Define a shortcut that works in all forms of a win form application

Question

I'm working on a MDI winforms project, I want to user uses F3 shortcut to open a search form in every where in application, so I used following code in my MDI parent form and set the parent form's KeyPreview to true:

protected override bool ProcessCmdKey(ref Message msg, Keys keyData) 
{
   if (keyData == (Keys.F3)) {
      //Show search form
      return true;
   }
   return base.ProcessCmdKey(ref msg, keyData);
}

The shortcut works in MDI parent and child forms, but If I open a form from one of MDI child forms using .ShowDialog() the shortcut doesn't work in last form, in the other word, the shortcut, works in childForm:

//in the parent form
var childForm = new Form1();
childForm.MdiParent = parentForm;
childForm.KeyPreview = true;
childForm.Show();

but doesn't work in grandChildForm form:

//in the child form
var grandChildForm = new Form2();
grandChildForm.KeyPreview = true;
grandChildForm.ShowDialog();

How can I solve the problem, without repeating ProcessCmdKey() method in all forms?

Answer 1

Create a baseForm:

public partial class baseForm : Form
{
    public baseForm()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    protected override bool ProcessCmdKey(ref Message msg, Keys keyData)
    {
        if (keyData == (Keys.F3))
        {
            //Show search form
            return true;
        }
        return base.ProcessCmdKey(ref msg, keyData);
    }
}

And let all your others forms inherit from it:

public partial class Form1 : baseForm

Then any common functionality you want can be added to baseForm.