Using keySend with Windows Media Center

Question

Hey, I am using C# to try to send key commands to windows media center in windows 7.

Currently I can send keys like 4 and see the number 4 appears on the windows media center.

The problem is any key combination like Ctrl+p (to pause a movie) does not seem to have any effects on the media center.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Here is my code snippet.

    // Get a handle to an application window.
    [DllImport("USER32.DLL", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
    public static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName,
    string lpWindowName);

    // Activate an application window.
    [DllImport("USER32.DLL")]
    public static extern bool SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);


    String HandleClass = "eHome Render Window";
    String HandleWindow = "Windows Media Center";

    private bool SendKeyCommand()
    {
        bool success = true;
        IntPtr PrgHandle = FindWindow(HandleClass, HandleWindow);
        if (PrgHandle == IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(HandleWindow + " is not running");
            return false;
        }
        SetForegroundWindow(PrgHandle);
        SendKeys.SendWait("^p");
        return success;
    }

I know it is irrelevant but I've noticed the extern method and what it stands for. — Tarik, Sep 25 '10 at 06:14
The extern modifier means that the method is implemented outside the C# code. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e59b22c5%28VS.80%29.aspx — Scott, Sep 25 '10 at 19:17

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 14 '13 at 17:02

I actually wasn't able to achieve anything usefull with the VK Class. MediaCenter wouldn't respond to this keydown/keyup stuff.

Instead I used this method to bring the media center to front:

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern bool SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);

public static void activateMediaCenterForm()
{
    System.Diagnostics.Process[] p = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcessesByName("ehshell");
    if (p.Length > 0) //found
    {
        SetForegroundWindow(p[0].MainWindowHandle);
    }
    //else not Found -> Do nothing.
}

Afterwards, SendKeys should work. I just wrapped it around try/catch.

private void SendKey(string key)
{
    activateMediaCenterForm();
    try
    {
        SendKeys.SendWait(key);
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        //Handle exception, if needed.
    }
}

Now SendKey("{ENTER}"); as well as SendKey("{RIGHT}"); and all other keys works just fine on Windows 7.

Very cool, sorry you weren't able to get the VK class working. It may be that windows media player updates over the past 2 years broke the VK class. — Scott, Feb 27 '13 at 01:17

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 25 '10 at 19:15

I was actually able to finally find a solution that worked on this website:

http://michbex.com/wordpress/?p=3

I ended up using his VK Class and Remote Sender Class methods to solve this problem. Windows media center must have lower level key hooks and you must implement a keyup/keydown sending solution to exploited the hooks.

I can finally pause a movie! I will clean up the code and post it later.

Using keySend with Windows Media Center

2 Answers2