[VBnet System] SetKeyboardState: Activating CapsLock and NumLock on Win9x


	Visual Basic System Services SetKeyboardState: Activating CapsLock and NumLock on Win9x

Posted:	Thursday December 26, 1996
Updated:	Monday December 26, 2011

Applies to:	VB4-32, VB5, VB6
Developed with:	VB5, Windows 95
OS restrictions:	None
Author:	VBnet - Randy Birch

Related:	keybd_event: Activating CapsLock, NumLock, ScrollLock and PrintScreen (NT or later) BitBlt: Mimicking the PrintScreen Function BitBlt: Mimicking PrintScreen to Create a 'PrintForm' OleCreatePictureIndirect: Mimicking PrintScreen Using OLE

Prerequisites

VB version supporting the Byte data type. Although this code will toggle the actual keyboard state on a NT/2000 system, it will not toggle the corresponding keyboard lights. See the link above for NT-specific code.

BAS Module Code

Place the following code into the general declarations area of a bas module:

Option Explicit

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' Copyright ©1996-2011 VBnet/Randy Birch, All Rights Reserved.
' Some pages may also contain other copyrights by the author.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' Distribution: You can freely use this code in your own
'               applications, but you may not reproduce 
'               or publish this code on any web site,
'               online service, or distribute as source 
'               on any media without express permission.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Public Const VK_CAPITAL = &H14

Public Type KeyboardBytes
   kbByte(0 To 255) As Byte
End Type

Public kbArray As KeyboardBytes

Public Declare Function GetKeyState Lib "user32" _
   (ByVal nVirtKey As Long) As Long

Public Declare Function GetKeyboardState Lib "user32" _
   (kbArray As KeyboardBytes) As Long

Public Declare Function SetKeyboardState Lib "user32" _
   (kbArray As KeyboardBytes) As Long

Form Code

On a form, add a 3 command buttons (Command1, Command2, Command3) and a label (Label1). Add the following code to the form:

Option Explicit

Private Sub Form_Load()

   Label1.Caption = IIf(CapsLock() = 1, "On", "Off")

End Sub


Function CapsLock() As Boolean
    
   CapsLock = GetKeyState(VK_CAPITAL) And 1 = 1
    
End Function


Private Sub Command1_Click()
   
   'toggle key state on each press
    GetKeyboardState kbArray
    kbArray.kbByte(VK_CAPITAL) = IIf(kbArray.kbByte(VK_CAPITAL) = 1, 0, 1)
    SetKeyboardState kbArray

    Label1.Caption = IIf(CapsLock() = 1, "On", "Off")

End Sub


Private Sub Command2_Click()

   'turn capslock on
    GetKeyboardState kbArray
    kbArray.kbByte(VK_CAPITAL) = 1
    SetKeyboardState kbArray

    Label1.Caption = IIf(CapsLock() = 1, "On", "Off")

End Sub


Private Sub Command3_Click()

   'turn capslock off
    GetKeyboardState kbArray
    kbArray.kbByte(VK_CAPITAL) = 0
    SetKeyboardState kbArray

    Label1.Caption = IIf(CapsLock() = 1, "On", "Off")

End Sub

Comments

The keyboard APIs for VB4-16 and VB3 do not support the byte data type.

By changing the Windows constant to VK_NUMLOCK = &H90, you can use the above method to activate the NumLock key instead.

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