    textBox.Select(i + 1, 0);
                }
            }
        }

    }
}

Posted 17-Apr-10 12:32pm

Lana_

Updated 17-Apr-10 12:39pm

v2

Solution 3

Right, I didn't think of that. So what about making a specific TextBox.Select function for each arrow key? Such as:

SQL

if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Left)
{
insert = '.';

int i = textbox.SelectionStart;
textbox.Select(i + 1, 0);
}
else
{
insert = '-';

int i = textbox.SelectionStart;
textbox.Select(i - 1, 0);
}

This way it should "undo" the cursor moving inside the textbox and put in the character. I think this behaviour is mostly caused by the browser forcing that change as opposed to your own windows applications.

Posted 17-Apr-10 22:33pm

Jordy "Kaiwa" Ruiter

Updated 17-Apr-10 22:35pm

v3

Solution 5

As a reply to Awnser 4: I think that putting it in KeyUp will mess it up. Simply because it will execute as soon as the user releases the key. But as with any key you can just keep it pressed. In the case of left and right keys it will first scroll a position and upon release put a single character.

With KeyDown it will behave exactly the same as keeping any key pressed.

Posted 17-Apr-10 23:40pm

Jordy "Kaiwa" Ruiter

Solution 6

OH my! its works you saved me Abhinav cause I started to learn how to remap the keyboard keys low level ah!. Now I can move to the next step :)

Posted 20-Apr-10 2:36am

Lana_

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Abhinav S · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-17T22:57:00

I would keep the code very similar to what is given in Answer 1 but with two changes.

1) I would run it on the KeyUp event of the textbox (instead of KeyDown).
2) I would add textBox1.SelectionStart = textBox1.Text.Length + 1;
to my Left If condition.

So the code would look like this ->

C#

private void textBox1_KeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e) {
    if (sender is TextBox) {
        TextBox textBox = (TextBox)sender;
        if (e.Key == Key.Left || e.Key == Key.Right) {
            e.Handled = true;
            char insert;
            if (e.Key == Key.Left)
            {
                textBox1.SelectionStart = textBox1.Text.Length + 1;
                insert = '.';
            }
            else
            {
                insert = '-';
            }
            int i = textBox.SelectionStart;

            textBox1.Text = textBox1.Text.Insert(i, insert.ToString()); textBox1.Select(i + 1, 0);
        }
    }
}

How to make the arrows keys act as another keys?

6 solutions

Solution 1

Solution 2

Solution 3

Solution 4

Solution 5

Solution 6

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