Application Level Key Shortcut

[Jassim Rahma]

Hi, Is it possible to make a shortcut in application level not control level so no matter where the focus is or which form is active, shortcut will be invoked?

[Richard Andrew x64]

You can use the PreviewKeyDown event to see what key is pressed at the Form level.

The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.

[Trak4Net]

As a side note to your answer you also need to set the KeyPreview property to true for the form.

[BobJanova]

Shortcuts generally work whichever control on a form has focus, unless the control explicitly steals that character (i.e. text boxes with Ctrl+C/X/Z/V). I think you need to put a shortcut handler on every form, though, if you want app-wide ones.

[Andrei Straut]

Yes, it is, but you will have to go on treacherous ground to do so (needs some unmanaged code). Take a look at keyboard hooks, more specifically RegisterHotKey and UnregisterHotKey, both from user32.dll. Google it further, there are a lot of threads detailing how this can be achieved, for instance here[^], or here[^]

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[Lost User]

If your application has an MDI form, you can create a menu item with the intended code and assign a shortcut to it. It would work "universally" in your entire application.