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https://github.com/TolikPylypchuk/SharpHook

SharpHook provides a cross-platform global keyboard and mouse hook, event simulation, and text entry simulation for .NET
https://github.com/TolikPylypchuk/SharpHook

cross-platform csharp dotnet hook simulator

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SharpHook provides a cross-platform global keyboard and mouse hook, event simulation, and text entry simulation for .NET

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README 

        
# SharpHook



[![NuGet](https://img.shields.io/nuget/v/SharpHook.svg?label=SharpHook)](https://www.nuget.org/packages/SharpHook)

[![NuGet](https://img.shields.io/nuget/v/SharpHook.Reactive.svg?label=SharpHook.Reactive)](https://www.nuget.org/packages/SharpHook.Reactive)



SharpHook provides a cross-platform global keyboard and mouse hook, event simulation, and text entry simulation for

.NET. It is a wrapper of [libuiohook](https://github.com/TolikPylypchuk/libuiohook) and provides direct access to its

features as well as higher-level types to work with it.



## Installation



```

dotnet add package SharpHook

dotnet add package SharpHook.Reactive

```



## Upgrading



A [migration guide](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.8/articles/migration.html) is available for upgrading between major

versions.



## Docs



You can find more information (including the API reference) in the docs at

[https://sharphook.tolik.io](https://sharphook.tolik.io). Or if you need a specific version:



- [v5.3.8](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.8) | [v5.3.7](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.7) | [v5.3.6](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.6) | [v5.3.5](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.5) | [v5.3.4](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.4) | [v5.3.3](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.3) | [v5.3.2](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.2) | [v5.3.1](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.1) | [v5.3.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.0)

- [v5.2.3](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.2.3) | [v5.2.2](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.2.2) | [v5.2.1](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.2.1) | [v5.2.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.2.0)

- [v5.1.2](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.1.2) | [v5.1.1](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.1.1) | [v5.1.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.1.0)

- [v5.0.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.0.0)

- [v4.2.1](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v4.2.1) | [v4.2.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v4.2.0)

- [v4.1.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v4.1.0)

- [v4.0.1](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v4.0.1) | [v4.0.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v4.0.0)

- [v3.1.3](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v3.1.3) | [v3.1.2](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v3.1.2) | [v3.1.1](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v3.1.1) | [v3.1.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v3.1.0)

- [v3.0.2](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v3.0.2) | [v3.0.1](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v3.0.1) | [v3.0.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v3.0.0)

- [v2.0.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v2.0.0)

- [v1.1.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v1.1.0)

- [v1.0.1](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v1.0.1) | [v1.0.0](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v1.0.0)



## Supported Platforms



SharpHook targets .NET 6+, .NET Framework 4.6.2+, and .NET Standard 2.0. The following table describes

the availability of SharpHook on various platforms:



  

    

    Windows

    macOS

    Linux

  

  

    x86

    Yes

    N/A

    No

  

  

    x64

    Yes

    Yes

    Yes

  

  

    Arm32

    No

    N/A

    Yes

  

  

    Arm64

    Yes

    Yes

    Yes

  



Platform support notes:



- Windows 10/11 is supported. Arm32 is not supported since its support was

[removed in .NET 5](https://github.com/dotnet/core/blob/main/release-notes/5.0/5.0-supported-os.md).



- macOS 10.15+ is supported. Mac Catalyst is also supported (13.1+). macOS requires that the accessibility API be

enabled for the application if it wants to create a global hook.



- Linux distributions supported by .NET are supported by SharpHook. Linux on x86 is

[not supported](https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/7335) by .NET itself. Only X11 is supported - Wayland support

[may be coming](https://github.com/kwhat/libuiohook/issues/100), but it's not yet here.



More info on OS support can be found in

[an article on OS-specific constraints](https://sharphook.tolik.io/v5.3.8/articles/os-constraints.html).



## Usage



### Native Functions of libuiohook



SharpHook exposes the functions of libuiohook in the `SharpHook.Native.UioHook` class. The `SharpHook.Native`

namespace also contains types which represent the data used by libuiohook.



In general, you don't need to use the native methods directly. Instead, use the higher-level interfaces and classes

provided by SharpHook. However, you should still read this section to know how the high-level features work under

the hood.



`UioHook` contains the following methods for working with the global hook:



- `SetDispatchProc` - sets the function which will be called when an event is raised by libuiohook.

- `Run` - creates a keyboard and mouse global hook and runs it on the current thread, blocking it until `Stop` is

called.

- `RunKeyboard` - creates a keyboard-only global hook and runs it on the current thread, blocking it until `Stop` is

called.

- `RunMouse` - creates a mouse-only global hook and runs it on the current thread, blocking it until `Stop` is called.

- `Stop` - destroys the global hook.



You have to remember that only one global hook can exist at a time since calling `SetDispatchProc` will override the

previously set one.



Additionally, `UioHook` contains the `PostEvent` method for simulating input events, and the `SetLoggerProc` method for

setting the log callback.



SharpHook also provides text entry simulation and `UioHook` contains the `PostText` method. The text to simulate doesn't

depend on the current keyboard layout. The full range of UTF-16 (including surrogate pairs, e.g. emojis) is supported.



libuiohook also provides functions to get various system properties. The corresponding methods are also present in

`UioHook`.



If you want to use the low-level functionality, you don't need to use the `UioHook` class directly. Instead you can use

interfaces in the `SharpHook.Providers` namespace. The methods in those interfaces are the same as in the `UioHook`

class. `SharpHook.Providers.UioHookProvider` implements all of these interfaces and simply calls the corresponding

methods in `UioHook`. This should be done to decouple your code from `UioHook` and make testing easier.



### Global Hooks



SharpHook provides the `IGlobalHook` interface along with two default implementations which you can use to control the

hook and subscribe to its events. Here's a basic usage example:



```C#

using SharpHook;



// ...



var hook = new TaskPoolGlobalHook();



hook.HookEnabled += OnHookEnabled;     // EventHandler

hook.HookDisabled += OnHookDisabled;   // EventHandler



hook.KeyTyped += OnKeyTyped;           // EventHandler

hook.KeyPressed += OnKeyPressed;       // EventHandler

hook.KeyReleased += OnKeyReleased;     // EventHandler



hook.MouseClicked += OnMouseClicked;   // EventHandler

hook.MousePressed += OnMousePressed;   // EventHandler

hook.MouseReleased += OnMouseReleased; // EventHandler

hook.MouseMoved += OnMouseMoved;       // EventHandler

hook.MouseDragged += OnMouseDragged;   // EventHandler



hook.MouseWheel += OnMouseWheel;       // EventHandler



hook.Run();

// or

await hook.RunAsync();

```



First, you create the hook, then subscribe to its events, and then run it. The `Run` method runs the hook on the current

thread, blocking it. The `RunAsync()` method runs the hook on a separate thread and returns a `Task` which is finished

when the hook is destroyed. You can subscribe to events after the hook is started.



`IGlobalHook` extends `IDisposable`. When you call the `Dispose` method on a hook, it's destroyed. The contract of

the interface is that once a hook has been destroyed, it cannot be started again - you'll have to create a new instance.

Calling `Dispose` when the hook is not running is safe - it just won't do anything (other than marking the instance as

disposed).



Hook events are of type `HookEventArgs` or a derived type which contains more info. It's possible to suppress event

propagation by setting the `SuppressEvent` property to `true` inside the event handler. This must be done synchronously

and is only supported on Windows and macOS. You can check the event time and whether the event is real or simulated with

the `EventTime` and `IsEventSimulated` properties respectively.



> [!IMPORTANT]

> Always use one instance of `IGlobalHook` at a time in the entire application since they all must use the same static

> method to set the hook callback for libuiohook, so there may only be one callback at a time. Running a global hook

> when another global hook is already running will corrupt the internal global state of libuiohook.



You can create a keyboard-only or a mouse-only hook by passing a `GlobalHookType` to the hook's constructor. This makes

a difference only on Windows where there are two different global hooks - a keyboard hook and a mouse hook. On macOS and

Linux there is one hook for all events, and this simply enables filtering keyboard or mouse events out on these OSes.



SharpHook provides two implementations of `IGlobalHook`:



- `SharpHook.SimpleGlobalHook` runs all of its event handlers on the same thread on which the hook itself runs. This

means that the handlers should generally be fast since they will block the hook from handling the events that follow if

they run for too long.



- `SharpHook.TaskPoolGlobalHook` runs all of its event handlers on other threads inside the default thread pool for

tasks. The parallelism level of the handlers can be configured. On backpressure it will queue the remaining handlers.

This means that the hook will be able to process all events. This implementation should be preferred to

`SimpleGlobalHook` except for very simple use-cases. But it has a downside - suppressing event propagation will be

ignored since event handlers are run on other threads.



The library also provides the `SharpHook.GlobalHookBase` class which you can extend to create your own implementation

of the global hook. It calls the appropriate event handlers, and you only need to implement a strategy for dispatching

the events. It also contains a finalizer which will stop the global hook if this object is not reachable anymore.



### Reactive Global Hooks



If you're using Rx.NET, you can use the SharpHook.Reactive package to integrate SharpHook with Rx.NET.



SharpHook.Reactive provides the `SharpHook.Reactive.IReactiveGlobalHook` interface along with a default implementation

which you can use to use to control the hook and subscribe to its observables. Here's a basic example:



```C#

using SharpHook.Reactive;



// ...



var hook = new SimpleReactiveGlobalHook();



hook.HookEnabled.Subscribe(OnHookEnabled);

hook.HookDisabled.Subscribe(OnHookDisabled);



hook.KeyTyped.Subscribe(OnKeyTyped);

hook.KeyPressed.Subscribe(OnKeyPressed);

hook.KeyReleased.Subscribe(OnKeyReleased);



hook.MouseClicked.Subscribe(OnMouseClicked);

hook.MousePressed.Subscribe(OnMousePressed);

hook.MouseReleased.Subscribe(OnMouseReleased);



hook.MouseMoved

    .Throttle(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5))

    .Subscribe(OnMouseMoved);



hook.MouseDragged

    .Throttle(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5))

    .Subscribe(OnMouseDragged);



hook.MouseWheel.Subscribe(OnMouseWheel);



hook.Run();

// or

hook.RunAsync().Subscribe();

```



Reactive global hooks are basically the same as the default global hooks and the same rules apply to them.



SharpHook.Reactive provides two implementations of `IReactiveGlobalHook`:



- `SharpHook.Reactive.SimpleReactiveGlobalHook`. Since we're dealing with observables, it's up to you to decide when

and where to handle the events through schedulers. A default scheduler can be specified for all observables.



- `SharpHook.Reactive.ReactiveGlobalHookAdapter` adapts an `IGlobalHook` to `IReactiveGlobalHook`. All

subscriptions and changes are propagated to the adapted hook. There is no default adapter from `IReactiveGlobalHook`

to `IGlobalHook`. A default scheduler can be specified for all observables.



### Event Simulation



SharpHook provides the ability to simulate keyboard and mouse events in a cross-platform way as well. Here's a quick

example:



```C#

using SharpHook;

using SharpHook.Native;



// ...



var simulator = new EventSimulator();



// Press Ctrl+C

simulator.SimulateKeyPress(KeyCode.VcLeftControl);

simulator.SimulateKeyPress(KeyCode.VcC);



// Release Ctrl+C

simulator.SimulateKeyRelease(KeyCode.VcC);

simulator.SimulateKeyRelease(KeyCode.VcLeftControl);



// Press the left mouse button

simulator.SimulateMousePress(MouseButton.Button1);



// Release the left mouse button

simulator.SimulateMouseRelease(MouseButton.Button1);



// Press the left mouse button at (0, 0)

simulator.SimulateMousePress(0, 0, MouseButton.Button1);



// Release the left mouse button at (0, 0)

simulator.SimulateMouseRelease(0, 0, MouseButton.Button1);



// Move the mouse pointer to (0, 0)

simulator.SimulateMouseMovement(0, 0);



// Move the mouse pointer 50 pixels to the right and 100 pixels down

simulator.SimulateMouseMovementRelative(50, 100);



// Scroll the mouse wheel

simulator.SimulateMouseWheel(

    rotation: -120,

    direction: MouseWheelScrollDirection.Vertical, // Vertical by default

    type: MouseWheelScrollType.UnitScroll); // UnitScroll by default

```



SharpHook provides the `IEventSimulator` interface, and the default implementation, `EventSimulator`, which calls

`UioHook.PostEvent` to simulate the events.



### Text Entry Simulation



SharpHook also provides text entry simulation. `IEventSimulator` contains the `SimulateTextEntry` method which accepts

a `string`. The text to simulate doesn't depend on the current keyboard layout. The full range of UTF-16 (including

surrogate pairs, e.g. emojis) is supported.



### Logging



libuiohook can log messages throughout its execution. By default the messages are not logged anywhere, but you can get

these logs by using the `ILogSource` interface and its default implementation, `LogSource`:



```C#

using SharpHook.Logging;



// ...



var logSource = LogSource.RegisterOrGet(minLevel: LogLevel.Info);

logSource.MessageLogged += this.OnMessageLogged;



private void OnMessageLogged(object? sender, LogEventArgs e) =>

    this.logger.Log(this.AdaptLogLevel(e.LogEntry.Level), e.LogEntry.FullText);

```



As with global hooks, you should use only one `LogSource` object at a time. `ILogSource` extends `IDisposable` - you

can dispose of a log source to stop receiving libuiohook messages.



An `EmptyLogSource` class is also available - this class doesn't listen to the libuiohook logs and can be used instead

of `LogSource` in release builds.



SharpHook.Reactive contains the `IReactiveLogSource` and `ReactiveLogSourceAdapter` so you can use them in a more

reactive way:



```C#

using SharpHook.Logging;

using SharpHook.Reactive.Logging;



// ...



var logSource = LogSource.RegisterOrGet(minLevel: LogLevel.Info);

var reactiveLogSource = new ReactiveLogSourceAdapter(logSource);

reactiveLogSource.MessageLogged.Subscribe(this.OnMessageLogged);

```



### Testing



SharpHook provides two classes which make testing easier. They aren't required since mocks can be used instead, but

unlike mocks, no setup is required to use these classes.



`SharpHook.Testing.TestGlobalHook` provides an implementation of `IGlobalHook` and `IEventSimulator` which can be used

for testing. When the `Run` or `RunAsync` method is called, it will dispatch events using the various `Simulate` methods

from `IEventSimulator`.



If this class is used as an `IEventSimulator` in the tested code, then the `SimulatedEvents` property can be checked to

see which events were simulated using the test instance.



If an `IReactiveGlobalHook` is needed for testing, then `ReactiveGlobalHookAdapter` can be used to adapt an instance of

`TestGlobalHook`.



If the low-level functionality of SharpHook should be mocked, or mocking should be pushed as far away as possible,

then `SharpHook.Testing.TestProvider` can be used. It implements every interface in the `SharpHook.Providers` namespace

and as such it can be used instead of a normal low-level functionality provider.



Like `TestGlobalHook`, this class can post events using the `PostEvent` method and dispatch them if `Run` was called.

It also contains the `PostedEvents` property.



## Building from Source



In order to build this library, you'll first need to get libuiohook binaries. You you can get a

[nightly build from this repository](https://github.com/TolikPylypchuk/SharpHook/actions/workflows/build.yml), or you

can build them yourself as instructed in the [libuiohook fork](https://github.com/TolikPylypchuk/libuiohook) that

SharpHook uses (not recommended as it's non-trivial, and you should most probably use the same options that the build in

this repository uses anyway).



Place the binaries into the appropriate directories in the `SharpHook` project, as described in the following table:



  

    OS

    File

    Source directory

    Target directory

  

  

    Windows

    uiohook.dll

    windows/<platform>/bin

    lib/win-<platform>

  

  

    macOS

    libuiohook.dylib

    darwin/<platform>/lib

    lib/osx-<platform>

  

  

    Mac Catalyst

    libuiohook.dylib

    catalyst/<platform>/lib

    lib/maccatalyst-<platform>

  

  

    Linux

    libuiohook.so

    linux/<platform>/lib

    lib/linux-<platform>

  



With libuiohook in place you can build SharpHook using your usual methods, e.g. with Visual Studio or the `dotnet` CLI.

You need .NET 8 to build SharpHook.



## Library Status



I will maintain the library to keep up with the releases of libuiohook which uses a rolling release model - every commit

to its `1.3` branch is considered stable. If you've noticed that this library hasn't gotten new commits in some time,

rest assured that it's not abandoned! I'm not giving up on this library any time soon.



## Icon



Icon made by [Freepik](https://www.freepik.com) from [www.flaticon.com](https://www.flaticon.com).