How to handle WndProc messages in WPF?

Question

You can do this via the System.Windows.Interop namespace which contains a class named HwndSource.

Example of using this

using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Interop;

namespace WpfApplication1
{
    public partial class Window1 : Window
    {
        public Window1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        protected override void OnSourceInitialized(EventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnSourceInitialized(e);
            HwndSource source = PresentationSource.FromVisual(this) as HwndSource;
            source.AddHook(WndProc);
        }

        private IntPtr WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, ref bool handled)
        {
            // Handle messages...

            return IntPtr.Zero;
        }
    }
}

Completely taken from the excellent blog post: Using a custom WndProc in WPF apps by Steve Rands

Actually, as far as I understand such a thing is indeed possible in WPF using HwndSource and HwndSourceHook. See this thread on MSDN as an example. (Relevant code included below)

// 'this' is a Window
HwndSource source = HwndSource.FromHwnd(new WindowInteropHelper(this).Handle);
source.AddHook(new HwndSourceHook(WndProc));

private static IntPtr WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, ref bool handled)
{
    //  do stuff

    return IntPtr.Zero;
}

Now, I'm not quite sure why you'd want to handle Windows Messaging messages in a WPF application (unless it's the most obvious form of interop for working with another WinForms app). The design ideology and the nature of the API is very different in WPF from WinForms, so I would suggest you just familiarise yourself with WPF more to see exactly why there is no equivalent of WndProc.

HwndSource src = HwndSource.FromHwnd(new WindowInteropHelper(this).Handle);
src.AddHook(new HwndSourceHook(WndProc));


.......


public IntPtr WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, ref bool handled)
{

  if(msg == THEMESSAGEIMLOOKINGFOR)
    {
      //Do something here
    }

  return IntPtr.Zero;
}

If you don't mind referencing WinForms, you can use a more MVVM-oriented solution that doesn't couple service with the view. You need to create and initialize a System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow which is a lightweight window that can receive messages.

public abstract class WinApiServiceBase : IDisposable
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Sponge window absorbs messages and lets other services use them
    /// </summary>
    private sealed class SpongeWindow : NativeWindow
    {
        public event EventHandler<Message> WndProced;

        public SpongeWindow()
        {
            CreateHandle(new CreateParams());
        }

        protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
        {
            WndProced?.Invoke(this, m);
            base.WndProc(ref m);
        }
    }

    private static readonly SpongeWindow Sponge;
    protected static readonly IntPtr SpongeHandle;

    static WinApiServiceBase()
    {
        Sponge = new SpongeWindow();
        SpongeHandle = Sponge.Handle;
    }

    protected WinApiServiceBase()
    {
        Sponge.WndProced += LocalWndProced;
    }

    private void LocalWndProced(object sender, Message message)
    {
        WndProc(message);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Override to process windows messages
    /// </summary>
    protected virtual void WndProc(Message message)
    { }

    public virtual void Dispose()
    {
        Sponge.WndProced -= LocalWndProced;
    }
}

Use SpongeHandle to register for messages you're interested in and then override WndProc to process them:

public class WindowsMessageListenerService : WinApiServiceBase
{
    protected override void WndProc(Message message)
    {
        Debug.WriteLine(message.msg);
    }
}

The only downside is that you have to include System.Windows.Forms reference, but otherwise this is a very encapsulated solution.

More on this can be read here

Here is a link on overriding WindProc using Behaviors: http://10rem.net/blog/2010/01/09/a-wpf-behavior-for-window-resize-events-in-net-35

[Edit: better late than never] Below is my implementation based on the above link. Although revisiting this I like the AddHook implementations better. I might switch to that.

In my case I wanted to know when the window was being resized and a couple other things. This implementation hooks up to the Window xaml and sends events.

using System;
using System.Windows.Interactivity;
using System.Windows; // For Window in behavior
using System.Windows.Interop; // For Hwnd

public class WindowResizeEvents : Behavior<Window>
    {
        public event EventHandler Resized;
        public event EventHandler Resizing;
        public event EventHandler Maximized;
        public event EventHandler Minimized;
        public event EventHandler Restored;

        public static DependencyProperty IsAppAskCloseProperty =  DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("IsAppAskClose", typeof(bool), typeof(WindowResizeEvents));
        public Boolean IsAppAskClose
        {
            get { return (Boolean)this.GetValue(IsAppAskCloseProperty); }
            set { this.SetValue(IsAppAskCloseProperty, value); }
        }

        // called when the behavior is attached
        // hook the wndproc
        protected override void OnAttached()
        {
            base.OnAttached();

            AssociatedObject.Loaded += (s, e) =>
            {
                WireUpWndProc();
            };
        }

        // call when the behavior is detached
        // clean up our winproc hook
        protected override void OnDetaching()
        {
            RemoveWndProc();

            base.OnDetaching();
        }

        private HwndSourceHook _hook;

        private void WireUpWndProc()
        {
            HwndSource source = HwndSource.FromVisual(AssociatedObject) as HwndSource;

            if (source != null)
            {
                _hook = new HwndSourceHook(WndProc);
                source.AddHook(_hook);
            }
        }

        private void RemoveWndProc()
        {
            HwndSource source = HwndSource.FromVisual(AssociatedObject) as HwndSource;

            if (source != null)
            {
                source.RemoveHook(_hook);
            }
        }

        private const Int32 WM_EXITSIZEMOVE = 0x0232;
        private const Int32 WM_SIZING = 0x0214;
        private const Int32 WM_SIZE = 0x0005;

        private const Int32 SIZE_RESTORED = 0x0000;
        private const Int32 SIZE_MINIMIZED = 0x0001;
        private const Int32 SIZE_MAXIMIZED = 0x0002;
        private const Int32 SIZE_MAXSHOW = 0x0003;
        private const Int32 SIZE_MAXHIDE = 0x0004;

        private const Int32 WM_QUERYENDSESSION = 0x0011;
        private const Int32 ENDSESSION_CLOSEAPP = 0x1;
        private const Int32 WM_ENDSESSION = 0x0016;

        private IntPtr WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, ref Boolean handled)
        {
            IntPtr result = IntPtr.Zero;

            switch (msg)
            {
                case WM_SIZING:             // sizing gets interactive resize
                    OnResizing();
                    break;

                case WM_SIZE:               // size gets minimize/maximize as well as final size
                    {
                        int param = wParam.ToInt32();

                        switch (param)
                        {
                            case SIZE_RESTORED:
                                OnRestored();
                                break;
                            case SIZE_MINIMIZED:
                                OnMinimized();
                                break;
                            case SIZE_MAXIMIZED:
                                OnMaximized();
                                break;
                            case SIZE_MAXSHOW:
                                break;
                            case SIZE_MAXHIDE:
                                break;
                        }
                    }
                    break;

                case WM_EXITSIZEMOVE:
                    OnResized();
                    break;

                // Windows is requesting app to close.    
                // See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa376890%28v=vs.85%29.aspx.
                // Use the default response (yes).
                case WM_QUERYENDSESSION:
                    IsAppAskClose = true; 
                    break;
            }

            return result;
        }

        private void OnResizing()
        {
            if (Resizing != null)
                Resizing(AssociatedObject, EventArgs.Empty);
        }

        private void OnResized()
        {
            if (Resized != null)
                Resized(AssociatedObject, EventArgs.Empty);
        }

        private void OnRestored()
        {
            if (Restored != null)
                Restored(AssociatedObject, EventArgs.Empty);
        }

        private void OnMinimized()
        {
            if (Minimized != null)
                Minimized(AssociatedObject, EventArgs.Empty);
        }

        private void OnMaximized()
        {
            if (Maximized != null)
                Maximized(AssociatedObject, EventArgs.Empty);
        }
    }

<Window x:Class="MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml
        xmlns:i="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity"
        xmlns:behaviors="clr-namespace:RapidCoreConfigurator._Behaviors"
        Title="name" Height="500" Width="750" BorderBrush="Transparent">

    <i:Interaction.Behaviors>
        <behaviors:WindowResizeEvents IsAppAskClose="{Binding IsRequestClose, Mode=OneWayToSource}"
                                      Resized="Window_Resized"
                                      Resizing="Window_Resizing" />
    </i:Interaction.Behaviors>

    ... 

</Window>