Click here to Skip to main content
15,867,771 members
Articles / Programming Languages / C++
Article

Global hotkeys made easy

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.17/5 (10 votes)
19 Oct 2003 116.4K   1.3K   28   22
A class to facilitates global hotkeys registration and handling

Introduction

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

Using the code

C++
#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

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Web Developer
United States United States
Elias (aka lallousx86, @0xeb) has always been interested in the making of things and their inner workings.

His computer interests include system programming, reverse engineering, writing libraries, tutorials and articles.

In his free time, and apart from researching, his favorite reading topics include: dreams, metaphysics, philosophy, psychology and any other human/mystical science.

Former employee of Microsoft and Hex-Rays (the creators of IDA Pro), was responsible about many debugger plugins, IDAPython project ownership and what not.

Elias currently works as an Anticheat engineer in Blizzard Entertainment.

Elias co-authored 2 books and authored one book:

- Practical Reverse Engineering
- The Antivirus Hacker's Handbook
- The Art of Batch Files Programming

Comments and Discussions

 
Generalsynchronous Pin
lins0121-May-03 18:58
lins0121-May-03 18:58 
GeneralRe: synchronous Pin
Elias Bachaalany22-May-03 23:56
Elias Bachaalany22-May-03 23:56 
GeneralRe: synchronous Pin
lins0127-May-03 19:49
lins0127-May-03 19:49 
GeneralRe: synchronous Pin
Elias Bachaalany27-May-03 22:28
Elias Bachaalany27-May-03 22:28 
GeneralRe: synchronous Pin
lins0128-May-03 14:47
lins0128-May-03 14:47 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.