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Disable Keyboard Shortcuts

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Sware

Programmer
Apr 19, 2005
124
US
We have a Clipper application running under Windows that is set to run in full-screen mode via the Screen Tab in the Properties of the program's Desktop Icon. Thus, the program never runs in a window. Exit from the program is controlled by a password.

Although we offer a special keypad tailored to the application, the program also supports use of a standard keyboard, which some customers choose to use to avoid the cost of the keypad. (The keypad can be used standalone or have a standard keyboard connected to it in parallel for using other applications on the system.)

We have run into some situations where only a standard keyboard is used and end users "fiddle with key combinations" and activate Keyboard Shortcuts with undesirable results -- e.g. Alt+Tab restores the Desktop and places the program in the Task Bar; Ctrl+Esc displays the Start Menu and places the program in the Task Bar, as does pressing the "Windows" key; etc. These results confuse end users and threaten system security.

Is there any way of disabling Windows Keyboard Shortcuts within Clipper code?

Note that the nature of the customer environment is such that running the application under Windows is important. The staff starts the program from a Desktop Icon and end users use our application for most of the day. However, the staff uses the computer for other applications at various times and, therefore, need to be able to control the startup and shutdown of our application.
 
Sware,

In Win98 and 2000 (and probably in XP also) there is a tab in the "Properties" of the PIF on the desktop that allows you to disable almost all the CTRL- and ALT- combinations used by windows to navigate from within your application through the desktop and other windows functions.

In Win98 and 2000 this tab is the rightmost one, called "Miscelanous". I'm not sure what is the title used in english as I'm used to read it in Portuguese.

It will not cover all your fears but some of them may be left in past...

Ulisses
mbinfo
 
Thank you for a good suggestion even though the PIF method does not cover all the "key fiddling" possibilities. We have confirmed that we cannot control things in the Clipper code. We have also discovered a shareware program called Tradekeys that provides disabling of the Windows shortcut keys. However, because of keyboard handling variations among different Windows systems, it does not handle all of the key combinations on 95, 98 and Me systems. It provides complete coverage under XP.
 
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