How would I use Keybd_event to send "A" for example? - winapi

Question

I am trying to write a program to be able to control the keyboard. I have tried SendInput() & keybd_event already and have a block that doesnt seem to work.
I need it to be able to use keybd_event() to hold shift and press the get at the front of a queue.
the VKey is retrieved with:
Vkeys.GetKey(KeyQueue.front());
The scan code is retrieved by:
MapVirtualKey(Vkeys.GetKey(KeyQueue.front()), MAPVK_VK_TO_VSC)
I need it to use this and press this key defined here.
Can anyone help?

Answer 1

Moderately messy to do: try something that looks like this. The code below queues up the shift/alt/ctrl keys, then uses the keycode (you could set the scancode if you have to, but I've not tried it before; I only had to send ASCII) and then sends keyup events to release the shift/alt/ctrl buttons.
void SendSingleKey(int keycode, bool shift, bool ctrl, bool alt)
{
INPUT * key, keys[8];
UINT ret = 0;
if(shift){
key = &(keys[ret++]);
key->ki.wVk = VK_SHIFT;
key->type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
key->ki.dwFlags = 0;
key->ki.time = 0;
key->ki.wScan = 0;
key->ki.dwExtraInfo = GetMessageExtraInfo();
}
if(ctrl){
key = &(keys[ret++]);
key->ki.wVk = VK_CONTROL;
key->type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
key->ki.dwFlags = 0;
key->ki.time = 0;
key->ki.wScan = 0;
key->ki.dwExtraInfo = GetMessageExtraInfo();
}
if(alt){
key = &(keys[ret++]);
key->ki.wVk = VK_MENU;
key->type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
key->ki.dwFlags = 0;
key->ki.time = 0;
key->ki.wScan = 0;
key->ki.dwExtraInfo = GetMessageExtraInfo();
}
key = &(keys[ret++]);
key->type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
key->ki.wVk = keycode;
key->ki.dwFlags = 0;
key->ki.time = 0;
key->ki.wScan = 0;
key->ki.dwExtraInfo = GetMessageExtraInfo();
key = &(keys[ret++]);
key->type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
key->ki.wVk = keycode;
key->ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;
key->ki.time = 0;
key->ki.wScan = 0;
key->ki.dwExtraInfo = GetMessageExtraInfo();
if(alt){
key = &(keys[ret++]);
key->type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
key->ki.wVk = VK_MENU;
key->ki.wScan = 0;
key->ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;
key->ki.time = 0;
key->ki.dwExtraInfo = GetMessageExtraInfo();
}
if(ctrl){
key = &(keys[ret++]);
key->type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
key->ki.wVk = VK_CONTROL;
key->ki.wScan = 0;
key->ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;
key->ki.time = 0;
key->ki.dwExtraInfo = GetMessageExtraInfo();
}
if(shift){
key = &(keys[ret++]);
key->ki.wVk = VK_SHIFT;
key->type = INPUT_KEYBOARD;
key->ki.wScan = 0;
key->ki.dwFlags = KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;
key->ki.time = 0;
key->ki.dwExtraInfo = GetMessageExtraInfo();
}
SendInput(ret,keys,sizeof(INPUT));
}