Lock application when idle

[hmy]

Hi,

I need to lock my application if it has been idle for 15 minutes. This is a windows application in c#. I have put a timer in the main form and implemented the IMessageFilter interface. In the PreFilterMessage method, I check for the key down and mouse move and mouse down messages. I am able to detect the inactivity if this application is not the active window.

I problem is I can't detect the idle time when the application is the active window, that is, I just leave the application in the foreground and do not do anything at all.

Can anyone help? Thanks.

[Plater]

if your application is the active application....just use it's natural keydown/mousemove events.

Although, if you were correctly watching the keyboard/mouse events then it wouldn't matter what application had the focus as you would get the message from all of them.

See (Global Hooks):
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/globalhook.asp

[hmy]

Thanks for the reply.

Let me elaborate more. This application is using .NET Framework 2.0, Smart Client Software Factory. My message filter is listening to the key and mouse events as below:

public bool PreFilterMessage(ref Message m)
{
switch (m.Msg)
{
// movements to monitor
case WM_KEYDOWN:
case WM_KEYUP:
case WM_SYSKEYDOWN:
case WM_SYSKEYUP:
case WM_MOUSEMOVE:
case WM_LBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_RBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_MBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_LBUTTONUP:
case WM_RBUTTONUP:
case WM_MBUTTONUP:
case WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_RBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_MBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_MOUSEWHEEL:
case WM_XBUTTONDOWN:
dtLastActivity = DateTime.Now;
break;
}
// we're not handling them, just monitoring so return false
return false;
}

Now if my mouse is anywhere on the view but "idle", the inactivity will not be detected. In other scenarios (app in background or minimized), it works perfectly. I tried writing the messages that were received and it looked like WM_MOUSEMOVE is still received even if there is no activity. Any ideas why?

[Plater]

Well I'm not sure why, but you could try keeping track of a bit more "state" for that message.
Like everytime a mouse move message comes in, if the (X,Y) are not different then the saved (x,y) then ignore it. If they ARE different, update your saved (x,y) with those new values AND update your time of last activity object.
See if that helps?

[Nivitha]

Hi,
I am trying to do something very similar to the code you have posted.

Thanks for the reply.

Let me elaborate more. This application is using .NET Framework 2.0, Smart Client Software Factory. My message filter is listening to the key and mouse events as below:

public bool PreFilterMessage(ref Message m)
{
switch (m.Msg)
{
// movements to monitor
case WM_KEYDOWN:
case WM_KEYUP:
case WM_SYSKEYDOWN:
case WM_SYSKEYUP:
case WM_MOUSEMOVE:
case WM_LBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_RBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_MBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_LBUTTONUP:
case WM_RBUTTONUP:
case WM_MBUTTONUP:
case WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_RBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_MBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_MOUSEWHEEL:
case WM_XBUTTONDOWN:
dtLastActivity = DateTime.Now;
break;
}
// we're not handling them, just monitoring so return false
return false;
}

Now if my mouse is anywhere on the view but "idle", the inactivity will not be detected. In other scenarios (app in background or minimized), it works perfectly. I tried writing the messages that were received and it looked like WM_MOUSEMOVE is still received even if there is no activity. Any ideas why?

[Nivitha]

Hi,
I am also trying to do something similar to the code you have posted.
I got that sample from the following link:
http://www.thescripts.com/forum/thread256888.html
I am trying to put a breakpoint in the PreFilterMessage(..) function but
not even once this function was called.
Can you please help me in this?
I have done the exact code as posted in the above link. Please let me know if any additional code/settings is needed.

Regards

Thanks for the reply.

Let me elaborate more. This application is using .NET Framework 2.0, Smart Client Software Factory. My message filter is listening to the key and mouse events as below:

public bool PreFilterMessage(ref Message m)
{
switch (m.Msg)
{
// movements to monitor
case WM_KEYDOWN:
case WM_KEYUP:
case WM_SYSKEYDOWN:
case WM_SYSKEYUP:
case WM_MOUSEMOVE:
case WM_LBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_RBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_MBUTTONDOWN:
case WM_LBUTTONUP:
case WM_RBUTTONUP:
case WM_MBUTTONUP:
case WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_RBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_MBUTTONDBLCLK:
case WM_MOUSEWHEEL:
case WM_XBUTTONDOWN:
dtLastActivity = DateTime.Now;
break;
}
// we're not handling them, just monitoring so return false
return false;
}

Now if my mouse is anywhere on the view but "idle", the inactivity will not be detected. In other scenarios (app in background or minimized), it works perfectly. I tried writing the messages that were received and it looked like WM_MOUSEMOVE is still received even if there is no activity. Any ideas why?