Send Mouse Events to C# WPF window

Question

I have a c# WPF application that is built by another party. It runs in the background behind my win32 application. Is there a way to send mouse events to the WPF window without moving the cursor or setting focus to the WPF application? I have tried PostMessage and SendMessage. Using spy++ I can see that the messages are being sent to the WPF window, but the WPF application doesn't respond to the events. I've read several comments from people that say the events get filtered because the window isn't the window with focus or the mouse isn't over the application receiving the messages. If these events are being filtered, is there a way I can turn off the filtering?

Answer 1

@JChild , Welcome to Microsoft Q&A, Since WPF does not have WndProc method to deal with messages, so we need to use HwndSource to get message from other apps.
I make a code example to send message from winform to wpf app, it works well.

Win32 code:

#define BTN_PLUS  100  
  
    LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)  
    {  
        switch (message)  
        {  
        case WM_CREATE:  
        {  
            CreateWindowEx(0, L"BUTTON", L"sendmessage", WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 130, 240, 125, 60,  
                hWnd, (HMENU)BTN_PLUS, GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL);  
            break;  
        }  
        case WM_COMMAND:  
            {  
                int wmId = LOWORD(wParam);  
                // Parse the menu selections:  
                switch (wmId)  
                {  
                case IDM_ABOUT:  
                    DialogBox(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_ABOUTBOX), hWnd, About);  
                    break;  
                case IDM_EXIT:  
                    DestroyWindow(hWnd);  
                    break;  
        /*        case BN_CLICKED*/  
                case 100:  
                {  
                    int x = 58;  
                    int y = 32;  
                    HWND handle = FindWindow(NULL, L"MainWindow");  
                    //MessageBoxA(hWnd, "Hello,world", "test1", WS_VISIBLE);  
                    PostMessage(handle, WM_LBUTTONDOWN, 0, x + (y << 16));  
                    PostMessage(handle, WM_LBUTTONUP, 0, x + (y << 16));  
                }  
                break;  
                default:  
                    return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);  
                }  
            }  
            break;  
        case WM_PAINT:  
            {  
                PAINTSTRUCT ps;  
                HDC hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);  
                // TODO: Add any drawing code that uses hdc here...  
                EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);  
            }  
            break;  
        case WM_DESTROY:  
            PostQuitMessage(0);  
            break;  
        default:  
            return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);  
        }  
        return 0;  
    }  

Wpf Code:

 public partial class MainWindow : Window  
    {  
        public MainWindow()  
        {  
            InitializeComponent();  
            this.SourceInitialized += new EventHandler(MainWindow_SourceInitialized);  
        }  
  
        #region   
        public const int WM_GETTEXT = 0x0D;  
        public const int WM_SETTEXT = 0x0C;  
        public const int WM_SIZEING = 0x0214;  
        public const int WM_COPYDATA = 0x004A;  
        public const int WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK = 0x0203;  
  
        public const int WM_LBUTTONDOWN = 0x201;  
        public const int WM_LBUTTONUP = 0x202;  
        #endregion  
  
        #region   
        public struct COPYDATASTRUCT  
        {  
            public IntPtr dwData;  
            public int cbData;  
            [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]  
            public string lpData;  
        }  
        #endregion  
        void MainWindow_SourceInitialized(object sender, EventArgs e)  
        {  
            IntPtr hwnd = new WindowInteropHelper(this).Handle;  
            HwndSource.FromHwnd(hwnd).AddHook(new HwndSourceHook(WndProc));  
        }  
        //public const int WM_GETTEXT = 0x0D;  
        IntPtr WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, int msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, ref bool handled)  
        {  
             
            switch (msg)  
            {  
  
                case WM_LBUTTONDOWN:  
                    //txtUserName.Text = "Left button down";  
                    MessageBox.Show("Left button down");  
                    break;  
                      
                case WM_LBUTTONUP:  
                    //txtUserName.Text = "Left button up";  
                    MessageBox.Show("Left button up");  
                    break;  
  
                default:  
                    {  
                        break;  
                    }  
  
  
            }  
            return IntPtr.Zero;  
        }  
    }  

Tested result:

It could transfer the message successfully.

Best Regards,
Jack

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