Question

Greetings,

I want to write code that executes within an event handler, inside a WPF Windows application, that can detect a keypress, specifically an “Escape” character keypress, within a processing loop. This will allow the user to escape from processing. I realize this may be accomplished with some kind of multi-threaded approach, but the problem seems so simple I wondered if it might be accomplished as follows:

// Attempt 1: See if Keyboard static IsKeyDown method detects key presses while executing.
// Note that this was not successful. The Keyboard states do not appear to be updated during processing.

        bool iskeypressed = false;
        while (!iskeypressed)
        {
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
            if (Keyboard.IsKeyDown(Key.Enter))
                iskeypressed = true;  
        }

So, on to attempt #2. I saw some articles and samples using the Pinvoke “GetKeyboardState” method. I’m not sure I used the method correctly, but here is my attempt. It is a bit clumsy to refer to a Windows.Forms enumeration in a WPF application, but it seems like it could work.

// Attempt 2: Use Pinvoke GetKeyboardState method.
// So far, I’ve been unsuccessful with this as well, but I’m not sure my usage is correct.

        bool iskeypressed = false;
        while (!iskeypressed)
        {
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
            if (isEscapePressed()) 
                iskeypressed = true;  
        }
    }


    [DllImport("user32.dll")] public static extern int GetKeyboardState(byte[] lpKeyState);
    private bool isEscapePressed()
    {
        byte[] keyboardState = new byte[255];
        int keystate = GetKeyboardState(keyboardState);

        if (keyboardState[(int)System.Windows.Forms.Keys.Escape] == 128)
            return true;
        else
            return false; 
    }    

But unfortunately, I’m not seeing any change in the keyboard states as this executes. I also played around a little with calls to the Dispatcher to see if I could get the keyboard information to refresh during processing, but I have not been successful with any technique.

I’m out of ideas. Can someone propose something? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

• David

Answer 1

Something like this:

private bool IsCancelled { get; set; }

private void OnButtonClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
   Action doWorkDelegate = DoWork;

   doWorkDelegate.BeginInvoke(null, null);
}

protected override void OnKeyDown(KeyEventArgs e) {
    if (e.Key == Key.Escape) {
        IsCancelled = true;
        e.Handled = true;
    } else {
        base.OnKeyDown(e);
    }
}

private void DoWork()
{
   IsCancelled  = false;
   while (!IsCancelled)
   {
       System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
   }
}

The important point is that the method that does the work is executed in a separate thread so the main thread can process user input (key strokes).