How to intercept keystrokes to windows command prompt?

Question

I am working on an application specific keystroke dynamics tool. My requirement is to get keystroke timing data of a user in the Windows CMD prompt . After a few searches, I have found 2 ways of doing doing this: 1) Use windows hooks 2) Pyhook - a python wrapper module

It appears to me that my applications functionality will be quite similar to that of a key-logger. But I am unable to figure out if I should use global hooks or thread specific hook for intercepting keystrokes to the CMD prompt. And If using a global hook, is it possible to filter keystrokes based on the target application?

Answer 1

This good code below is a Hotkey app that sits in the background listening for the CTRL-y key combination, and you can modify or add any more key combinations to the app. Use CTRL-q to exit the app when hidden.

If you wish to fully hide the console window, then un-comment this line in main() : //ShowWindow(FindWindowA("ConsoleWindowClass", NULL), false) . Enjoy.

if (CTRL_key !=0 && key == 'y' )
{
   MessageBox(NULL, "CTRL-y was pressed\nLaunch your app here", "H O T K E Y", MB_OK); 
   CTRL_key=0;
}

Full code listing:

#define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0400
#pragma comment( lib, "user32.lib" )

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

HHOOK hKeyboardHook;

__declspec(dllexport) LRESULT CALLBACK KeyboardEvent (int nCode, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    DWORD SHIFT_key=0;
    DWORD CTRL_key=0;
    DWORD ALT_key=0;

    if  ((nCode == HC_ACTION) &&   ((wParam == WM_SYSKEYDOWN) ||  (wParam == WM_KEYDOWN)))      
    {
        KBDLLHOOKSTRUCT hooked_key =    *((KBDLLHOOKSTRUCT*)lParam);
        DWORD dwMsg = 1;
        dwMsg += hooked_key.scanCode << 16;
        dwMsg += hooked_key.flags << 24;
        char lpszKeyName[1024] = {0};
        lpszKeyName[0] = '[';

        int i = GetKeyNameText(dwMsg,   (lpszKeyName+1),0xFF) + 1;
        lpszKeyName[i] = ']';

        int key = hooked_key.vkCode;

        SHIFT_key = GetAsyncKeyState(VK_SHIFT);
        CTRL_key = GetAsyncKeyState(VK_CONTROL);
        ALT_key = GetAsyncKeyState(VK_MENU);

        if (key >= 'A' && key <= 'Z')   
        {

            if  (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_SHIFT)>= 0) key +=32;

            if (CTRL_key !=0 && key == 'y' )
            {
               MessageBox(NULL, "CTRL-y was pressed\nLaunch your app here", "H O T K E Y", MB_OK); 
               CTRL_key=0;
            }

            if (CTRL_key !=0 && key == 'q' )
            {
                MessageBox(NULL, "Shutting down", "H O T K E Y", MB_OK); 
               PostQuitMessage(0);
            }




            printf("key = %c\n", key);

            SHIFT_key = 0;
            CTRL_key = 0;
            ALT_key = 0;

        }

        printf("lpszKeyName = %s\n",  lpszKeyName );
    }
    return CallNextHookEx(hKeyboardHook,    nCode,wParam,lParam);
}

void MessageLoop()
{
    MSG message;
    while (GetMessage(&message,NULL,0,0)) 
    {
        TranslateMessage( &message );
        DispatchMessage( &message );
    }
}

DWORD WINAPI my_HotKey(LPVOID lpParm)
{
    HINSTANCE hInstance = GetModuleHandle(NULL);
    if (!hInstance) hInstance = LoadLibrary((LPCSTR) lpParm); 
    if (!hInstance) return 1;

    hKeyboardHook = SetWindowsHookEx (  WH_KEYBOARD_LL, (HOOKPROC) KeyboardEvent,   hInstance,  NULL    );
    MessageLoop();
    UnhookWindowsHookEx(hKeyboardHook);
    return 0;
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    HANDLE hThread;
    DWORD dwThread;

    hThread = CreateThread(NULL,NULL,(LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE)   my_HotKey, (LPVOID) argv[0], NULL, &dwThread);

    //ShowWindow(FindWindowA("ConsoleWindowClass", NULL), false);

    if (hThread) return WaitForSingleObject(hThread,INFINITE);
    else return 1;

}