Global hotkeys made easy

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Introduction

This article will show you how to use the CHotkeyHandler class in order to manage and create global hotkeys.

Using the code

#include <conio.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "hotkeyhandler.h"

void handA(void *)
{
  printf("this is A\n");
}

void handQ(void *)
{
  printf("this is Q\n");
}

void hand1(void *param)
{
  WinExec((char *)param, SW_SHOW);
}

int main(void)
{
  int err, id;

  CHotkeyHandler hk;

  hk.InsertHandler(MOD_CONTROL | MOD_ALT, 'Q', handQ, id);
  hk.InsertHandler(MOD_CONTROL | MOD_ALT, 'A', handA, id);
  hk.InsertHandler(MOD_CONTROL | MOD_ALT, '1', hand1, id);

  err = hk.Start("calc.exe");
  if (err != CHotkeyHandler::hkheOk)
  {
    printf("Error %d on Start()\n", err);
    return err;
  }
  printf("hotkeys started!!!\n...press any key to stop them...\n");
  getch();
  err = hk.Stop();
  return 0;
}

First we declare a CHotkeyHandler instance. We then start inserting the hotkeys defined by their Control key, Virtual Key, Callback function. The InsertHandler() will return us an identifier for the registered hotkey. You can use this id with the RemoveHandler(). After we have inserted our handlers you can enable the hotkeys by calling Start(). You should always check for error codes returned by the CHotkeyHandler methods. The Start() will take an optional parameter that will be passed to the registered callback when it gets invoked. We then disable all hotkeys via Stop()

For more information about error codes and other methods description please refer to the CHotkeyHandler.cpp file. That's all.

History

• 9 May 2003
• Initial CodeProject version
• 20 Oct 2003
• Source code updated