How to Close a Window in WPF on a escape key

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How can I assign the 'Close on Escape-key press' behavior to all WPF windows within a project?

I want to close the windows in my wpf project when the user clicks the escape button. I don't want to write the code in every window but want to create a class which can catch the when the user press the escape key.

that's not my solution.. I dont even want the to be done in every window. I want to write that in a Style but thats not working as Propety is not available in Style — Kishore Kumar, Oct 07 '11 at 19:32
Check out [this][1] post - it explains exactlyhow to achieve this [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3863431/how-can-i-assign-the-close-on-escape-key-press-behavior-to-all-wpf-windows-with — Steve Greatrex, Oct 08 '11 at 14:05
This is a duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/419596/how-does-the-wpf-button-iscancel-property-work — Micha Wiedenmann, Nov 02 '15 at 12:10
Possible duplicate of [How does the WPF Button.IsCancel property work?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/419596/how-does-the-wpf-button-iscancel-property-work) — Cœur, Jul 14 '18 at 11:09

CharithJ · Answer 1 · 2017-04-24T00:27:50.057

162

Option 1

Use Button.IsCancel property.

<Button Name="btnCancel" IsCancel="true" Click="OnClickCancel">Cancel</Button>

When you set the IsCancel property of a button to true, you create a Button that is registered with the AccessKeyManager. The button is then activated when a user presses the ESC key.

However, this works properly only for Dialogs.

Option2

You add a handler to PreviewKeyDown on the window if you want to close windows on Esc press.

public MainWindow()
{
    InitializeComponent();

    this.PreviewKeyDown += new KeyEventHandler(HandleEsc);
}

private void HandleEsc(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Key == Key.Escape)
        Close();
}

edited Apr 24 '17 at 00:27

answered Oct 07 '11 at 20:57

CharithJ

46,289
20
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3

I dont want to use a button...Any hw thanks, i found the solution – Kishore Kumar Oct 08 '11 at 07:51
@kishorejangid: The second code example doesn't use a button. – CharithJ Oct 08 '11 at 08:15
2

@kishorejangid - Can you post your answer here? – Rohit Vats Oct 08 '11 at 09:35
Is there something similar for Enter? – Lion King Mar 27 '18 at 10:00
1

You can set IsDefault="True" on a button to have enter do the same as clicking the button. – PerK Jul 13 '18 at 05:47
@KishoreKumar i need to close usercontrol from keybinding but without set iscancel property in button – sameer Sep 27 '18 at 06:19
You will be having a Close button in the form, especially if you design with windowless wpf form, then just go to that button control in Xaml and update that IsCancel property to true. – Chandraprakash Oct 11 '19 at 14:08

score 15 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 22 '20 at 06:11

Here is a button-less solution that is clean and more MVVM-ish. Add the following XAML into your dialog/window:

<Window.InputBindings>
  <KeyBinding Command="ApplicationCommands.Close" Key="Esc" />
</Window.InputBindings>

<Window.CommandBindings>
  <CommandBinding Command="ApplicationCommands.Close" Executed="CloseCommandBinding_Executed" />
</Window.CommandBindings>

and handle the event in the code-behind:

private void CloseCommandBinding_Executed(object sender, System.Windows.Input.ExecutedRoutedEventArgs e)
{
  if (MessageBox.Show("Close?", "Close", MessageBoxButton.YesNo, MessageBoxImage.Question) == MessageBoxResult.Yes)
    this.Close();
}

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 12 '20 at 00:47

One line to put after InitializeComponent():

 PreviewKeyDown += (s,e) => { if (e.Key == Key.Escape) Close() ;};

Please note that this kind of code behind does not break MVVM pattern since this is UI related and you don't access any viewmodel data. The alternative is to use attached properties which will require more code.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 13 '20 at 13:17

You can create a custom DependencyProperty:

using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Input;

public static class WindowUtilities
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Property to allow closing window on Esc key.
    /// </summary>
    public static readonly DependencyProperty CloseOnEscapeProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
       "CloseOnEscape",
       typeof(bool),
       typeof(WindowUtilities),
       new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(false, CloseOnEscapeChanged));

    public static bool GetCloseOnEscape(DependencyObject d)
    {
        return (bool)d.GetValue(CloseOnEscapeProperty);
    }

    public static void SetCloseOnEscape(DependencyObject d, bool value)
    {
        d.SetValue(CloseOnEscapeProperty, value);
    }

    private static void CloseOnEscapeChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (d is Window target)
        {
            if ((bool)e.NewValue)
            {
                target.PreviewKeyDown += Window_PreviewKeyDown;
            }
            else
            {
                target.PreviewKeyDown -= Window_PreviewKeyDown;
            }
        }
    }

    private static void Window_PreviewKeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
    {
        if (sender is Window target)
        {
            if (e.Key == Key.Escape)
            {
                target.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

And use it your windows' XAML like this:

<Window ...
    xmlns:custom="clr-namespace:WhereverThePropertyIsDefined"
    custom:WindowUtilities.CloseOnEscape="True"
    ...>

The answer is based on the content of the gist referenced in this answer.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 30 '21 at 04:08

The InputBinding options here are nice and flexible.

If you want to use an event handler, be aware that the Preview events happen quite early. If you have a nested control that should take the Esc key for its own purposes, stealing it at the window level may brake that control's functionality.

Instead you can handle the event at the window level only if nothing else wants to with:

protected override void OnKeyDown(KeyEventArgs e)
{
    base.OnKeyDown(e);

    if (!e.Handled && e.Key == Key.Escape && Keyboard.Modifiers == ModifierKeys.None)
    {
        this.Close();
    }
}

user8295185 · Answer 6 · 2023-03-24T04:19:38.227

-1

Add Button with IsCancel="True", but Width and Height is 0 (for hidden)

<Button Width="0" Height="0" IsCancel="True"/>

edited Mar 24 '23 at 04:19

answered Mar 24 '23 at 04:19

user8295185

1
1

How to Close a Window in WPF on a escape key

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