keyboard - C# Detect ESC press key anywhere

Question

I have a C# windowed application running and I want to close it when I press ESC from anywhere, even when my application does not have focus. How can I implement this?

I found some hook up keyboard which is Low Level Control I have no idea and don't understand.

Answer 1

Use this class:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace myNameSpace
{
    class InterceptKeys
    {
        private const int WH_KEYBOARD_LL = 13;
        private const int WM_KEYDOWN = 0x0100;
        private const int WM_ALTDOWN = 0x0104;
        private static LowLevelKeyboardProc _proc = HookCallback;
        private static IntPtr _hookID = IntPtr.Zero;

        public static void Start()
        {
            _hookID = SetHook(_proc);
        }

        public static void Stop()
        {
            UnhookWindowsHookEx(_hookID);
        }

        public static event KeyEventHandler OnKeyDown;

        private static IntPtr SetHook(LowLevelKeyboardProc proc)
        {
            using (Process curProcess = Process.GetCurrentProcess())
            using (ProcessModule curModule = curProcess.MainModule)
            {
                return SetWindowsHookEx(WH_KEYBOARD_LL, proc,
                    GetModuleHandle(curModule.ModuleName), 0);
            }
        }

        private delegate IntPtr LowLevelKeyboardProc(
            int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

        private static IntPtr HookCallback(
            int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
        {
            if (nCode >= 0 && (wParam == (IntPtr)WM_KEYDOWN || wParam == (IntPtr)WM_ALTDOWN))
            {
                var vkCode = (Keys)Marshal.ReadInt32(lParam);
                OnKeyDown(null, new KeyEventArgs(vkCode));
            }
            return CallNextHookEx(_hookID, nCode, wParam, lParam);
        }

        [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern IntPtr SetWindowsHookEx(int idHook,
            LowLevelKeyboardProc lpfn, IntPtr hMod, uint dwThreadId);

        [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
        [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
        private static extern bool UnhookWindowsHookEx(IntPtr hhk);

        [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern IntPtr CallNextHookEx(IntPtr hhk, int nCode,
            IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern IntPtr GetModuleHandle(string lpModuleName);
    }
}

In this way:

myNameSpace.InterceptKeys.OnKeyDown+= new KeyEventHandler(myKeyDown);

myNameSpace.InterceptKeys.Start();

that onKeyDown can be like this:

void myKeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
    // Some code for closing you form
    // or any thing you need after press Esc
    // with e.KeyCode
};