Is it possible to triger a keybord event in one application by function in another program?

Question

Let's say that I've got a single program (let's say that it's GIMP). I want to create an application which runs in the background. I want it to do nothing, but to "imitate" a user pressing the key f.e. once in 10 seconds, and I want the second program (f.e. GIMP) to react to this action as if it was really the user.

In other words, I guess that my program would just trigger some API-like function, which would trick the external application into assuming that the user hit f.e. Ctrl+S, and then the application would react by saving the current file.

Is it even possible in C#? I'm pretty sure that I came across this kind of code in C# a looong time ago.

I'm only asking for some direction, because so far I didn't come across anything like that in C#.

I have edited your title. Please see, "[Should questions include “tags” in their titles?](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/19190/)", where the consensus is "no, they should not". — John Saunders, Jan 08 '13 at 19:06
Have a look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3047375/simulating-key-press-c-sharp. — Daniel Brückner, Jan 08 '13 at 19:08

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 08 '13 at 19:07

3

There is a API called SendKeys that should do the trick

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/18366/Sending-Keystrokes-to-another-Application-in-C

answered Jan 08 '13 at 19:07

Micah Armantrout

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Thnaks, I'll have a close look at that one :) – Kamil T Jan 08 '13 at 19:18

Is it possible to triger a keybord event in one application by function in another program?

1 Answers1