capturing keys when window doesnt have focus

I would like to set up some hot keys so my window responds to Ctrl+'somecharacter' when it does not have focus. I used RegisterHotKey(), but it does not help much when the window needs focus for that function to work. Is there a way to make the program respond to certain keystrokes, kind of like a desktop wide hotkey?

The reason for this is my program is a modeless dialog, and does not display a window on the bottom of the page near the 'Start' button. So to find it you need to close all the other windows. I would like to set up a key system so it is set to the foreground with just a couple keystrokes.

>> I used RegisterHotKey(), but it does not help much when the window needs focus for that function to work.
RegisterHotKey() is system wide. Your app does not need focus.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms646309.aspx

gg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Codeplug

>> I used RegisterHotKey(), but it does not help much when the window needs focus for that function to work.
RegisterHotKey() is system wide. Your app does not need focus.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms646309.aspx

gg

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... wow i feel dumb. It didn't work with ctrl+shift, but I think i had the switch statement screwed up inside the identifier message. Thank you.

You could also use GetAsyncKeyState and GetKeyState.