How do I create a keyboard shortcut (like Ctrl+C) in a Windows Store app

Question

I want to create keyboard shortcuts in my application, for instance Ctrl+C for copy. Also I want to ignore that shortcut if a TextBox has focus.

Answer 1

First you need a way to check if control key is pressed. CoreWindow.GetKeyState will do the job but might be a little bit tricky to use so I created an helper class:

public class ModifierKeys
{
    #region ShiftIsDown property

    public static bool ShiftIsDown 
    { 
        get
        {
            return (Window.Current.CoreWindow.GetKeyState(VirtualKey.Shift) & CoreVirtualKeyStates.Down) != 0;
        }
    }

    public static bool OnlyShiftIsDown 
    { 
        get
        {
            return ShiftIsDown && !AltIsDown && !ControlIsDown;
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region AltIsDown property

    public static bool AltIsDown
    {
        get
        {
            return (Window.Current.CoreWindow.GetKeyState(VirtualKey.Menu) & CoreVirtualKeyStates.Down) != 0;
        }
    }

    public static bool OnlyAltIsDown
    {
        get
        {
            return !ShiftIsDown && AltIsDown && !ControlIsDown;
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region ControlIsDown property

    public static bool ControlIsDown
    {
        get
        {
            return (Window.Current.CoreWindow.GetKeyState(VirtualKey.Control) & CoreVirtualKeyStates.Down) != 0;
        }

    }

    public static bool OnlyControlIsDown
    {
        get
        {
            return !ShiftIsDown && !AltIsDown && ControlIsDown;
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region NoModifierKeyIsDown property

    public static bool NoModifierKeyIsDown
    {
        get
        {
            return !ShiftIsDown && !AltIsDown && !ControlIsDown;
        }
    }

    #endregion
}

Now in OnNavigateTo/From in your page subscribe/unsubscribe on key down events:

    protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)
    {
        /*...*/
        Window.Current.CoreWindow.KeyDown += CoreWindow_KeyDown;
    }

    protected override void OnNavigatedFrom(NavigationEventArgs e)
    {
        /*...*/
        Window.Current.CoreWindow.KeyDown -= CoreWindow_KeyDown;
    }

The CoreWindow_KeyDown will then looks something like this:

void CoreWindow_KeyDown(CoreWindow sender, KeyEventArgs args)
{
    var focusedElement = FocusManager.GetFocusedElement();

    if (args.KeyStatus.WasKeyDown == false && ModifierKeys.OnlyControlIsDown &&
        !(focusedElement is TextBox)
        )
    {
            if (args.VirtualKey == VirtualKey.X)
            {
                /*...cut...*/
            }
            else if (args.VirtualKey == VirtualKey.V)
            {
                /*...paste...*/
            }
            else if (args.VirtualKey == VirtualKey.C)
            {
                /*...copy...*/
            }
    }
}