Change keyboard layout from C# code with .NET 4.5.2

Question

I am coding away on my plugin for SDL Trados Studio.

The last part of the plugin requires some automation that is not exposed by the APIs at all, so all I have (hold on to something) is to automate the default keyboard shortcuts.

I have the code working perfectly for the English keyboard layout (and Hungarian, too!), but it of course does not work for Greek, Russian and so forth.

I have been searching for the solution but I was not able to find it until now, not on the web nor on SO, such as this post: Change keyboard layouts through code c#

I need to change the keyboard layout to English so it can take the correct shortcuts (and other character strings). Then I need to switch it back to what it was before. I am working with a very limited API, so I only have SendKeys at my disposal.

Here is the working code:

//Save the document
SendKeys.SendWait("^s");
//Open files view
SendKeys.SendWait("%v");

SendKeys.SendWait("i");
SendKeys.SendWait("1");
Application.DoEvents();

//get url and credentials from a custom input form
string[] psw = UploadData.GetPassword(
    Settings.GetValue("Upload", "Uri", ""), 
    Vars.wsUsername == null ? Settings.GetValue("Upload", "User", "") : Vars.wsUsername, 
    Vars.wsPassword == null ? "" : Vars.wsPassword
    );
Application.DoEvents();

if (psw != null)
{
    try
    {
        //start upload
        SendKeys.SendWait("%h");
        SendKeys.Send("r");

        //select all files
        SendKeys.Send("%a");
        SendKeys.Send("%n");
        //enter login url
        SendKeys.Send("%l");
        SendKeys.Send("{TAB}");
        SendKeys.Send(psw[0]);
        SendKeys.Send("{TAB}");
        SendKeys.Send("{ENTER}");

        //enter username
        SendKeys.Send("%l");
        SendKeys.Send("+{END}");
        SendKeys.Send(psw[1]);
        //enter credentials
        SendKeys.Send("%p");
        SendKeys.Send(SendEscape(psw[2]));
        SendKeys.Send("{ENTER}");
        //start upload
        SendKeys.SendWait("%f");
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("Cannot do automatic upload, please use the default method of Trados Studio.", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation);
    }
    finally
    {
        //switch back to editor view
        SendKeys.SendWait("%vd");
    }
}

So the questions I have:

Can somebody help me with a code to actually store the current keyboard layout and switch to English, then switch it back at the end?
Is there a simpler solution? I tried to look at the native methods but it is too high for me, so I would really appreciate any help to convert my code into native if that is the way to go instead of switching the keyboard layout. Any suggestions?

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Switching the keyboard layout requires some P/Invoke; you´ll need at least the following Windows functions to get it working: LoadKeyboardLayout, GetKeyboardLayout and ActivateKeyboardLayout. The following import declarations worked for me...

[DllImport("user32.dll", 
    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall, 
    CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, 
    EntryPoint = "LoadKeyboardLayout", 
    SetLastError = true, 
    ThrowOnUnmappableChar = false)]
static extern uint LoadKeyboardLayout(
    StringBuilder pwszKLID, 
    uint flags);

[DllImport("user32.dll", 
    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall,
    CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, 
    EntryPoint = "GetKeyboardLayout", 
    SetLastError = true, 
    ThrowOnUnmappableChar = false)]
static extern uint GetKeyboardLayout(
    uint idThread);

[DllImport("user32.dll", 
    CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall, 
    CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, 
    EntryPoint = "ActivateKeyboardLayout", 
    SetLastError = true, 
    ThrowOnUnmappableChar = false)]
static extern uint ActivateKeyboardLayout(
    uint hkl,
    uint Flags);

static class KeyboardLayoutFlags
{
    public const uint KLF_ACTIVATE = 0x00000001;
    public const uint KLF_SETFORPROCESS = 0x00000100;
}

Whenever I have to use native API methods I try to encapsulate them in a class that hides their declaration from the rest of the project´s codebase. So, I came up with a class called KeyboardLayout; that class can load and activate a layout by a given CultureInfo, which comes in handy...

internal sealed class KeyboardLayout
{
    ...

    private readonly uint hkl;

    private KeyboardLayout(CultureInfo cultureInfo)
    {
        string layoutName = cultureInfo.LCID.ToString("x8");

        var pwszKlid = new StringBuilder(layoutName);
        this.hkl = LoadKeyboardLayout(pwszKlid, KeyboardLayoutFlags.KLF_ACTIVATE);
    }

    private KeyboardLayout(uint hkl)
    {
        this.hkl = hkl;
    }

    public uint Handle
    {
        get
        {
            return this.hkl;
        }
    }

    public static KeyboardLayout GetCurrent()
    {
        uint hkl = GetKeyboardLayout((uint)Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
        return new KeyboardLayout(hkl);
    }

    public static KeyboardLayout Load(CultureInfo culture)
    {
        return new KeyboardLayout(culture);
    }

    public void Activate()
    {
        ActivateKeyboardLayout(this.hkl, KeyboardLayoutFlags.KLF_SETFORPROCESS);
    }
}

If you only need to have the layout be active for a short while - and you want make sure to properly restore the layout when done, you could write some kind of a scope type using the IDiposable interface. For instance...

class KeyboardLayoutScope : IDiposable
{
    private readonly KeyboardLayout currentLayout;

    public KeyboardLayoutScope(CultureInfo culture)
    {
        this.currentLayout = KeyboardLayout.GetCurrent();
        var layout = KeyboardLayout.Load(culture);
        layout.Activate();
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        this.currentLayout.Activate();
    }
}

Than you can use it like this...

const int English = 1033;
using (new KeyboardLayoutScope(CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo(English))
{
    // the layout will be valid within this using-block
}

You should know that in newer versions of Windows (beginning in Windows 8) the keyboard layout cannot be set for a certain process anymore, instead it is set globally for the entire system - and the layout can also be changed by other applications, or by the user (using the Win + Spacebar shortcut).

I would also recommend to not use SendKeys (or its native counterpart SendInput) since it simulates keyboard input which will be routed to the active/focused window. Using the SendMessage function instead is suitable, but you might want combine that with functionality that can properly determine the target window; but to explain such technique would go beyond the scope of the this question and answer. This answer here illustrates a possible solution: How to send keystrokes to a window?

Andrei Krasutski · Answer 2 · 2019-10-15T17:46:14.393

Change keyboard layouts through c# code:

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Windows.Forms;
...
public static void Switch_keyboard(string lang)
{
    CultureInfo cultureInfo = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture(lang);
    InputLanguage inputLanguage = InputLanguage.FromCulture(cultureInfo);
    InputLanguage.CurrentInputLanguage = inputLanguage;
}

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var list = InputLanguage.InstalledInputLanguages.Cast<InputLanguage>().Select(c => c.Culture.Name).ToList(); 
    Switch_keyboard(list[0]); // "ru-RU" or "ru-BY" ...
}

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 10 '18 at 12:38

Change class @Matze,

internal class KeyboardLayoutScope : IDisposable, IKeyboardLayoutScope
    {
        private readonly KeyboardLayout currentLayout;

        public KeyboardLayoutScope() { }

        public KeyboardLayoutScope(CultureInfo culture)
        {
            currentLayout = KeyboardLayout.GetCurrent();
            KeyboardLayout.Load(culture).Activate();
        }

        public KeyboardLayoutScope(KeyboardLayout currentLayout) => this.currentLayout = currentLayout;

        public void Dispose() => currentLayout.Activate();
    }
    internal interface IKeyboardLayoutScope
    {
        void Dispose();
    }

Other Class

internal sealed class KeyboardLayout
    {
        private readonly uint hkl;

        private KeyboardLayout(CultureInfo cultureInfo) => hkl = NativeMethods.LoadKeyboardLayout(new StringBuilder(cultureInfo.LCID.ToString("x8")), KeyboardLayoutFlags.KLF_ACTIVATE);

        private KeyboardLayout(uint hkl) => this.hkl = hkl;

        public uint Handle => hkl;

        public static KeyboardLayout GetCurrent() => new KeyboardLayout(NativeMethods.GetKeyboardLayout((uint)Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));

        public static KeyboardLayout Load(CultureInfo culture) => new KeyboardLayout(culture);

        public void Activate() => NativeMethods.ActivateKeyboardLayout(hkl, KeyboardLayoutFlags.KLF_SETFORPROCESS);
    }

Where is NativeMethods.LoadKeyboardLayout? – miguelmpn Apr 09 '20 at 14:13 — miguelmpn, Apr 09 '20 at 14:13

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 12 '18 at 12:22

Try thisone:

        public void switch_keyboard(string lang)
    {
        string keyboard_lang = InputLanguage.CurrentInputLanguage.Culture.TwoLetterISOLanguageName;
        if (keyboard_lang != lang) 
        {
            int en_index = -1;
            for (int i = 0; i < System.Windows.Forms.InputLanguage.InstalledInputLanguages.Count - 1; i++)
            {
                try  
                {
                    if (System.Windows.Forms.InputLanguage.InstalledInputLanguages[i].Culture.TwoLetterISOLanguageName == lang)
                    { en_index = i;  break; }
                }
                catch { break; }
            }
            if (en_index != -1)
            { InputLanguage.CurrentInputLanguage = System.Windows.Forms.InputLanguage.InstalledInputLanguages[en_index]; }
        }
    }

Usage: switch_keyboard("en") – user10070575 Jul 12 '18 at 12:23 — user10070575, Jul 12 '18 at 12:23

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 09 '20 at 12:51

In 4.6.1 all methods posted here isn't working properly> I got my solution:

// set keyboard layout
LoadKeyboardLayout("en-EN", 0x00000100);
// methods
[DllImport("user32.dll")] public static extern IntPtr GetKeyboardLayout(uint thread);
        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
        public static extern long LoadKeyboardLayout(
            string pwszKLID,  // input locale identifier
            uint Flags         // input locale identifier options
        );
    public static CultureInfo GetCurrentKeyboardLayout()
        {
            try
            {
                int keyboardLayout = GetKeyboardLayout(0).ToInt32() & 0xFFFF;
                return new CultureInfo(keyboardLayout);
            }
            catch
            {
                return new CultureInfo(1033); // Assume English if something went wrong.
            }
        }

Change keyboard layout from C# code with .NET 4.5.2

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