Simulating keyboard and mouse clicks globally

Question

so I have received an external motion controller device (Myo) and I wish to create an application where certain motions will basically simulate a keystroke or keypress globally (doesn't matter about what application). This will happen while my program is running in the background so it can receive motion inputs and output as a keyboard press.

An example would be if I were to be playing Baseball game in the foreground (also full screen) and I do a pitching motion, the program will output the key which will do a pitch in game (whichever key it might be).

I have looked into the SendKeys class in C# but I feel there might be limitations as to what it can do (specifically global keypress sending).

Is there a good way where I can possibly write a program so I can map the actions with my motion controller to a keypress using C#? It would also be good if it can do key_down and key_up for key holdings.

Answer 1

The most direct way to accomplish truly global key-presses is to emulate a keyboard. This will involve creating a keyboard driver that somehow provides access to your background program. However this involves kernel programming which is quite complex.

An alternative is to use the SendKeys API combined with some logic to find the currently active application.

Answer 2

I know this isn't a C# solution, but the Myo Script interface in Myo Connect was essentially built for this purpose and would probably be the easiest way of testing things out if nothing else.

To send a keyboard command using Myo Script you can use myo.keyboard() (docs here).

If you want the script to be active at all times, you will need to consistently return true in onForegroundWindowChange() and pay attention to the script's location in the application manager. Scripts at the top of the application manager will be checked first, so your script may lose out if there is another one above it that 'wants' control of a given application.