Is there a way to make multiple windows "active" at one time? in Windows?

Question

Let's say a program that I created, an on-screen keyboard. I want to make it active so that it can receive my keyboard inputs, even while another program such as Google Chrome, or Notepad.exe is receiving my keyboard inputs as well. I mainly want my keyboard to run like "Nohboard" I am having trouble because once I get my keyboard looking and working like I want it, whenever I open another window, my keyboard will not work as long as "Windows 7" is focused on the "notepad.exe" for example. The reason I am making this is to monitor my keystrokes on-screen using my own software. I am trying to design my keyboard with gm studio 1.4 but without having the ability to make multiple windows active at once, my keyboard becomes useless everytime I click away from the keyboard program that I can create. Is there any workarounds that can be used? Maybe a 3rd party script created by another program to allow my program's window to be "active" and receive keyboard keystroke inputs while another program is also active and receiving keyboard keystroke inputs? Thanks in advance for anyone who can think of a solution that would be at all helpful.

Space::
SetTitleMatchMode, 2
ControlSend, , {Space Down}, Typing Lessons
ControlSend, , {Space Down}, kb
Keywait, Space
ControlSend, , {Space Up}, kb
ControlSend, , {Space Up}, Typing Lessons
Return

One thing that I've just figured out how to do, with autohotkey scripts is send keys to multiple programs. Is there a way to send it to the "last active window" and the "current active window" using autohotkey?

Solution

On a Windows System it is not possible to activate Multiple Windows at the same Time.

Only One Window can be Active. (Focused)

But there are two Ways that can help to Solved your Problem.

1 - You can for example your Onscreen Keyboard Window, to let ignore/disable Focus that Keyboard Window. (No Focus) (No activate + +E0x08000000)

Try This Ahk Script.

Note: This is a onscreen Keys Strip from F1 to F12

Example1.ahk

Gui, +LastFound +AlwaysOnTop +ToolWindow -Caption +Border +E0x08000000
Gui, Font, s07, Arial
Loop, 12
Gui, Add, Button, % "x" 5+(A_Index-1)*60 " y5 w60 h25 vF" A_Index " gButton", F%A_Index%
Gui, Show, y0 w730 h35 NoActivate
Return

Button:
    SendInput, % "{" A_GuiControl "}"
Return

GuiClose:
    ExitApp
Return

~esc::exitapp

2 - Or You can Use a 3rd party script,

note : run these 2 Scripts together. (KeypressValueToREG + ShowKeypressValue)

The First one is a Large Script but you can do many things, It Will Put All your Mouse and Keyboard Movements into Only One Windows Registry Key.

The Power of this KeypressValueToREG script is, you can run it in the background, and then you can use it in other Applications or other Languages Visual Studio/Visual Basic/c++/Python/Autohotkey/? They only need to Acces/Read that One Registry Key.

KeypressValueToREG.ahk

;KeypressValueToREG.ahk comes from KeypressOSD.ahk that was Created by Author RaptorX
; Open this Script in Wordpad and For Changelog look to the Bottom of the script. 
;This code works with a getkeyname from a Dllcall (See Bottom Script- by Lexikos)
;you can press the esc key to exit.

#SingleInstance force
#NoEnv
SetBatchLines, -1
ListLines, Off

; Settings
    global TransN                := 200      ; 0~255
    global ShowSingleKey         := True
    global ShowMouseButton       := True
    global ShowSingleModifierKey := True
    global ShowModifierKeyCount  := true
    global ShowStickyModKeyCount := false
    global DisplayTime           := 2000     ; In milliseconds
    global GuiPosition           := "Bottom" ; Top or Bottom
    global FontSize              := 50
    global GuiHeight             := 115

CreateGUI()
CreateHotkey()
return

OnKeyPressed:
    try {
        key := GetKeyStr()
        ShowHotkey(key)
        SetTimer, HideGUI, % -1 * DisplayTime
    }
return

OnKeyUp:
return

_OnKeyUp:
    tickcount_start := A_TickCount
return


CreateGUI() {
    global

    Gui, +AlwaysOnTop -Caption +Owner +LastFound +E0x20
    Gui, Margin, 0, 0
    Gui, Color, Black
    Gui, Font, cWhite s%FontSize% bold, Arial
    Gui, Add, Text, vHotkeyText Center y20

    WinSet, Transparent, %TransN%
}

CreateHotkey() {
    Loop, 95
    {
        k := Chr(A_Index + 31)
        k := (k = " ") ? "Space" : k

        Hotkey, % "~*" k, OnKeyPressed
        Hotkey, % "~*" k " Up", _OnKeyUp
    }

    Loop, 24 ; F1-F24
    {
        Hotkey, % "~*F" A_Index, OnKeyPressed
        Hotkey, % "~*F" A_Index " Up", _OnKeyUp
    }

    Loop, 10 ; Numpad0 - Numpad9
    {
        Hotkey, % "~*Numpad" A_Index - 1, OnKeyPressed
        Hotkey, % "~*Numpad" A_Index - 1 " Up", _OnKeyUp
    }

    Otherkeys := "WheelDown|WheelUp|WheelLeft|WheelRight|XButton1|XButton2|Browser_Forward|Browser_Back|Browser_Refresh|Browser_Stop|Browser_Search|Browser_Favorites|Browser_Home|Volume_Mute|Volume_Down|Volume_Up|Media_Next|Media_Prev|Media_Stop|Media_Play_Pause|Launch_Mail|Launch_Media|Launch_App1|Launch_App2|Help|Sleep|PrintScreen|CtrlBreak|Break|AppsKey|NumpadDot|NumpadDiv|NumpadMult|NumpadAdd|NumpadSub|NumpadEnter|Tab|Enter|Esc|BackSpace"
               . "|Del|Insert|Home|End|PgUp|PgDn|Up|Down|Left|Right|ScrollLock|CapsLock|NumLock|Pause|sc145|sc146|sc046|sc123"
    Loop, parse, Otherkeys, |
    {
        Hotkey, % "~*" A_LoopField, OnKeyPressed
        Hotkey, % "~*" A_LoopField " Up", _OnKeyUp
    }

    If ShowMouseButton {
        Loop, Parse, % "LButton|MButton|RButton", |
            Hotkey, % "~*" A_LoopField, OnKeyPressed
    }

    for i, mod in ["Ctrl", "Shift", "Alt"] {
        Hotkey, % "~*" mod, OnKeyPressed
        Hotkey, % "~*" mod " Up", OnKeyUp
    }
    for i, mod in ["LWin", "RWin"]
        Hotkey, % "~*" mod, OnKeyPressed
}

ShowHotkey(HotkeyStr) {
    WinGetPos, ActWin_X, ActWin_Y, ActWin_W, ActWin_H, A
    if !ActWin_W
        throw

    text_w := (ActWin_W > A_ScreenWidth) ? A_ScreenWidth : ActWin_W

    ;remove this gui codeline if you want only to Write the Value to Windows registry
    ;GuiControl,     , HotkeyText, %HotkeyStr%
    ;GuiControl,     , HotkeyText, %HotkeyStr%

    RegWrite, REG_SZ, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,software\GetKeypressValue,KeypressValue,%HotkeyStr%

    ;remove this gui codeline if you want only to Write the Value to Windows registry
    ;GuiControl, Move, HotkeyText, w%text_w% Center
    ;GuiControl, Move, HotkeyText, w%text_w% Center

    if (GuiPosition = "Top")
        gui_y := ActWin_Y
    else
        gui_y := (ActWin_Y+ActWin_H) - 115 - 50

    ;remove this gui codeline if you want only to Write the Value to Windows registry
    ;Gui, Show, NoActivate x%ActWin_X% y%gui_y% h%GuiHeight% w%text_w%
    ;Gui, Show, NoActivate x%ActWin_X% y%gui_y% h%GuiHeight% w%text_w%
}

GetKeyStr() {
    static modifiers := ["Ctrl", "Shift", "Alt", "LWin", "RWin"]
    static repeatCount := 1

    for i, mod in modifiers {
        if GetKeyState(mod)
            prefix .= mod " + "
    }

    if (!prefix && !ShowSingleKey)
        throw

    key := SubStr(A_ThisHotkey, 3)

    if (key ~= "i)^(Ctrl|Shift|Alt|LWin|RWin)$") {
        if !ShowSingleModifierKey {
            throw
        }
        key := ""
        prefix := RTrim(prefix, "+ ")

        if ShowModifierKeyCount {
            if !InStr(prefix, "+") && IsDoubleClickEx() {
                if (A_ThisHotKey != A_PriorHotKey) || ShowStickyModKeyCount {
                    if (++repeatCount > 1) {
                        prefix .= " ( * " repeatCount " )"
                    }
                } else {
                    repeatCount := 0
                }
            } else {
                repeatCount := 1
            }
        }
    } else {
        if ( StrLen(key) = 1 ) {
            key := GetKeyChar(key, "A")
        } else if ( SubStr(key, 1, 2) = "sc" ) {
            key := SpecialSC(key)
        } else if (key = "LButton") && IsDoubleClick() {
            key := "Double-Click"
        }
        _key := (key = "Double-Click") ? "LButton" : key

        static pre_prefix, pre_key, keyCount := 1
        global tickcount_start
        if (prefix && pre_prefix) && (A_TickCount-tickcount_start < 300) {
            if (prefix != pre_prefix) {
                result := pre_prefix pre_key ", " prefix key
            } else {
                keyCount := (key=pre_key) ? (keyCount+1) : 1
                key := (keyCount>2) ? (key " (" keyCount ")") : (pre_key ", " key)
            }
        } else {
            keyCount := 1
        }

        pre_prefix := prefix
        pre_key := _key

        repeatCount := 1
    }
    return result ? result : prefix . key
}

SpecialSC(sc) {
    static k := {sc046: "ScrollLock", sc145: "NumLock", sc146: "Pause", sc123: "Genius LuxeMate Scroll"}
    return k[sc]
}

; by Lexikos - https://autohotkey.com/board/topic/110808-getkeyname-for-other-languages/#entry682236
GetKeyChar(Key, WinTitle:=0) {
    thread := WinTitle=0 ? 0
        : DllCall("GetWindowThreadProcessId", "ptr", WinExist(WinTitle), "ptr", 0)
    hkl := DllCall("GetKeyboardLayout", "uint", thread, "ptr")
    vk := GetKeyVK(Key), sc := GetKeySC(Key)
    VarSetCapacity(state, 256, 0)
    VarSetCapacity(char, 4, 0)
    n := DllCall("ToUnicodeEx", "uint", vk, "uint", sc
        , "ptr", &state, "ptr", &char, "int", 2, "uint", 0, "ptr", hkl)
    return StrGet(&char, n, "utf-16")
}

IsDoubleClick(MSec = 300) {
    Return (A_ThisHotKey = A_PriorHotKey) && (A_TimeSincePriorHotkey < MSec)
}

IsDoubleClickEx(MSec = 300) {
    preHotkey := RegExReplace(A_PriorHotkey, "i) Up$")
    Return (A_ThisHotKey = preHotkey) && (A_TimeSincePriorHotkey < MSec)
}

HideGUI() {
    Gui, Hide
}

~esc::exitapp    
;---------------------------------------------
; ChangeLog : v2.22 (2017-02-25) - Now pressing the same combination keys continuously more than 2 times,
;                                  for example press Ctrl+V 3 times, will displayed as "Ctrl + v (3)"
;             v2.21 (2017-02-24) - Fixed LWin/RWin not poping up start menu
;             v2.20 (2017-02-24) - Added displaying continuous-pressed combination keys.
;                                  e.g.: With CTRL key held down, pressing K and U continuously will shown as "Ctrl + k, u"
;             v2.10 (2017-01-22) - Added ShowStickyModKeyCount option
;             v2.09 (2017-01-22) - Added ShowModifierKeyCount option
;             v2.08 (2017-01-19) - Fixed a bug
;             v2.07 (2017-01-19) - Added ShowSingleModifierKey option (default is True)
;             v2.06 (2016-11-23) - Added more keys. Thanks to SashaChernykh.
;             v2.05 (2016-10-01) - Fixed not detecting "Ctrl + ScrollLock/NumLock/Pause". Thanks to lexikos.
;             v2.04 (2016-10-01) - Added NumpadDot and AppsKey
;             v2.03 (2016-09-17) - Added displaying "Double-Click" of the left mouse button.
;             v2.02 (2016-09-16) - Added displaying mouse button, and 3 settings (ShowMouseButton, FontSize, GuiHeight)
;             v2.01 (2016-09-11) - Display non english keyboard layout characters when combine with modifer keys.
;             v2.00 (2016-09-01) - Removed the "Fade out" effect because of its buggy.
;                                - Added support for non english keyboard layout.
;                                - Added GuiPosition setting.
;             v1.00 (2013-10-11) - First release.
;--------------------------------------------

And the Second One it will Show Visual On your Desktop Screen All your Mouse and Keyboard Movements, You can Change this Script a little bit and then make your own keyboard that can show Visual all your keyboard Movements,

and if you use the trick from Example1.ahk then you can make a Professional Onscreen Keyboard Without focus the Window.

ShowKeypressValue.ahk

#SingleInstance force
Gui, +AlwaysOnTop -MaximizeBox ; -Caption +Resize -MinimizeBox +Disabled -SysMenu -Owner +OwnDialogs
Gui, Add, Text, center y10 h50 w300 vVar,  %KeypressValue%
Gui, Color, White
Gui, show
size=20
Gui, Font, s%size%
GuiControl, Font, var

;run KeypressValueToREG.ahk - together with ShowKeypressValue.ahk
;The Features Are:
; - It will Show On your Screen, [All your Mouse Movements] and [All Keyboard Shortcuts Movement]
; - You can Make Scripts, that can do actions with MultiClicks on All Keyboard Shortcuts Clicks, How Cool Is that. 

loop
{
RegRead, KeypressValue, HKEY_CURRENT_USER,software\GetKeypressValue,KeypressValue ; read KeypressValue
sleep 50
GuiControl,, var, %KeypressValue%



if (KeypressValue="Alt ( * 2 )") ;use this for [1x=Alt][2x=Alt ( * 2 )][3x=Alt ( * 3 )] [and many more]
{
;Here you can put any AHK CODE 
msgbox you did click Alt 2x Times
}

if (KeypressValue="Alt ( * 3 )") ;use this for [1x=Alt][2x=Alt ( * 2 )][3x=Alt ( * 3 )] [and many more]
{
;Here you can put any AHK CODE 
msgbox you did click Alt 3x Times
}


} ;End Loop

~esc::exitapp

Comments

[IInspectable]

Totally unreliable, with lots of flicker going about. This is not useful, not even as a proof-of-concept (unless you are trying to prove, that this is not a solution).

[user3419297]

On my system it's working. The tooltips are only for testing.

[IInspectable]

Works on My Machine certification is no indication, that code is correct. Clearly, that script runs a timer with arbitrary time, to employ polling. Polling is a way of sampling. As with all sampling, you are missing all events that occur in between sampling points. No, I'm afraid, this is just a kludge, not a solution. The solution is given in comments.

[user3419297]

Logically, If it doesn't work on your system/program, something is wrong or missing in it or in the way you're using it. As far as I can see in your profile, you may be an expert in other domains, but not in AHK. And the user asked for a solution in AHK

[IInspectable]

I just explained one of many failure modes (polling). It doesn't matter, whether I answer AHK questions here or not. I am in a fairly comfortable position to know the system AHK runs on, and I provided the system-level solution to the question the OP appears to have asked. The system makes the rules that any program needs to follow, AHK being no exception. Contrast your proposed solution with my comments to the question, and you'll quickly see, which approach is more likely to produce a reliable solution. A solution need not fail on my system for me to see how it can fail.

[user3419297]

I cannot test your solution because I don't know the way of installing and/or using it. Maybe you can explain the way to do it, if it's not too much to ask.

[Iroamalone Atnight]

This is fantastic looking, which part would I need to edit, to re-direct keystrokes to "kb.exe"? @stevecody

[stevecody]

@Iroamalone Atnight - there are two ways to re-direct the keystrokes - 1:you can edit ShowKeypressValue.ahk and re-direct the keystrokes to kb.exe - 2:or you can use an other languages that can acces only that Windows Registry Key (ps - i am not sure did you make kb.exe with gamemaker studio 1.4 if it is you will need to find out if that languages is able to read that Windows Registry key)

[stevecody]

@Iroamalone Atnight - if the gamemaker studio 1.4 Languages is not able to acces that Windows Registry Key then you can think about a ThirdPart Automation Software, i am using Buttoncommander - with this you can create very simple Button icons on your Desktop that can execute any kind of Autohotkey Scripts - you can then do this, if the Windows Registry Key value is "a" then Highlight Button icon a

[stevecody]

@Iroamalone Atnight - Autohotkey Together With Buttoncommander you can Make many thinks more watch to these Videos and you now why Toolbars,Clipboards,Virtual keyboards,Monitor keyboards,Launchpads,Enterpads,Intelligence Google Search Buttons

[Iroamalone Atnight]

Would you be interested in designing it for me? How much would you charge? this stuff is very confusing for me, I don't think I can do it currently without a lot of training. E-mail at "[email protected]" if you are interested, I can send you the program in order to see if you're able to do it or not.