How to send ctrl+c to active process?

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In Windows forms applications, I want to send Ctrl+C to active window to get the selected text to translate it when Win+C is pressed.

What I have tried:

C#

                    Process p = Process.GetProcessesByName(GetActiveProcessFileName()).FirstOrDefault();
                    if (p != null)
                    {
                        IntPtr h = p.MainWindowHandle;
                        SetForegroundWindow(h);

                        SendKeys.SendWait("^C");

                    }




[DllImport("User32.dll")]
static extern int SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr point);




[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr GetWindowThreadProcessId(IntPtr hWnd, out uint ProcessId);


static string GetActiveProcessFileName()
{
    IntPtr hwnd = GetForegroundWindow();
    uint pid;
    GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd, out pid);
    Process p = Process.GetProcessById((int)pid);
    return p.MainModule.FileName;
}

Posted 20-Jan-18 4:04am

john1990_1

Updated 20-Jan-18 4:30am

PIEBALDconsult

v2

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Richard MacCutchan 20-Jan-18 10:11am

Do you have a question?

john1990_1 20-Jan-18 10:17am

The code works only on "notepad" application, in the other cases it doesn't enter the:

if(p != null)...

p remains null when the active process is not Notepad.

john1990_1 20-Jan-18 10:20am

I now encountered this about not being able to retrieve 64 bit apps (when i tried to retrieve name of Chrome, please give me a new code that really send Ctrl+C to active window to retrieve selected text and put it in clipboard.

Richard MacCutchan 20-Jan-18 10:21am

Sorry, but I do not understand what you mean, or what this has to do with notepad.

john1990_1 20-Jan-18 10:24am

I need a code that sends Ctrl+C to the active window of Windows to put selected text in clipboard.

Richard MacCutchan 20-Jan-18 10:35am

You first need to get the handle of the Window that you need to send the keys to. But if you are using Win+C to start an application to send Ctrl+C to another Window, why not just use Ctrl+C on the first Window? And you also need to be aware that Ctrl+C may not work on some user applications.

john1990_1 20-Jan-18 10:41am

It's a program for translation, I want Win+C to copy selected text from active window and open my program and translate the text that is selected in the active window of user's Windows. Now maybe Win+C is problematic because it activates start menu, I changed it to F8 key. but now in Chrome "Inspect Element" opes when I click F8 and the program sends Ctrl+C.

Richard MacCutchan 20-Jan-18 11:06am

I do get the feeling that you are making this more complicated than it needs to be. Why not just use Ctrl+C at the keyboard to copy the text from whichever Window you are looking at, and then paste it into your application?

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

Thomas Daniels · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-20T04:30:00

Solution 1

p is null because Process.GetProcessesByName expects the "friendly name" of a process, not the full file path that appears to be returned by GetActiveProcessFileName.

But here's some good news: you don't even need to use GetProcessesByName to get the process you want: in GetActiveProcessFileName, you have a line Process p = Process.GetProcessById((int)pid) and this p is exactly the process you wish, so you don't need to return this process's file name to retrieve the Process again later: just return p already. Here is a GetActiveProcess method that returns the desired process:

C#

static Process GetActiveProcess()
{
    IntPtr hwnd = GetForegroundWindow();
    uint pid;
    GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd, out pid);
    return Process.GetProcessById((int)pid);
}

And then you can replace the Process p = Process.GetProcessesByName ... line with this:

C#

Process p = GetActiveProcess();

[Edit]

It appears that "^C" doesn't always make the active application copy the selected text, but I've had better results with "^c" (that is, a lowercase c).

Posted 20-Jan-18 4:30am

Thomas Daniels

Updated 20-Jan-18 5:03am

v2

Comments

john1990_1 20-Jan-18 10:39am

Thx, now how to send Ctrl+C to the active application you found?

Thomas Daniels 20-Jan-18 10:50am

Just like you did it. The only difference is that you use GetActiveProcess instead of Process.GetProcessesByName.

john1990_1 20-Jan-18 10:50am

but it doesnt work.

Thomas Daniels 20-Jan-18 10:51am

Explain "doesn't work". Does it give an error? Is it the wrong process? Or does it just not copy the text? When I tried it, it worked fine.

john1990_1 20-Jan-18 10:57am

When I run this on F7 keyup, it copies the text only if Notepad is the active process:
Process p = GetActiveProcess();
if (p != null)
{
IntPtr h = p.MainWindowHandle;
SetForegroundWindow(h);
SendKeys.SendWait("^C");
}

Thomas Daniels 20-Jan-18 11:03am

Ah, I found something. See the edit in my answer.

john1990_1 20-Jan-18 11:08am

worked, thx a lot bro!

Thomas Daniels 20-Jan-18 11:08am

You're welcome!

john1990_1 21-Jan-18 18:20pm

Thx for your help but now the program doesn't always work, I removed the auto Ctrl+C functionality from it, for example when I sent Ctrl+c to Hebrew text it replaces it with "c" which means the ctrl wasn't pressed well... I even made it wait 150 ms before using the clipboard and the clipbaord doesn't change at all.

Thomas Daniels 22-Jan-18 10:23am

I've also come across a suggestion to put the c in brackets, like ^(c). If that doesn't work either, I'm out of ideas.

john1990_1 22-Jan-18 14:55pm

I tried that and that didn't always work, I also tried removing setting the foreground window and that didn't always work too...

Thomas Daniels 22-Jan-18 15:06pm

Then, I have no ideas anymore. But keep Dave Kreskowiak's comment in mind.

john1990_1 22-Jan-18 15:30pm

Ok, I removed sending Ctrl+C to my program, I made that Ctrl+C twice translates:

https://sites.google.com/site/windowsprogramfortranslation/

Dave Kreskowiak 20-Jan-18 13:42pm

I don't even why you're setting the foreground window. SendKeys sends the keystrokes to whatever window is currently the active window!

That's why SendKeys is so dangerous to use. Your code sets the foreground window and then calls SendKeys. Well, those two line of code are not an atomic operation. The active window can change between the time you set the foreground window and the time you call SendKeys. There is no guarantee at all that the keys will go to the window you intend.

Before you ask, no, there is no 100% guaranteed method that's going to do this reliably every time. Even using SendMessage[^], WM_KEYUP[^], WM_CHAR[^], and WM_KEYDOWN[^] will not work on every possible window the user might use.

How to send ctrl+c to active process?

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How to send ctrl+c to active process?

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