VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

Send, SendWait Methods

Class

System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys

Syntax

SendKeys.Send(keys)

SendKeys.SendWait(keys)

keys (required; String)

String describing keys to send to the active window

Description

Sends keystrokes to the active window of the foreground application. For SendKeys.Send, further execution continues without waiting for the keys to be processed. For SendKeys.SendWait, further execution is suspended until the keystrokes have been processed.

Rules at a Glance

• To send normal alphabetical or numeric characters, simply use the character or characters enclosed in quotation marks. For example, "SOME Text 123".

• The following characters represent special keys or have special meaning within the Keys string:

  Character	Special key representation
  +	SHIFT
  ^	CTRL
  %	ALT
  ~ or {ENTER}	ENTER

  To use these characters literally, you must surround the character with braces. For example, to specify the percentage key, use {%}.

• Preceding a string with the special characters described in the previous table allows you to send a keystroke combination beginning with Shift, Ctrl, or Alt. For example, to specify Ctrl followed by “M,” use ^M.

• If you need to specify that the Shift, Ctrl, or Alt key is held down while another key is pressed, you should enclose the key or keys in parentheses and precede the parentheses with the special character code. For example, to specify the M key being pressed while holding down the Alt key, use %(M).

• The following table describes how to specify ...