Sending simulated keystrokes to Directx games via WPF application

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

Hello, codeproject. I'm in the process of making a WPF C# program that has a UI for users to press buttons that send 'fake' key events to a simultaneously running game (Halo PC, for example). I believe there is some DirectX api that I can use, but I have no idea which one, how to use it, or how tell my program which window to send the events to. If anyone here knows how to do this, or of a source that would help me out, that would be really appreciated :)

Posted 16-Oct-13 13:52pm

TheUser4574

Add a Solution

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-16T14:05:00

I don't think this can be related to DirectX. If you want to trick some existing games and other applications, all you can do is to use the raw Windows API method SendInput:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms646310%28v=vs.85%29.aspx[^].

This is how it can be used in a .NET application via P/Invoke: http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/user32.sendinput[^].

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P/Invoke[^],
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/vcmxspec/html/vcmg_PlatformInvocationServices.asp[^].

This is really low-level API, the same or similar to what hardware drivers use in their implementations. Nothing else will work in all cases. Also, you should understand that you should not use it for UI development. It can only be used for playing tricks on applications which won't provide any other kind of collaboration; other examples include creation of UI testing software or playing back of keyboard and/or mouse macro. For UI development, it would be pure and very impractical abuse.

—SA