Synthesizing KeyStrokes

[abhijit123]

I am developed a dialog as a MFC DLL which i am invoking through a another application viz. Unigraphics. For the event of one of button clicks I want to open a sub-menu from parent window(unigraphics). The key short cut for it is Ctl + M or Alt + N + M.
The first option is not working through SendMessage.

However in second case if I use SendMessage with message as WM_SYSCOMMAND type,wParam as SC_KEYMENU and lParam as 'N', the Alt + N functionality is executed. But M keystroke is not getting synthesized.

Code: -

SendMessage(hWndUG,WM_SYSCOMMAND ,SC_KEYMENU,'n');
SendMessage(hWndUG,WM_KEYDOWN,0x4D,0);
SendMessage(hWndUG,WM_KEYUP,0x4D,0);

On non-mfc applications do only WM_SYSCOMMAND messages work? How do I sysnthesize non-system keys(without alt).
I tried keybd_event too without success. Currently for temporary purpose I am using a exe generated from Visual Basic. It works fine but it is a very crude way of performing this task. The VB code is:

Private Sub Form_Load()
AppActivate "Unigraphics"
SendKeys "%"
SendKeys "{N}"
SendKeys "{M}
Unload Me
End Sub

In VB too Ctl + M doesn't work. can anyone suggest a good solution!

 

[alexboly]

MSDN : "If the wParam is SC_KEYMENU, lParam contains the character code of the key that is used with the ALT key to display the popup menu. For example, pressing ALT+F to display the File popup will cause a WM_SYSCOMMAND with wParam equal to SC_KEYMENU and lParam equal to 'f'."

So I think that WM_SYSCOMMAND is only used with Alt key, not with CTRL.
Couldn't you use another message, like WM_COMMAND, or WM_CONTEXTMENU or WM_RBUTTONDOWN?