Get the char on Control.KeyDown?

Question

When handling Control.OnKeyPress event, there is a KeyPressEventArgs that contains a KeyChar.

For usability reasons I need exactly the same KeyChar but when handling OnKeyDown event.

The KeyEventArgs does not contains any char related data. I mean, if press the A key with or without Shift its not affecting the KeyCode, KeyData or KeyValue. The same when using another language, i still getting capital english values.

How to get a KeyPressEventArgs.KeyChar inside KeyDown event?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Convert it. Here is simple function for converting 'A' to 'a'. It converts only capital chars from [A-Z] set. The value 32 is diff between 'A' and 'a'.. Sure you can extend it to your requirements, or ask for feature here.

char getChar( KeyEventArgs e )
{
 int keyValue = e.KeyValue;
 if ( !e.Shift && keyValue >= (int) Keys.A && keyValue <= (int) Keys.Z )
  return (char)(keyValue + 32);
 return (char) keyValue;
}

if you need it to works with your current culture you should override ProcessKeyMessage Control method:

protected override bool ProcessKeyMessage( ref Message m )
{
 if ( ( m.Msg == 0x102 ) || ( m.Msg == 0x106 ) ) // this is special - don't remove
 {
  char c = (char) m.WParam; // here is your char for OnKeyDown event ;)
 }
 return base.ProcessKeyMessage( ref m );
}

Hope it helpful.