Also trying to get running on .net Maui...

[submarines414]

This is just for desktop applications though. I am completely oblivious/new to async programming patterns. I understand starting my own task and awaiting a result just fine, but awaiting a keyboard listener that should run for the life of the program (and therefore there is nothing to await) just confuses me more. After using RunAsync() on an initialized TaskPoolGlobalHook with an applicable event listener:

void OnKeyPressed(object sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e) { // assign string to some GUI field here }

I get a peculiar exception message:

Exception thrown: 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' in WinRT.Runtime.dll
An exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in WinRT.Runtime.dll but was not handled in user code
The application called an interface that was marshalled for a different thread. (0x8001010E (RPC_E_WRONG_THREAD))

I have done a similar callback system in a basic console test app. I still had an error when I tried to call the destructor with one of the keys being listened itself (something about a referenced item not existing), but the key codes were able to be printed to the console just fine.

You mentioned the singleton nature of hardware listeners in some of your docs and I'm wondering if maybe it's conflicting with the MAUI system input listeners themselves, but probably I just have no idea how to use an async function. Obviously I can't use Run() the regular way because that will just block my entire app from updating, unless I run and destroy it for every keypress.

Are there any current examples of using the non-react version in an application like this?

Background: used to being spoonfed key codes from useful Rust libraries and game engines and am a newb with c#.

[TolikPylypchuk]

Hi! Thanks for using SharpHook!

It looks like a problem with threads. You see, when you call RunAsync on a TaskPoolGlobalHook (or SimpleGlobalHook) it will start a new thread and run the global hook there. In case of SimpleGlobalHook, all event handlers will also run in that same new thread. In case of TaskPoolGlobalHook, the event handlers will run on some thread in the thread pool for Task objects. Sounds difficult to someone who's new to this, but you don't have to dive into details. All you have to know is that if you want to update the UI in MAUI (or any other UI framework for .NET) you'll have to do that in the main thread. You can use the MainThread class for this.

Your code will then look something like this:

void OnKeyPressed(object sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
{
    MainThread.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(() =>
    {
        // assign string to some GUI field here
    });
}

If you have any problems, feel free to continue the discussion.

[submarines414]

Oh that makes sense! Thank you so much, I super appreciate it, as well as this code you've written.

[submarines414]

Okay I've been running this successfully on windows .net 6 and 7 for a while, but the same code on mac (visual studio, etc) seems to make the hook and then the thread immediately drops. Have you seen anything similar from others? It's the same environment as before, using with .net maui apps. Using the non-react, happens with both task pool and simple, already made sure no parts of the program are accidentally disposing it while the program's running.

[TolikPylypchuk]

It appears that libuiohook needs to be built for Mac Catalyst as well. I'm not sure how to achieve that and whether its functionality will work at all on Mac Catalyst. I also don't have access to a Mac at the moment, so I won't be able to test any improvements. I'll create an issue so that it's more visible. Let's move the discussion there.

[headintheclouds21]

I've also been trying to use this for Mac Catalyst and I've been running into the same issue as @karthitect . I've placed the dlls in bin/Debug/net7.0-maccatalyst/maccatalyst-x64 and they're still not being found. Does anyone have any advice for this? Has there been any progress on this? I'd love to use SharpHook in my NET MAUI application, but this is a large impediment that's preventing me from doing so.

[TolikPylypchuk]

@headintheclouds21 Thanks for asking, but unfortunately no, there's been no progress on SharpHook support for Mac Catalyst. This is being tracked in issue #35.

[TolikPylypchuk]

FYI, I've just released version 5.0.0 which adds support for .NET MAUI on macOS.

[headintheclouds21]

@TolikPylypchuk Awesome! That's exciting! When I get a chance I'm going to try using it