4
votes

I'm using code that I found on the CodeProject.com for a low-level keyboard hook. The only problem is it uses external DLL calls that don't work in mono. I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to accomplish the same thing as that code, but will run in both Windows using .net, and Linux using mono?

Edit: Clarifying what I'm trying to do: I'm making a Dashboard like application. The program sits in the system tray and when the user presses the hot-key, it will pop up all the gadgets. So the program doesn't have focus, so typically it won't catch any keystrokes, so I'm using the low-level keyboard hook and I hook the two keys that the user defines as the hot-keys. But I'm using a Windows DLL call for that, which doesn't work in Linux using mono. So I'm wondering if there's a way to do the same thing, but will run in Linux using mono?

2
I deleted my answer, as it didn't really answer how to add a low-level keyboard hook on Linux.Franci Penov
I edited and added some clarification.Joel

2 Answers

3
votes

It's not possible to get this behavior using only .Net. You have to use a binary driver for each platform you run on (Windows, Linux, Mac OS). It might be possible to use only P/Invoke (detect what OS you are running on, call appropriate system libraries) so that you won't have to distribute any "extra" dll/so/dylib.

4
votes

Without knowing what you are trying to capture, it's hard to be sure what will work for you. You may want to look at using Application.AddMessageFilter.

An example is here: http://dn.codegear.com/article/30129