HardwareButton Class
Allows overriding the functionality of Pocket PC hardware buttons.
Namespace: Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms
Assembly: Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms (in microsoft.windowsce.forms.dll)
Syntax
'Declaration
Public Class HardwareButton
Inherits Component
'Usage
Dim instance As HardwareButton
public class HardwareButton : Component
public ref class HardwareButton : public Component
public class HardwareButton extends Component
public class HardwareButton extends Component
Remarks
You can configure a button on a Pocket PC to activate a Form, Panel, or custom control in your application by doing the following:
Create an instance of HardwareButton.
Set the AssociatedControl property to the form or control you want to activate.
Set the HardwareKey property to one of the HardwareKeys enumeration values. You can configure up to six hardware buttons.
When a hardware button is associated with a control, the control receives a KeyDown event when the button is pressed and a KeyUp event when the button is released.
To return a hardware button to its original state, set the AssociatedControl property to a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
Note that some Pocket PCs have a different number of hardware buttons besides six. Also, not all buttons are supported by the operating system. Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC supports four buttons and Windows Mobile version 5.0 software for Pocket PC supports five buttons.
This class is not supported on the Smartphone and other Windows CE devices that are not Pocket PCs.
Example
The following code example shows how to activate a form using the first and fourth hardware buttons on a Pocket PC.
Imports System
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms
Public Class Form1
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
Private statusBar1 As StatusBar
Private hwb1 As HardwareButton
Private hwb4 As HardwareButton
Public Sub New()
InitializeComponent()
' Display OK button to close the application.
Me.ControlBox = True
Me.MinimizeBox = False
ConfigHWButton()
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub Dispose(disposing As Boolean)
MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
End Sub
Private Sub InitializeComponent()
Me.statusBar1 = New System.Windows.Forms.StatusBar()
Me.hwb1 = New Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.HardwareButton
Me.hwb4 = New Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.HardwareButton
Me.SuspendLayout()
'
' statusBar1
'
Me.statusBar1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(0, 246)
Me.statusBar1.Name = "statusBar1"
Me.statusBar1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(240, 22)
'
' Form1
'
Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(240, 268)
Me.Controls.Add(statusBar1)
Me.Name = "Form1"
Me.Text = "HW Button Test"
Me.ResumeLayout(False)
statusBar1.Text = "From another app, press button 1 or 4."
End Sub
Shared Sub Main()
Application.Run(New Form1())
End Sub
Private Sub ConfigHWButton()
'Set KeyPreview to true so that the form
'will receive key events before they
'are passed to the control that has focus.
Me.KeyPreview = True
hwb1 = New HardwareButton()
hwb4 = New HardwareButton()
'Set the AssociatedControl property
'to the current form and configure the
'first and fourth buttons to activate the form.
Try
hwb1.AssociatedControl = Me
hwb4.AssociatedControl = Me
hwb1.HardwareKey = HardwareKeys.ApplicationKey1
hwb4.HardwareKey = HardwareKeys.ApplicationKey4
Catch exc As Exception
MsgBox(exc.Message + " Check if the hardware button is physically available on this device.")
End Try
End Sub
Private Overloads Sub OnKeyUp(sender As Object, e As KeyEventArgs) Handles MyBase.KeyUp
' When a hardware button is pressed and released,
' this form receives the KeyUp event. The OnKeyUp
' method is used to determine which hardware
' button was pressed, because the event data
' specifies a member of the HardwareKeys enumeration.
Select Case CType(e.KeyCode, HardwareKeys)
Case HardwareKeys.ApplicationKey1
statusBar1.Text = "Button 1 pressed."
Case HardwareKeys.ApplicationKey4
statusBar1.Text = "Button 4 pressed."
Case Else
End Select
End Sub
End Class
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms;
namespace HardwareButtonTest
{
public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
private StatusBar statusBar1;
private HardwareButton hwb1, hwb4;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
// Display OK button to close the application.
this.ControlBox = true;
this.MinimizeBox = false;
// Create event-handler delegate for the KeyUp
// event for this form. This form is associated
// with each of the hardware buttons, and the
// event occurs when a hardware button is pressed.
// Note that you could also use the KeyDown event
// instead of the KeyUp event.
this.KeyPreview = true;
this.KeyUp += new KeyEventHandler(this.OnKeyUp);
// Call the method to configure
// the hardware button.
HBConfig();
}
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
private void InitializeComponent()
{
this.statusBar1 = new System.Windows.Forms.StatusBar();
this.SuspendLayout();
//
// statusBar1
//
this.statusBar1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(0, 246);
this.statusBar1.Name = "statusBar1";
this.statusBar1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(240, 22);
//
// Form1
//
this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(240, 268);
this.Controls.Add(this.statusBar1);
this.Name = "Form1";
this.Text = "HW Button Test";
this.ResumeLayout(false);
statusBar1.Text = "Press hardware button 1 or 4.";
}
static void Main()
{
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
// Configure hardware buttons
// 1 and 4 to activate the current form.
private void HBConfig()
{
try
{
hwb1 = new HardwareButton();
hwb4 = new HardwareButton();
hwb1.AssociatedControl = this;
hwb4.AssociatedControl = this;
hwb1.HardwareKey = HardwareKeys.ApplicationKey1;
hwb4.HardwareKey = HardwareKeys.ApplicationKey4;
}
catch (Exception exc)
{
MessageBox.Show(exc.Message + " Check if the hardware button is physically available on this device.");
}
}
// When a hardware button is pressed and released,
// this form receives the KeyUp event. The OnKeyUp
// method is used to determine which hardware
// button was pressed, because the event data
// specifies a member of the HardwareKeys enumeration.
private void OnKeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
switch ((HardwareKeys)e.KeyCode)
{
case HardwareKeys.ApplicationKey1:
statusBar1.Text = "Button 1 pressed.";
break;
case HardwareKeys.ApplicationKey4:
statusBar1.Text = "Button 4 pressed.";
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}
}
Inheritance Hierarchy
System.Object
System.MarshalByRefObject
System.ComponentModel.Component
Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.HardwareButton
Thread Safety
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
Platforms
Windows Mobile for Pocket PC
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see System Requirements.
Version Information
.NET Compact Framework
Supported in: 2.0
See Also
Reference
HardwareButton Members
Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms Namespace