C# - How to get the mouse clicks in command line exe without using winform

Question

I saw some "alike" questions. But the answers were always asking the questioner to use winform. I am in the need of 100% console aplplication which can hook into Windows message queue and give the mouse click points. The mouse click can happen any where in the window.

What I did: I made this perfectly using winforms. Actually I copied most of the code from one blog. It is working. But my current project is "Automating the tests". Here We have to launch most of the applications as a console application. Otherwise the operation will become a mess. I tried with IMessageFilter, then I came to know that it requires form.

Can anybody guide me in proper direction?

Note: I am using Windows7, .Net4.5, Visual Studio Express - 2012

EDIT:

I am not at all caring the console. My target is getting the mouse click coordinates(any where in the screen). That means first I will lauch the program from console, then I will make some clicks on the screen. The console should print out the coordinates of those mouse clicks instantly.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6285270/how-can-i-get-the-mouse-position-in-a-console-program — Paddyd, Aug 28 '13 at 10:54
He wants to get mouse click positions in a console application ( I think) — Paddyd, Aug 28 '13 at 10:57
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/7294/Processing-Global-Mouse-and-Keyboard-Hooks-in-C — Ahmed KRAIEM, Aug 28 '13 at 11:31
[here](http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/windows/21620/)'s a working c++ solution. You might find .Net platform equivalents — Dmitry Ledentsov, Aug 28 '13 at 12:21

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 28 '13 at 19:59

3

This is my take on what you need to do, although I'm still a little hazy on whether or not I understand the question.

Create a normal console application.
Install a mouse hook, WH_MOUSE_LL.
Deal with mouse messages from the hook as you please, for example by outputting information on your console.

answered Aug 28 '13 at 19:59

David Heffernan

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His edit leads me to believe that this is indeed what he's trying to do. – Jim Mischel Aug 28 '13 at 22:07

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 28 '13 at 12:09

Write your program in WinForm but make a invisible app.

Then, attach this app to the parent console and write what you want in it :

NativeMethods.AttachConsole(NativeMethods.ATTACH_PARENT_PROCESS);
Console.WriteLine("Coordinate : " + mouse.X);

Use this class to do this :

internal static class NativeMethods
{
    internal const int ATTACH_PARENT_PROCESS = -1;

    /// <summary>
    /// Allocates a new console for the calling process.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>nonzero if the function succeeds; otherwise, zero.</returns>
    /// <remarks>
    /// A process can be associated with only one console,
    /// so the function fails if the calling process already has a console.
    /// http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms681944(VS.85).aspx
    /// </remarks>
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    internal static extern int AllocConsole();

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
    internal static extern bool AttachConsole(int dwProcessId);

    /// <summary>
    /// Detaches the calling process from its console.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>nonzero if the function succeeds; otherwise, zero.</returns>
    /// <remarks>
    /// If the calling process is not already attached to a console,
    /// the error code returned is ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER (87).
    /// http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms683150(VS.85).aspx
    /// </remarks>
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    internal static extern int FreeConsole();
}

This will result in two active processes being attached to the same console which is a well know recipe for disaster — David Heffernan, Aug 28 '13 at 19:55

C# - How to get the mouse clicks in command line exe without using winform

2 Answers2