# button not working in Key Down c#

Question

On press of '#' on my MC45 Device i want to call a method. My code looks like:

void MyForm_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
    int keyValue = e.KeyValue;
    switch (keyValue)
    {
        case 16: // Do Something
        {

        }
    }
}

the Key Value for '#' is 16. So when i press '#' it works fine but a subsequent call on KeyDown happens with key value '51' every time. Why ?? How do i stop this subsequent call ??

Answer 1

Hans Passant is right, the '#' key events are Shift+3 (US keyboard layout).

For detecing the '#' key press you should use KeyPress event and not KeyDown/KeyUp.

One further possible pitfall: on newer Windows Mobile 6.5.3 the # and * may be mapped to VK_TSTAR and VK_TPOUND and these are mapped to VK_F8 and VK_F9. See winuserm.h:

#define VK_TSTAR    VK_F8               // *           
#define VK_TPOUND   VK_F9               // #

The result of this maybe that your app does not see those * and # presses as they are send as F8 and F9 by the OS.