Detecting User Activity

Question

I need to create a program that monitors a computer for activity. Such as a mouse move, mouse click or keyboard input. I don't need to record what has happened just that the computer is in use. If their computer has not been in use for a certain period of time, i.e. 15 mins, I need to fire off an event.

Is there a way that I can get notified of these events?

Answer 1

Thank you LordCover. This code is from here. This class takes control of the keyboard and mouse controls for you. You can use in a timer like this:

private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    listBox1.Items.Add(Win32.GetIdleTime().ToString());
    if (Win32.GetIdleTime() > 60000) // 1 minute
    {
        textBox1.Text = "SLEEPING NOW";
    }
}

Main code for control. Paste to your form code.

internal struct LASTINPUTINFO
{
    public uint cbSize;
    public uint dwTime;
}

public class Win32
{
    [DllImport("User32.dll")]
    public static extern bool LockWorkStation();

    [DllImport("User32.dll")]
    private static extern bool GetLastInputInfo(ref LASTINPUTINFO plii);

    [DllImport("Kernel32.dll")]
    private static extern uint GetLastError();

    public static uint GetIdleTime()
    {
        LASTINPUTINFO lastInPut = new LASTINPUTINFO();
        lastInPut.cbSize = (uint)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf(lastInPut);
        GetLastInputInfo(ref lastInPut);

        return ((uint)Environment.TickCount - lastInPut.dwTime);
    }

    public static long GetLastInputTime()
    {
        LASTINPUTINFO lastInPut = new LASTINPUTINFO();
        lastInPut.cbSize = (uint)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf(lastInPut);
        if (!GetLastInputInfo(ref lastInPut))
        {
            throw new Exception(GetLastError().ToString());
        }

        return lastInPut.dwTime;
    }
}