Get Mouse State without access to MouseEventArgs?

Question

I have a form with many, many controls. I need to detect if the mouse is down or if it's up. Most of the time, I don't have MouseEventArgs.

Is there a quick and easy way to tell if the mouse is down without mouseEventArgs?

Is there an alternative, or is something like this the only way?:

foreach (Control c in this.Controls)
{
    c.MouseUp += new MouseEventHandler(globalMouseUp);
    c.MouseDown += new MouseEventHandler(globalMouseDown);
}


bool isMouseUp = true;


private void globalMouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    isMouseUp = false;
}

private void globalMouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    isMouseUp = true;
}

Solution 1

You can try checking with a timer:

private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e) {
  this.Text = "Mouse Is " + (Control.MouseButtons == MouseButtons.Left);
}

Solution 2

ChecK Control.MouseButtons static property:

if (Control.MouseButtons == MouseButtons.Left)
{
}

Comments

[banging]

Handle mouse events on the form rather than the individual controls.

[paparazzo]

@banging My experience is Forms does not bubble events up like WPF. Events on the form they only fire directly on the form. Mousedown on a control does not bubble to the form. If you have made this work at the form level then please show how.

[RenniePet]

"I need to detect if the mouse is down or if it's up." Like, if it's feeling depressed or in a good mood? Or if it's not working today? (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

[David]

MouseButtons < Just what I was looking for. Thanks!

[user1703401]

Implementing IMessageFilter is a way to turn that into events.

[dhakim]

Since it took me a while to figure out what that meant without name spaces, maybe this will help people: System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons pressedButtons = System.Windows.Forms.Control.MouseButtons;

[Admin]

Just curious, is there a way to achieve the exact same thing WITHOUT System.Windows.Forms? When developing with WPF, it would seem unnecessary to reference the additional library just to accomplish this specific task, especially if you know you won't need it for anything else.

[Admin]

It appears you can use if (Mouse.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Pressed) if developing with WPF, using System.Windows.Input.

[bwall]

@JamesM, Good find. It's important to note that the System.Windows.Forms method can be run on any thread, while the System.Windows.Input one needs to be run on an STA thread (typically the GUI thread.)