Detect if any key is pressed in C# (not A, B, but

Question

[EDIT 3] I kind of "solved it" by at using the "strange" version. At least for the most important keys. It is suffient for my case, where I want to check that ALT and ALT+A are not the same (thereby making sure A is not pressed). Not perfect, but already to much time for such a tiny problem. Thanks for all the answers anyway... [EDIT 3]

[EDIT 4] Solved it much cleaner thanks to 280Z28 [/EDIT 4]

I know how to check for modifier keys and how to test for a single key. The problem is, I want to check if any key is pressed. The following approach seems "strange" :-)

WPF Application written in C#

if (Keyboard.IsKeyDown(Key.A)) return true;
if (Keyboard.IsKeyDown(Key.B)) return true;
if (Keyboard.IsKeyDown(Key.C)) return true;

I know it is an enum, so I thought about a loop, but what is the "biggest number" to use. And is this possible? btw, its a very special case, normally I would use an event, but in this case I have to do it this way. Unfortunatily, the there is no "list" Keyboard.CurrentlyDownKeys. At least I didnt see it.

Thanks, Chris

EDIT: Ok, because it seems to be a bigger deal, here the reason for this: I have defined a "KeySet" which serves as DictionaryKey for custom functions. If anybody clicks on an element, the wrapper iterates through the dictionary and checks if any of the predefined "Keysets" is active.

This allows me to define simple triggers, like e.g. Run this function if ALT+A+B is pressed. Another option is e.g. Run this function if ALT+STRG+A is pressed (during a mouse click on a WPF element).

The only "problem" with the current implementation, if I define a Keyset which does NOT contain any REAL keys, like run if ALT is pressed, it is also triggered if ALT+A is pressed. Oh, while writing this, I realize that there is another problem. ALT+A+B would currently also trigger if ALT+A+B+C is pressed.

Perhaps my approach is wrong, and I should create a "static key tracker" and compare the keyset to its values (aquired via events).. I will give this a try.

EDIT 2 This is not working, at least not in a simple way. I need an FrameworkElement to attach to KeyDown, but I do not have it in a static constructor. And I am not interested in KeyDownEvents of a certain element, but "globally"...I think I juts postpone this problem, its not that important. Still, if anybody knows a better of different approach...

So long, for anyone who cares, here some code:

    public class KeyModifierSet
{
    internal readonly HashSet<Key> Keys = new HashSet<Key>();
    internal readonly HashSet<ModifierKeys> MKeys = new HashSet<ModifierKeys>();

    public override int GetHashCode()
    {
        int hash = Keys.Count + MKeys.Count;
        foreach (var t in Keys)
        {
            hash *= 17;
            hash = hash + t.GetHashCode();
        }
        foreach (var t in MKeys)
        {
            hash *= 19;
            hash = hash + t.GetHashCode();
        }
        return hash;
    }

    public override bool Equals(object obj)
    {
        return Equals(obj as KeyModifierSet);
    }
    public bool Equals(KeyModifierSet other)
    {
        // Check for null
        if (ReferenceEquals(other, null))
            return false;

        // Check for same reference
        if (ReferenceEquals(this, other))
            return true;

        // Check for same Id and same Values
        return Keys.SetEquals(other.Keys) && MKeys.SetEquals(other.MKeys);
    }

    public bool IsActive()
    {
        foreach (var k in Keys)
            if (Keyboard.IsKeyUp(k)) return false;

        if ((Keys.Count == 0) && !Keyboard.IsKeyDown(Key.None)) return false;


        foreach (var k in MKeys)
            if ((Keyboard.Modifiers & k) == 0) return false;

        if ((MKeys.Count == 0) && Keyboard.Modifiers > 0) return false;

        return true;
    }


    public KeyModifierSet(ModifierKeys mKey)
    {
        MKeys.Add(mKey);
    }
    public KeyModifierSet()
    {

    }
    public KeyModifierSet(Key key)
    {
        Keys.Add(key);
    }
    public KeyModifierSet(Key key, ModifierKeys mKey)
    {
        Keys.Add(key);
        MKeys.Add(mKey);
    }
    public KeyModifierSet Add(Key key)
    {
        Keys.Add(key);
        return this;
    }
    public KeyModifierSet Add(ModifierKeys key)
    {
        MKeys.Add(key);
        return this;
    }
}

Answer 1

Quite an old question but in case anyone comes across this and doesn't want to use external dll's, you could just enumerate the possible keys and loop over them.

    bool IsAnyKeyPressed()
    {
        var allPossibleKeys = Enum.GetValues(typeof(Key));
        bool results = false;
        foreach (var currentKey in allPossibleKeys)
        {
            Key key = (Key)currentKey;
            if (key != Key.None)
                if (Keyboard.IsKeyDown((Key)currentKey)) { results = true; break; }
        }
        return results;
    }

You could optimize this a bit by doing the enum outside of the function and retaining the list for later.

Answer 2

If you're using Windows.Forms, use the KeyDown event and read out the specific key using the appropriate KeyEventArgs. You can access the KeyCode property on the KeyEventArgs variable.

To check for ranges, say between A and Z:

if (e.KeyCode>=Keys.A && e.KeyCode<=Keys.Z)
{
  // do stuff...or not
}