Can the mouse wheel be used while dragging/dropping?

Question

In WinForms, after calling a DoDragDrop to start dragging an item, controls no longer scroll with the mouse-wheel, and the control's MouseWheel event is no longer called, until the user drops whatever he is dragging.

Is there a way to get the mouse wheel to work while dragging?

Answer 1

You could get a global MouseWheel with a keyboard hook.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles;

using BOOL = System.Boolean;
using DWORD = System.UInt32;
using HHOOK = SafeHookHandle;
using HINSTANCE = System.IntPtr;
using HOOKPROC = HookProc;
using LPARAM = System.IntPtr;
using LRESULT = System.IntPtr;
using POINT = System.Drawing.Point;
using ULONG_PTR = System.IntPtr;
using WPARAM = System.IntPtr;

public delegate LRESULT HookProc(int nCode, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam);

internal static class NativeMethods
{
    [DllImport("User32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    internal static extern HHOOK SetWindowsHookEx(
        HookType idHook,
        HOOKPROC lpfn,
        HINSTANCE hMod,
        DWORD dwThreadId);

    [DllImport("User32.dll")]
    internal static extern LRESULT CallNextHookEx(
        HHOOK hhk,
        int nCode,
        WPARAM wParam,
        LPARAM lParam);

    [DllImport("User32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    internal static extern BOOL UnhookWindowsHookEx(
        IntPtr hhk);

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    public static extern IntPtr GetModuleHandle(string lpModuleName);
}

internal static class NativeTypes
{
    internal enum MSLLHOOKSTRUCTFlags : uint
    {
        LLMHF_INJECTED = 0x00000001U,
    }

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    internal struct MSLLHOOKSTRUCT
    {
        internal POINT pt;
        internal DWORD mouseData;
        internal MSLLHOOKSTRUCTFlags flags;
        internal DWORD time;
        internal ULONG_PTR dwExtraInfo;
    }
}

internal static class NativeConstants
{
    internal const int WH_MOUSE_LL = 14;

    internal const int HC_ACTION = 0;

    internal const int WM_MOUSEWHEEL = 0x020A;
    internal const int WM_MOUSEHWHEEL = 0x020E;

    internal const int WHEEL_DELTA = 120;
}

public enum HookType
{
    LowLevelMouseHook = NativeConstants.WH_MOUSE_LL
}

public enum HookScope
{
    LowLevelGlobal,
}

public class SafeHookHandle : SafeHandleZeroOrMinusOneIsInvalid
{
    private SafeHookHandle() : base(true) { }

    public static SafeHookHandle SetWindowsHook(HookType idHook, HookProc lpfn, IntPtr hMod, uint dwThreadId)
    {
        var hhk = NativeMethods.SetWindowsHookEx(idHook, lpfn, hMod, dwThreadId);

        if(hhk.IsInvalid)
        {
            throw new Win32Exception();
        }
        else
        {
            return hhk;
        }
    }

    public IntPtr CallNextHook(int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
    {
        return NativeMethods.CallNextHookEx(this, nCode, wParam, lParam);
    }

    protected override bool ReleaseHandle()
    {
        return NativeMethods.UnhookWindowsHookEx(this.handle);
    }
}

public abstract class WindowsHook : IDisposable
{
    private SafeHookHandle hhk;
    private HookProc lpfn;

    protected WindowsHook(HookType idHook, HookScope scope)
    {
        this.lpfn = this.OnWindowsHook;

        switch(scope)
        {
            case HookScope.LowLevelGlobal:
                IntPtr moduleHandle = NativeMethods.GetModuleHandle(null);
                this.hhk = SafeHookHandle.SetWindowsHook(idHook, this.lpfn, moduleHandle, 0U);
                return;
            default:
                throw new InvalidEnumArgumentException("scope", (int)scope, typeof(HookScope));
        }
    }

    protected virtual IntPtr OnWindowsHook(int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
    {
        return this.hhk.CallNextHook(nCode, wParam, lParam);
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        this.Dispose(true);
        GC.SuppressFinalize(this);
    }

    protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
        if(disposing)
        {
            if(this.hhk != null) { this.hhk.Dispose(); }
        }
    }
}

public class LowLevelMouseHook : WindowsHook
{
    public event MouseEventHandler MouseWheel;

    public LowLevelMouseHook() : base(HookType.LowLevelMouseHook, HookScope.LowLevelGlobal) { }

    protected sealed override IntPtr OnWindowsHook(int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
    {
        if(nCode == NativeConstants.HC_ACTION)
        {
            var msLLHookStruct = (NativeTypes.MSLLHOOKSTRUCT)Marshal.PtrToStructure(lParam, typeof(NativeTypes.MSLLHOOKSTRUCT));

            switch(wParam.ToInt32())
            {
                case NativeConstants.WM_MOUSEWHEEL:
                case NativeConstants.WM_MOUSEHWHEEL:
                    this.OnMouseWheel(new MouseEventArgs(Control.MouseButtons, 0, msLLHookStruct.pt.X, msLLHookStruct.pt.Y, (int)msLLHookStruct.mouseData >> 16));
                    break;
            }
        }

        return base.OnWindowsHook(nCode, wParam, lParam);
    }

    protected virtual void OnMouseWheel(MouseEventArgs e)
    {
        if(this.MouseWheel != null)
        {
            this.MouseWheel(this, e);
        }
    }
} 

Sample Usage:

using (LowLevelMouseHook hook = new LowLevelMouseHook())
{
    hook.MouseWheel += (sender, e) =>
    {
        Console.WriteLine(e.Delta);
    };
    Application.Run();
}

The code provides a class LowLevelMouseHook with an event MouseWheel that behaves like the event from the builtin windows forms control classes.

(Moreover the code is split into an abstract class WindowsHooks for use with other hooks, a SafeHookHandle class to ensure the handle is released and the helper classes for native methods)

You should look at SetWindowsHookEx and CALLBACK LowLevelMouseProc to understand the technique behind this.

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This event is not limited to your application but will also capture the mouse outside your form, so it should also work for your operations where you can not use the local events.