SendKeys Class
Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in system.windows.forms.dll)
Use SendKeys to send keystrokes and keystroke combinations to the active application. This class cannot be instantiated. To send a keystroke to a class and immediately continue with the flow of your program, use Send. To wait for any processes started by the keystroke, use SendWait.
Each key is represented by one or more characters. To specify a single keyboard character, use the character itself. For example, to represent the letter A, pass in the string "A" to the method. To represent more than one character, append each additional character to the one preceding it. To represent the letters A, B, and C, specify the parameter as "ABC".
The plus sign (+), caret (^), percent sign (%), tilde (~), and parentheses () have special meanings to SendKeys. To specify one of these characters, enclose it within braces ({}). For example, to specify the plus sign, use "{+}". To specify brace characters, use "{{}" and "{}}". Brackets ([ ]) have no special meaning to SendKeys, but you must enclose them in braces. In other applications, brackets do have a special meaning that might be significant when dynamic data exchange (DDE) occurs.
Caution |
|---|
| If your application is intended for international use with a variety of keyboards, the use of Send could yield unpredictable results and should be avoided. |
To specify characters that aren't displayed when you press a key, such as ENTER or TAB, and keys that represent actions rather than characters, use the codes in the following table.
| Key | Code |
|---|---|
| BACKSPACE | {BACKSPACE}, {BS}, or {BKSP} |
| BREAK | {BREAK} |
| CAPS LOCK | {CAPSLOCK} |
| DEL or DELETE | {DELETE} or {DEL} |
| DOWN ARROW | {DOWN} |
| END | {END} |
| ENTER | {ENTER}or ~ |
| ESC | {ESC} |
| HELP | {HELP} |
| HOME | {HOME} |
| INS or INSERT | {INSERT} or {INS} |
| LEFT ARROW | {LEFT} |
| NUM LOCK | {NUMLOCK} |
| PAGE DOWN | {PGDN} |
| PAGE UP | {PGUP} |
| PRINT SCREEN | {PRTSC} (reserved for future use) |
| RIGHT ARROW | {RIGHT} |
| SCROLL LOCK | {SCROLLLOCK} |
| TAB | {TAB} |
| UP ARROW | {UP} |
| F1 | {F1} |
| F2 | {F2} |
| F3 | {F3} |
| F4 | {F4} |
| F5 | {F5} |
| F6 | {F6} |
| F7 | {F7} |
| F8 | {F8} |
| F9 | {F9} |
| F10 | {F10} |
| F11 | {F11} |
| F12 | {F12} |
| F13 | {F13} |
| F14 | {F14} |
| F15 | {F15} |
| F16 | {F16} |
| Keypad add | {ADD} |
| Keypad subtract | {SUBTRACT} |
| Keypad multiply | {MULTIPLY} |
| Keypad divide | {DIVIDE} |
To specify keys combined with any combination of the SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT keys, precede the key code with one or more of the following codes.
| Key | Code |
|---|---|
| SHIFT | + |
| CTRL | ^ |
| ALT | % |
To specify that any combination of SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT should be held down while several other keys are pressed, enclose the code for those keys in parentheses. For example, to specify to hold down SHIFT while E and C are pressed, use "+(EC)". To specify to hold down SHIFT while E is pressed, followed by C without SHIFT, use "+EC".
To specify repeating keys, use the form {key number}. You must put a space between key and number. For example, {LEFT 42} means press the LEFT ARROW key 42 times; {h 10} means press H 10 times.
Note |
|---|
| Because there is no managed method to activate another application, you can either use this class within the current application or use native Windows methods, such as FindWindow and SetForegroundWindow, to force focus on other applications. |
Windows 98, Windows 2000 SP4, Windows CE, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see System Requirements.
Caution