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I have an app that used to send unicode string (not keystroke) thanks to the SendInput api on Windows XP and Windows 7. I tried it on Windows 10 and noticed that if the target app is UWP (like Edge, OneNote, etc...), the Unicode string is not always properly handled. For example, if the app calls SendInput with 'hello' string, then the app shows either 'hello', 'he', or even nothing.
Thanks for advices
Here is the code, based on Qt integration:
QString text;
...
int i = 0;
while (i < result.length())
{
...
// Check if some char needs to be filtered out or converted
...
INPUT Input;
Input.type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
Input.ki.time = 0;
Input.ki.dwExtraInfo = 0;
Input.ki.wVk = 0;
Input.ki.wScan = text.mid(i, 1).utf16()[0];
Input.ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_UNICODE;
SendInput(1, &Input, sizeof(INPUT));
Input.ki.dwFlags |= KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;
SendInput(1, &Input, sizeof(INPUT));
i++;
}
The Unicode string is sent char by char to filter or convert any char that cannot be displayed.
UWP Windows are not 'normal' ones, they are built directly on top of COM, so user32 functions like sendinput will not work as expected.
If you want to support some kind of Cross-App communications, please check out AppServices and well as the samples provided by Stefan Wick over at his blog.
I am experiencing odd behavior when using GetKeyState (or GetAsyncKeyState, for that matter) in a console app. One aspect of the app is to ask the user for a file to open using GetFileOpen. At the end of the program, GetKeyState monitors the state of the spacebar. The GetKeyState (or GetAsyncKeyState) function never sets the high order bit whenever the spacebar is pressed. If I do not call GetOpenFile and then monitor GetKeyState, all works as expected.
Here are the two basic scenarios.
Scenario 1:
#include <windows.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
char filename[ 512 ] = {0};
OPENFILENAME ofn = {0};
int filenameSize = 512;
char title[1000] = {0};
strcpy(title, "Open File");
ZeroMemory(&ofn, sizeof(OPENFILENAME));
ofn.lStructSize = sizeof(OPENFILENAME);
ofn.hwndOwner = null;
ofn.lpstrFile = filename;
ofn.nMaxFile = filenameSize;
ofn.lpstrFilter = "All files (*.*)\0*.*\0\0";
ofn.nFilterIndex = 1;
ofn.lpstrFileTitle = NULL;
ofn.nMaxFileTitle = 0;
ofn.lpstrInitialDir = NULL;
ofn.lpfnHook = NULL;
ofn.lpstrTitle = title;
ofn.Flags = OFN_FILEMUSTEXIST | OFN_HIDEREADONLY;
GetOpenFileName(&ofn); // filename obtained
WaitForSpaceBar(); // return value's upper bit is never set for
// GetKeyState(VK_SPACE);
return 0;
}
Scenario 2:
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
WaitForSpaceBar(); // returns immediately after spacebar is pressed
return 0;
}
WaitForSpaceBar code
void WaitForSpaceBar()
{
#define KEY_PRESSED_FLAG 1
SHORT spacePressed = GetKeyState(VK_SPACE);
printf("\nPress spacebar to continue...\n");
while (!(spacePressed & KEY_PRESSED_FLAG))
{
Sleep(1);
spacePressed = GetKeyState(VK_SPACE);
// for debugging purposes only
printf("spacePressed = 0x%04x\n", spacePressed);
}
}
The first scenario outputs "spacePressed = 0x0000" indefinitely regardless of how many times I press the spacebar.
The second scenario outputs "spacePressed = 0x0000" until the spacebar is actually pressed. Once pressed, the output is "spacePressed = 0xffffff81", and the program terminates.
Any ideas as to what is happening?
The GetKeyState function is useless if your are not pumping message.
From the documentation:
Remarks
The key status returned from this function changes as a thread reads
key messages from its message queue. The status does not reflect the
interrupt-level state associated with the hardware. Use the
GetAsyncKeyState function to retrieve that information.
Use the following code for your WaitForSpaceBar function (note the new value for KEY_PRESSED_FLAG):
void WaitForSpaceBar()
{
SHORT spacePressed = GetAsyncKeyState(VK_SPACE);
#define KEY_PRESSED_FLAG 0x8000
printf("\nPress spacebar to continue...\n");
while (!(spacePressed & KEY_PRESSED_FLAG))
{
Sleep(1);
spacePressed = GetAsyncKeyState(VK_SPACE);
// for debugging purposes only
printf("spacePressed = 0x%04x\n", spacePressed);
}
}
From the MSDN documentation, it looks like GetKeyState is only meaningful when your thread is pumping messages and calling it in response to a keyboard message.
The key status returned from this function changes as a thread reads key messages from its message queue.
I suspect that GetOpenFile spins up its own thread and that thread somehow becomes the main UI thread for your process (because it's the only one doing GUI work).
If you're using Windows API calls, you may as well use something console-specific like ReadConsole.
Update: I pasted the question code into VS 2010, and cannot reproduce the problem. The GetKeyState function is working as expected regardless of whether GetOpenFileName was called.
Can we change/increase the size of console output to view large size of data in console application at once?
There seem to be different ways to Rome:
This should be the recommended way I would think, cause the name says it all: GetConsoleWindow as is demonstrated here.
A quick hack might be the windows API function SendInput. If you simulate Alt+Enter, you could probably fullscreen the active window.
Here are some propositions using API calls from user32.dll
Check out the SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx API. It takes a CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFOEX as input and that has a dwSize member which contains the size of the console screen buffer, in character columns and rows.
MSDN for SetConsoleScreenBufferInfoEx Function: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686039(v=VS.85).aspx
I once used a small hack that is first setting the console's output buffer and then trying to find the console window and resize it. It worked well on XP, I never tested it on newer Windows versions.
HANDLE h = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
SMALL_RECT sr;
sr.Top = 0;
sr.Left = 0;
sr.Bottom = 10;
sr.Right = 79;
SetConsoleWindowInfo(h, TRUE, &sr);
TCHAR title[512];
GetConsoleTitle(title, 512);
HWND hWnd = FindWindow(NULL, title);
if(hWnd != NULL) {
HWND hWndInsertAfter = NULL;
UINT nFlags = SWP_NOSIZE | SWP_NOZORDER;
#if 0 // Don't move?
nFlags |= SWP_NOMOVE;
#endif
SetWindowPos(hWnd, hWndInsertAfter , 40, 350, 0, 0, nFlags);
SetForegroundWindow(hWnd);
}
If you are using the command prompt window, right click it's label on the task bar and click the Properties option.
It seems that if you call ToAscii() or ToUnicode() while in a global WH_KEYBOARD_LL hook, and a dead-key is pressed, it will be 'destroyed'.
For example, say you've configured your input language in Windows as Spanish, and you want to type an accented letter á in a program. Normally, you'd press the single-quote key (the dead key), then the letter "a", and then on the screen an accented á would be displayed, as expected.
But this doesn't work if you call ToAscii() or ToUnicode() in a low-level keyboard hook function. It seems that the dead key is destroyed, and so no accented letter á shows up on screen. Removing a call to the above functions resolves the issue... but unfortunately, I need to be able to call those functions.
I Googled for a while, and while a lot of people seemed to have this issue, no good solution was provided.
Any help would be much appreciated!
EDIT: I'm calling ToAscii() to convert the virtual-key code and scan code received in my LowLevelKeyboardProc hook function into the resulting character that will be displayed on screen for the user.
I tried MapVirtualKey(kbHookData->vkCode, 2), but this isn't as "complete" a function as ToAscii(); for example, if you press Shift + 2, you'll get '2', not '#' (or whatever Shift + 2 will produce for the user's keyboard layout/language).
ToAscii() is perfect... until a dead-key is pressed.
EDIT2: Here's the hook function, with irrelevant info removed:
LRESULT CALLBACK keyboard_LL_hook_func(int code, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) {
LPKBDLLHOOKSTRUCT kbHookData = (LPKBDLLHOOKSTRUCT)lParam;
BYTE keyboard_state[256];
if (code < 0) {
return CallNextHookEx(keyHook, code, wParam, lParam);
}
WORD wCharacter = 0;
GetKeyboardState(&keyboard_state);
int ta = ToAscii((UINT)kbHookData->vkCode, kbHookData->scanCode,
keyboard_state, &wCharacter, 0);
/* If ta == -1, a dead-key was pressed. The dead-key will be "destroyed"
* and you'll no longer be able to create any accented characters. Remove
* the call to ToAscii() above, and you can then create accented characters. */
return CallNextHookEx(keyHook, code, wParam, lParam);
}
Quite an old thread. Unfortunately it didn't contain the answer I was looking for and none of the answers seemed to work properly. I finally solved the problem by checking the MSB of the MapVirtualKey function, before calling ToUnicode / ToAscii. Seems to be working like a charm:
if(!(MapVirtualKey(kbHookData->vkCode, MAPVK_VK_TO_CHAR)>>(sizeof(UINT)*8-1) & 1)) {
ToAscii((UINT)kbHookData->vkCode, kbHookData->scanCode,
keyboard_state, &wCharacter, 0);
}
Quoting MSDN on the return value of MapVirtualKey, if MAPVK_VK_TO_CHAR is used:
[...] Dead keys (diacritics) are indicated by setting the top bit of the return value. [...]
stop using ToAscii() and use ToUncode()
remember that ToUnicode may return you nothing on dead keys - this is why they are called dead keys.
Any key will have a scancode or a virtual key code but not necessary a character.
You shouldn't combine the buttons with characters - assuming that any key/button has a text representation (Unicode) is wrong.
So:
for input text use the characters reported by Windows
for checking button pressed (ex. games) use scancodes or virtual keys (probably virtual keys are better).
for keyboard shortcuts use virtual key codes.
Call 'ToAscii' function twice for a correct processing of dead-key, like in:
int ta = ToAscii((UINT)kbHookData->vkCode, kbHookData->scanCode,
keyboard_state, &wCharacter, 0);
int ta = ToAscii((UINT)kbHookData->vkCode, kbHookData->scanCode,
keyboard_state, &wCharacter, 0);
If (ta == -1)
...
Calling the ToAscii or ToUnicode twice is the answer.
I found this and converted it for Delphi, and it works!
cnt:=ToUnicode(VirtualKey, KeyStroke, KeyState, chars, 2, 0);
cnt:=ToUnicode(VirtualKey, KeyStroke, KeyState, chars, 2, 0); //yes call it twice
I encountered this issue while creating a key logger in C# and none of the above answers worked for me.
After a deep blog searching, I stumbled across this keyboard listener which handles dead keys perfectly.
Here is a full code which covers dead keys and shortcut keys using ALT + NUMPAD, basically a full implementation of a TextField input handling:
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern int ToUnicode(uint virtualKeyCode, uint scanCode, byte[] keyboardState, [Out, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr, SizeConst = 64)] StringBuilder receivingBuffer, int bufferSize, uint flags);
private StringBuilder _pressCharBuffer = new StringBuilder(256);
private byte[] _pressCharKeyboardState = new byte[256];
public bool PreFilterMessage(ref Message m)
{
var handled = false;
if (m.Msg == 0x0100 || m.Msg == 0x0102)
{
bool isShiftPressed = (ModifierKeys & Keys.Shift) != 0;
bool isControlPressed = (ModifierKeys & Keys.Control) != 0;
bool isAltPressed = (ModifierKeys & Keys.Alt) != 0;
bool isAltGrPressed = (ModifierKeys & Keys.RMenu) != 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++)
_pressCharKeyboardState[i] = 0;
if (isShiftPressed)
_pressCharKeyboardState[(int)Keys.ShiftKey] = 0xff;
if (isAltGrPressed)
{
_pressCharKeyboardState[(int)Keys.ControlKey] = 0xff;
_pressCharKeyboardState[(int)Keys.Menu] = 0xff;
}
if (Control.IsKeyLocked(Keys.CapsLock))
_pressCharKeyboardState[(int)Keys.CapsLock] = 0xff;
Char chr = (Char)0;
int ret = ToUnicode((uint)m.WParam.ToInt32(), 0, _pressCharKeyboardState, _pressCharBuffer, 256, 0);
if (ret == 0)
chr = Char.ConvertFromUtf32(m.WParam.ToInt32())[0];
if (ret == -1)
ToUnicode((uint)m.WParam.ToInt32(), 0, _pressCharKeyboardState, _pressCharBuffer, 256, 0);
else if (_pressCharBuffer.Length > 0)
chr = _pressCharBuffer[0];
if (m.Msg == 0x0102 && Char.IsWhiteSpace(chr))
chr = (Char)0;
if (ret >= 0 && chr > 0)
{
//DO YOUR STUFF using either "chr" as special key (UP, DOWN, etc..)
//either _pressCharBuffer.ToString()(can contain more than one character if dead key was pressed before)
//and don't forget to set the "handled" to true, so nobody else can use the message afterwards
}
}
return handled;
}
It is known that ToUnicode() and its older counterpart ToAscii() can change keyboard state of the current thread and thus mess with dead keys and ALT+NUMPAD keystrokes:
As ToUnicodeEx translates the virtual-key code, it also changes the
state of the kernel-mode keyboard buffer. This state-change affects
dead keys, ligatures, alt+numpad key entry, and so on. It might also
cause undesired side-effects if used in conjunction with
TranslateMessage (which also changes the state of the kernel-mode
keyboard buffer).
To avoid that you can do your ToUnicode() call in a separate thread (it will have a separate keyboard state) or use a special flag in wFlags param that is documented in ToUnicode() docs:
If bit 2 is set, keyboard state is not changed (Windows 10, version
1607 and newer)
Or you can prepare sc->char mapping table beforehand and update it on language change event.
I think it should work with ToAscii() too but better not use this old ANSI codepage-dependant method. Use ToUnicode() API instead that can even return ligatures and UTF-16 surrogate pairs - if keyboard layout have them. Some do.
See Asynchronous input vs synchronous input, a quick introduction
for the reason behind this.
I copy the vkCode in a queue and do the conversion from another thread
#HOOKPROC
def keyHookKFunc(code,wParam,lParam):
global gkeyQueue
gkeyQueue.append((code,wParam,kbd.vkCode))
return windll.user32.CallNextHookEx(0,code,wParam,lParam)
This has the advantage of not delaying key processing by the os
This works for me
byte[] keyState = new byte[256];
//Remove this if using
//GetKeyboardState(keyState);
//Add only the Keys you want
keysDown[(int)Keys.ShiftKey] = 0x80; // SHIFT down
keysDown[(int)Keys.Menu] = 0x80; // ALT down
keysDown[(int)Keys.ControlKey] = 0x80; // CONTROL down
//ToAscii should work fine
if (ToAscii(myKeyboardStruct.VirtualKeyCode, myKeyboardStruct.ScanCode, keyState, inBuffer, myKeyboardStruct.Flags) == 1)
{
//do something
}
Is there a recommended way to prevent the Windows screensaver from starting? The closest thing I've found is this article, but what I would really like to do is just tell Windows that the computer isn't idle rather than fooling with the currently set screensaver values.
For testing, I set the screensaver to 1 minute and required a password.
I tried capturing SC_SCREENSAVE and returning -1 in VB .Net. As commented, it works when there is no screensaver password but fails if the screensaver password is active. (I tried it in Windows XP). I also put this into a Timer's tick event, every 1000 milliseconds:
Static dir As Integer = 4
Cursor.Position = Cursor.Position + New Size(dir, dir)
dir = -dir
It doesn't work. The cursor jiggles back and forth and after 1 minute the screensaver flashes on for a short instance and then turns off. The screensaver turns on for only a moment, not long enough to require a password. But still, the flash is ugly.
Then I tried using user32.dll's SetCursorPos and GetCursorPos. You can look them up at pinvoke. Same result as above.
Then I peeked at the code of "JiggleMouse" mentioned elsewhere in this question. JiggleMouse uses SendInput. SendInput works! No flash of the screensaver. I put a call to SendInput inside of a Timer that triggers every 50 seconds (just less than the minimum screensaver timeout of 60 seconds). It's sufficient to move the mouse by a delta of 0,0, no real movement. That does work. The code to put in the Tick event:
Dim i(0) As INPUT
i(0).dwType = INPUT.InputType.INPUT_MOUSE
i(0).mkhi = New MOUSEKEYBDHARDWAREINPUT
i(0).mkhi.mi = New MOUSEINPUT
i(0).mkhi.mi.dx = 0
i(0).mkhi.mi.dy = 0
i(0).mkhi.mi.mouseData = 0
i(0).mkhi.mi.dwFlags = MOUSEINPUT.MouseEventFlags.MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE
i(0).mkhi.mi.time = 0
i(0).mkhi.mi.dwExtraInfo = IntPtr.Zero
SendInput(1, i(0), Marshal.SizeOf(i(0)))
This comes from pinvoke.com:
Public Declare Function SendInput Lib "user32" (ByVal nInputs As Integer, ByRef pInputs As INPUT, ByVal cbSize As Integer) As Integer
Public Structure INPUT
Enum InputType As Integer
INPUT_MOUSE = 0
INPUT_KEYBOARD = 1
INPUT_HARDWARE = 2
End Enum
Dim dwType As InputType
Dim mkhi As MOUSEKEYBDHARDWAREINPUT
End Structure
Public Structure MOUSEINPUT
Enum MouseEventFlags As Integer
MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE = &H1
MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTDOWN = &H2
MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTUP = &H4
MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTDOWN = &H8
MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTUP = &H10
MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEDOWN = &H20
MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEUP = &H40
MOUSEEVENTF_XDOWN = &H80
MOUSEEVENTF_XUP = &H100
MOUSEEVENTF_WHEEL = &H800
MOUSEEVENTF_VIRTUALDESK = &H4000
MOUSEEVENTF_ABSOLUTE = &H8000
End Enum
Dim dx As Integer
Dim dy As Integer
Dim mouseData As Integer
Dim dwFlags As MouseEventFlags
Dim time As Integer
Dim dwExtraInfo As IntPtr
End Structure
Public Structure KEYBDINPUT
Public wVk As Short
Public wScan As Short
Public dwFlags As Integer
Public time As Integer
Public dwExtraInfo As IntPtr
End Structure
Public Structure HARDWAREINPUT
Public uMsg As Integer
Public wParamL As Short
Public wParamH As Short
End Structure
Const KEYEVENTF_EXTENDEDKEY As UInt32 = &H1
Const KEYEVENTF_KEYUP As UInt32 = &H2
Const KEYEVENTF_UNICODE As UInt32 = &H4
Const KEYEVENTF_SCANCODE As UInt32 = &H8
Const XBUTTON1 As UInt32 = &H1
Const XBUTTON2 As UInt32 = &H2
<StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)> Public Structure MOUSEKEYBDHARDWAREINPUT
<FieldOffset(0)> Public mi As MOUSEINPUT
<FieldOffset(0)> Public ki As KEYBDINPUT
<FieldOffset(0)> Public hi As HARDWAREINPUT
End Structure
Subtle. The official way to tell Windows that the system is not idle is SetThreadExecutionState. This resets the idle timer, (or turns it off, if you pass ES_CONTINUOUS ). However, even though SetThreadExecutionState resets the idle timer, it does not stop the screensaver!
SystemParametersInfo
Specifically, the SPI_SETSCREENSAVEACTIVE parameter.
Does this not work? I was surprised that I did not see it here. Note that SetThreadExecutionState will not affect the screen saver at all, just the sleeping of the display.
I use Mouse Jiggler to reset the idle state. This gets around a Group Policy that tends to start my screensaver (and lock the machine) at inopportune times: when I'm reading a long document, studying a complex chunk of code, or talking/listening/not-constantly-typing during a meeting.
As it can be slightly annoying to have the mouse jump 1px diagonally every second, I intend to use AutoHotKey to write a script that does basically the same thing, but only after a configured keyboard/mouse idle timeout, and maybe use the Shift key (or Scroll Lock) instead of a mouse move.
From MSDN:
Windows does not start the screen saver if any of the following conditions exist:
The active application is not a Windows-based application.
A CBT window is present.
The active application receives the WM_SYSCOMMAND message with the wParam parameter set to the SC_SCREENSAVE value, but it does not pass the message to the DefWindowProc function.
There's a caveat though:
Windows Vista and later: If password protection is enabled by policy, the screen saver is started regardless of what an application does with the SC_SCREENSAVE notification.
That seems to apply even if you use the SetThreadExecutionState with ES_CONTINUOUS.
So, if it weren't for the caveat, your choices would be:
SetThreadExecutionState with ES_CONTINUOUS (as described in other answers).
Put up a computer-based training window (which requires hooks).
Don't let the WM_SYSCOMMAND with SC_SCREENSAVE be passed onto DefWindowProc. (Assuming you care only when your application is the active application.)
Install a dongle that simulates mouse jiggle.
The last option is nice in that it works even with the password protection policy.
In Windows 7+, use the Power Management API's PowerSetRequest() with PowerRequestDisplayRequired
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd405534(v=vs.85).aspx
In previous versions of windows, intercept the WM_SYSCOMMAND - SC_SCREENSAVE message as detailed in Eddie Parker's answer.
This blog post details what you need to do in C++.
The actual code snippet from the website:
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
switch (uMsg)
{
case WM_SYSCOMMAND:
{
switch (wParam)
{
case SC_SCREENSAVE:
return 0;
case SC_MONITORPOWER:
return 0;
}
break;
}
case WM_CLOSE:
{
PostQuitMessage(0);
return 0;
}
}
return DefWindowProc(hWnd,uMsg,wParam,lParam);
}
Can't believe no one has pointed out the easy and obvious solution:
#include <windows.h>
void main()
{
while(1){
INPUT input;
input.type = INPUT_MOUSE;
input.mi.dx = 1;
input.mi.dy = 1;
input.mi.mouseData = 0;
input.mi.dwFlags = MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE;
input.mi.time = 0;
input.mi.dwExtraInfo = 0;
SendInput( 1, &input, sizeof(input) );
sleep(60000);
}
}
As Adrian McCarthy mentioned from MSDN that :
If password protection is enabled by policy, the screen saver is started regardless of what an application does with the SC_SCREENSAVE notification.
So catch the event from WM_SYSCOMMAND using UINT SC_SCREENSAVE and discarded it by returning 0 or by creating a fake mouse move ("mouse_event(MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE, 0, 1, 0, 0)") will not work properly if the user enabled password-protected screen saver option.
Use SetThreadExecutionState winAPI to tell the operating system that the thread is in use, even if the user is not interacting with the computer. These will prevent to appear screen saver and stop the machine from being suspended automatically.
There are series of flags to specify a new state for the current thread:
ES_AWAYMODE_REQUIRED (0x00000040) : Enables away mode.
ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED (0x00000002) : Forces the display to be on by
resetting the display idle timer.
ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED (0x00000001) : Forces the system to be in the
working state by resetting the system idle timer.
ES_CONTINUOUS (0x80000000) : Informs the system that the state being
set should remain in effect until the next call that uses
ES_CONTINUOUS and one of the other state flags are cleared.
As it's a winAPI, you can call this directly in win32 or mfc application
//To stop/start screen saver and monitor power off event
void SetKeepScreenOn(BOOL isKeepScreenOn)
{
if (isKeepScreenOn == TRUE)
{
SetThreadExecutionState(ES_CONTINUOUS | ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED | ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED /*| ES_AWAYMODE_REQUIRED*/);
}
else
{
SetThreadExecutionState(ES_CONTINUOUS);
}
}
If someone wants to use this in C#, must have to PInvoke this :
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto,SetLastError = true)]
static extern EXECUTION_STATE SetThreadExecutionState(EXECUTION_STATE esFlags);
User-Defined Types:
[FlagsAttribute]
public enum EXECUTION_STATE :uint
{
ES_AWAYMODE_REQUIRED = 0x00000040,
ES_CONTINUOUS = 0x80000000,
ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED = 0x00000002,
ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED = 0x00000001
}
Here below is the calling procedure:
void SetKeepScreenOn(bool isKeepScreenOn)
{
if (isKeepScreenOn == true)
{
//You can combine several flags and specify multiple behaviors with a single call
SetThreadExecutionState(EXECUTION_STATE.ES_CONTINUOUS | EXECUTION_STATE.ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED | EXECUTION_STATE.ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED /*| EXECUTION_STATE.ES_AWAYMODE_REQUIRED*/);
}
else
{
//To reset or allow those event again you have to call this API with only ES_CONTINUOUS
SetThreadExecutionState(EXECUTION_STATE.ES_CONTINUOUS);
}
}
According to MSDN this API is safe also to use.
The system maintains a count of applications that have called SetThreadExecutionState. The system tracks each thread that calls SetThreadExecutionState and adjusts the counter accordingly. If this counter reaches zero and there has not been any user input, the system enters sleep.
If the Application crashed before resetting flag, the System will adjust and will reset automatically.
You can use SystemParametersInfo
to get the SCREENSAVETIMEOUT and then immediately set the timeout back to the same value. Do this periodically on a timer for as long as you want to prevent the screensaver from going on.
This has the effect of resetting the current countdown timer without actually changing the system setting.
You probably also want to call SetThreadExecutionState to affect the power as other answers mention.
Just reset the timeout counter with
SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETSCREENSAVEACTIVE, 1, nil, SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE);
From JD Design Freeware - Flipss.exe (download 12kb) is a command line utility that will set SPI_SETSCREENSAVEACTIVE for you.
"FlipSS.exe -h" to see the current state.
"FlipSS.exe /on" to set the screensaver on.
"FlipSS.exe /off" to set the screensaver off.
AutoHotkey can set SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETSCREENSAVEACTIVE) with a 1-liner DllCall in script to easily accomplish this with a .ahk script.
AutoHotkey code to disable Screensaver:
DllCall("SystemParametersInfo", Int, 17, Int, 0, UInt, NULL, Int, 2)
AutoHotkey code to enable screensaver:
DllCall("SystemParametersInfo", Int, 17, Int, 1, UInt, NULL, Int, 2)
Reference Forum Threads:
F13Key - Toggling Screen Saver with SystemParametersInfo
SKAN - How to Disable Screen Saver Temporarily
I realize this is an old thread, but I'm faced with this issue for the first time (work machine is totally locked down, as far as changing super short sleep time, screensaver, etc. - I can't even change my desktop background). I've looked around at solutions, some seemingly way overcomplicated and some...not so much.
Some of my colleagues are using Caffeine. But that is surely some kind of spyware, etc., as it refuses to run if there is not an open internet connection.
So I found this (and modified it slightly), which is exactly what Caffeine does (except Caffeine does it every 59 seconds), without all the...at best, bloatware.
In PowerShell, execute the following 2 command lines:
$WShell = New-Object -Com "Wscript.Shell"
while(1) {$WShell.SendKeys("{F15}"); sleep 200}
Or you can make it a one-liner if you like:
while(1) {(New-Object -Com "Wscript.Shell").SendKeys("{F15}"); sleep 200}
(the latter of which seems like it would leak memory, but it does not seem to at all)
Once you run either of those, your screen will NOT lock, until you do ctrl-c, or close the Powershell window (in the latter version only, it seems, the ctrl-c may not happen until the sleep interval elapses).
Note that there is no F15 key, at least on any keyboard I've ever seen (but it's a legit windows keystroke), so there are no side effects. Now, if you your IT dept. is exceptionally paranoid, they may flag an F15 keystroke (mine is super paranoid, but they haven't noticed anything for months). If so, use something like scroll-lock instead.
Both of these 100% work on my win10 machine. Simple is good!