How to bring up the Windows 8 on-screen keyboard i

Question

I have a fullscreen DirectX desktop app, and would like to display the on-screen keyboard when the user taps a textbox in my game. Is there a way to do this while in fullscreen mode?

Answer 1

You can show the Windows 8 touch keyboard quite easily:

http://brianlagunas.com/showing-windows-8-touch-keyboard-wpf/

Answer 2

Same answer as Severin Stampler but in order to find the correct path from c# I use:

var path = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonProgramFiles) + @"\Microsoft Shared\ink\TabTip.exe";

if (!File.Exists(path))
{
   // older windows versions
   path = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.System) + @"\osk.exe";
}

Answer 3

Executing osk.exe will pop up the more old-fashioned on-screen keyboard. The Windows 8 touch keyboard will pop up by executing

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\TabTip.exe

I just figured that out, since I'm working on a fullscreen desktop app that is running on a tablet PC without keyboard attached.

Severin.

Answer 4

If it is a desktop app, you might need to invoke ShellExecute for osk.exe.

If it is a Metro application, then you cannot invoke the SIP from the app itself. As per the MSDN docs:

This means that applications cannot programmatically invoke the touch keyboard via manipulation of focus. Big culprits here in the past have been webpages—many of them set focus by default in