How would I integrate SharpShook into an AvaloniaUI App using Microsoft DI?

[sandreas]

Hey,

I'm trying to integrate SharpShook into an Avalonia UI App using Microsoft Dependency Injection, but I'm not sure, where to start RunAsync.

I tried to register this globally, but it seems that no events are triggered / no keysPresses are logged. OS is macOS, but I tried others...

Best regards.

[TolikPylypchuk]

Hi! Thanks for asking!

Firstly, regarding Microsoft DI - you can just register the global hook like that:

services.AddSingleton<IGlobalHook, TaskPoolGlobalHook>();
// or
services.AddSingleton<IGlobalHook>(s => new TaskPoolGlobalHook());

Secondly, regarding Avalonia - I think the best way would be to start the global hook in the App class (e.g. in the OnFrameworkInitializationCompleted method). You can call RunAsync and just ignore its result since you don't need to wait for the hook to stop. Also, you can configure the global hook to run on a background thread - this way it won't impede the application from stopping when you close the main window (or the last window, depending on your setup). Or you can just dispose of the hook in the window close handler - both approaches are fine.

Thirdly, do you mean that you've called RunAsync and no events are logged? Or do you mean that you just registered the hook and that's it? Because Run or RunAsync must be called for the hook to work - just registering it with the DI container is not enough.

[sandreas]

Thank you... This is a good reference, for a working code example, see my last comment.

[sandreas]

Hi! Thanks for asking!

Thanks for the quick response and providing such a useful library.

Secondly, regarding Avalonia - I think the best way would be to start the global hook in the App class (e.g. in the OnFrameworkInitializationCompleted method). You can call RunAsync and just ignore its result since you don't need to wait for the hook to stop.

That's exactly what I tried... did not work.

Thirdly, do you mean that you've called RunAsync and no events are logged? Or do you mean that you just registered the hook and that's it? Because Run or RunAsync must be called for the hook to work - just registering it with the DI container is not enough.

Well, I think it would be best, if I show you some (not working) code:

Details

using System;
using AudiobookshelfApi;
using AudiobookshelfApi.Api;
using Avalonia;
using Avalonia.Controls.ApplicationLifetimes;
using Avalonia.Markup.Xaml;
using Avalonia.SimpleRouter;
using LibVLCSharp.Shared;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using SharpHook;
using ToneAudioPlayer.Services;
using ToneAudioPlayer.ViewModels;
using ToneAudioPlayer.Views;

namespace ToneAudioPlayer;

public class App : Application
{
    private static TaskPoolGlobalHook _sharpHook = new();

    
    public override void Initialize()
    {
        AvaloniaXamlLoader.Load(this);
    }

    public override void OnFrameworkInitializationCompleted()
    {
            
        IServiceProvider services = ConfigureServices();
        var mainViewModel = services.GetRequiredService<MainViewModel>();
        if (ApplicationLifetime is IClassicDesktopStyleApplicationLifetime desktop)
        {
            desktop.MainWindow = new MainWindow
            {
                DataContext = mainViewModel
            };
        }
        else if (ApplicationLifetime is ISingleViewApplicationLifetime singleViewPlatform)
        {
            singleViewPlatform.MainView = new MainView
            {
                DataContext = mainViewModel
            };
        }

        base.OnFrameworkInitializationCompleted();
    }

    private static ServiceProvider ConfigureServices()
    {
        _sharpHook.KeyTyped += OnKeyTyped;
        _sharpHook.KeyPressed += OnKeyPressed;
        _sharpHook.KeyReleased += OnKeyReleased;
        _sharpHook.RunAsync();

        var services = new ServiceCollection();
        services.AddSingleton(_ => _sharpHook);
        services.AddSingleton<HistoryRouter<ViewModelBase>>(s => new HistoryRouter<ViewModelBase>(t => (ViewModelBase)s.GetRequiredService(t)));

        services.AddSingleton<Credentials>(_ => new Credentials
        {
            BaseAddress = new Uri(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AUDIOBOOKSHELF_URL") ?? ""),
            Username = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AUDIOBOOKSHELF_USERNAME") ?? "root",
            Password = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AUDIOBOOKSHELF_PASSWORD") ?? ""
        });
        services.AddSingleton<LibVLC>(s => new LibVLC(enableDebugLogs:false));
        services.AddSingleton<MediaPlayer>();
        services.AddSingleton<MediaPlayerService>();

        services.AddSingleton<MainViewModel>();
        
        services.AddTransient<HomeViewModel>();
        services.AddTransient<SettingsViewModel>();
        services.AddTransient<SearchViewModel>();
        
        // services.AddSingleton<Audiobookshelf>();
        services.AddHttpClient<Audiobookshelf>()
            .ConfigureHttpClient((sp, httpClient) =>
            {
                httpClient.Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10);
            })
            .SetHandlerLifetime(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5));

        return services.BuildServiceProvider();
    }
    
    
    private static void OnKeyReleased(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyReleased", e);
    }

    private static void AppendKeyLog(string keyreleased, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        // This is never reached / called
        KeyLogContent += $"{keyreleased}: {e.Data.KeyChar}\n";
    }

    public static string KeyLogContent { get; set; } = "";

    private static void OnKeyTyped(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyTyped", e);
    }

    private static void OnKeyPressed(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyPressed", e);
    }
}

This does never call any of the key events, regardless of what Keyboard-Key I use.

Another approach was to register the events in a specific ViewModel, but this also did not work. I tried to debug this but I did not find a solution:

public partial class SettingsViewModel: ViewModelBase
{
    private readonly HistoryRouter<ViewModelBase> _router;
    private readonly TaskPoolGlobalHook _sharpHook;

    [ObservableProperty]
    private string _keyLogContent = "";

    public SettingsViewModel(HistoryRouter<ViewModelBase> router, TaskPoolGlobalHook sharpHook)
    {
        _router = router;
        _sharpHook = sharpHook;
        _sharpHook.KeyTyped += OnKeyTyped;
        _sharpHook.KeyPressed += OnKeyPressed;
        _sharpHook.KeyReleased += OnKeyReleased;
    }

    private void OnKeyReleased(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyReleased", e);
    }

    private void AppendKeyLog(string keyreleased, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        KeyLogContent += $"{keyreleased}: {e.Data.KeyChar}\n";
    }

    private void OnKeyTyped(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyTyped", e);
    }

    private void OnKeyPressed(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyPressed", e);
    }


    [RelayCommand]
    private void Navigate(string parameter = "")
    {
        switch (parameter)
        {
            case "back":
                // _router.Back();
                // PlaySampleMedia();
                break;
        }
    }

[sandreas]

Mh I think I got it working, with the following code it at least enters the AppendKeyLog method. For now it seems to do what I want. Thank you for your patience and help:

using System;
using AudiobookshelfApi;
using AudiobookshelfApi.Api;
using Avalonia;
using Avalonia.Controls;
using Avalonia.Controls.ApplicationLifetimes;
using Avalonia.Interactivity;
using Avalonia.Markup.Xaml;
using Avalonia.SimpleRouter;
using LibVLCSharp.Shared;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using SharpHook;
using ToneAudioPlayer.Services;
using ToneAudioPlayer.ViewModels;
using ToneAudioPlayer.Views;

namespace ToneAudioPlayer;

public class App : Application
{

    private TaskPoolGlobalHook _sharpHook = new();
    private MediaPlayerService _mediaPlayerService;

    public override void Initialize()
    {
        AvaloniaXamlLoader.Load(this);
    }

    public override void OnFrameworkInitializationCompleted()
    {
            
        IServiceProvider services = ConfigureServices();

        _sharpHook = new TaskPoolGlobalHook();
        _sharpHook.KeyTyped += OnKeyTyped;
        _sharpHook.KeyPressed += OnKeyPressed;
        _sharpHook.KeyReleased += OnKeyReleased;
        _sharpHook.RunAsync();

        _mediaPlayerService = services.GetRequiredService<MediaPlayerService>();
        
        Core.Initialize();

        var mainViewModel = services.GetRequiredService<MainViewModel>();
        if (ApplicationLifetime is IClassicDesktopStyleApplicationLifetime desktop)
        {
            desktop.MainWindow = new MainWindow
            {
                DataContext = mainViewModel,
            };

            desktop.MainWindow.Closing += OnClosing;
        }
        else if (ApplicationLifetime is ISingleViewApplicationLifetime singleViewPlatform)
        {
            singleViewPlatform.MainView = new MainView
            {
                DataContext = mainViewModel
            };
            singleViewPlatform.MainView.Unloaded += OnUnloaded;
        }

        base.OnFrameworkInitializationCompleted();
    }

    private void OnUnloaded(object? sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        CleanUpBeforeExit();
    }

    private void OnClosing(object? sender, WindowClosingEventArgs e)
    {
        CleanUpBeforeExit();
    }

    private void CleanUpBeforeExit()
    {
        _mediaPlayerService.Dispose();
        _sharpHook.Dispose();
    }


    private static ServiceProvider ConfigureServices()
    {

        
        var services = new ServiceCollection();
        
        services.AddSingleton<HistoryRouter<ViewModelBase>>(s => new HistoryRouter<ViewModelBase>(t => (ViewModelBase)s.GetRequiredService(t)));

        services.AddSingleton<Credentials>(_ => new Credentials
        {
            BaseAddress = new Uri(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AUDIOBOOKSHELF_URL") ?? ""),
            Username = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AUDIOBOOKSHELF_USERNAME") ?? "root",
            Password = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AUDIOBOOKSHELF_PASSWORD") ?? ""
        });
        services.AddSingleton<LibVLC>(s => new LibVLC(enableDebugLogs:false));
        services.AddSingleton<MediaPlayer>();
        services.AddSingleton<MediaPlayerService>();

        services.AddSingleton<MainViewModel>();
        
        services.AddTransient<HomeViewModel>();
        services.AddTransient<SettingsViewModel>();
        services.AddTransient<SearchViewModel>();
        
        // services.AddSingleton<Audiobookshelf>();
        services.AddHttpClient<Audiobookshelf>()
            .ConfigureHttpClient((sp, httpClient) =>
            {
                httpClient.Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10);
            })
            .SetHandlerLifetime(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5));

        return services.BuildServiceProvider();
    }
    
    
    private static void OnKeyReleased(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyReleased", e);
    }

    private static void AppendKeyLog(string keyreleased, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        KeyLogContent += $"{keyreleased}: {e.Data.KeyChar}\n";
    }

    public static string KeyLogContent { get; set; } = "";

    private static void OnKeyTyped(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyTyped", e);
    }

    private static void OnKeyPressed(object? sender, KeyboardHookEventArgs e)
    {
        AppendKeyLog("KeyPressed", e);
    }
    
    
}

[TolikPylypchuk]

Well, that's a little confusing since I don't see that much difference between the working and the non-working version 😅 But I'm glad you made it work.

Bear in mind that KeyboardHookEventArgs.KeyChar is available only in KeyTyped events - KeyPressed and KeyReleased only have KeyCode.

Also, I see that you're accounting for ISingleViewApplicationLifetime which is used mostly for mobile apps. Bear in mind that SharpHook doesn't work on Android and iOS, so it will throw an exception on these platforms.

[sandreas]

Also, I see that you're accounting for ISingleViewApplicationLifetime which is used mostly for mobile apps. Bear in mind that SharpHook doesn't work on Android and iOS, so it will throw an exception on these platforms.

Oh, this is a nice addition. I thought I would be able to react on Media-Keys emitted by Headphone remotes... Do you plan to extend this to android / iOS anytime? Arm64 made me think it would work, so I would at least add this to the docs.

[TolikPylypchuk]

I'm not planning on adding it, and I don't think the original author of libuiohook is planning it either. Moreover, I don't even think Android and iOS allow global input hooks the same way the desktop OSes allow them. I think you should implement headphone handling in some other way.

[sandreas]

I'm not planning on adding it, and I don't think the original author of libuiohook is planning it either. Moreover, I don't even think Android and iOS allow global input hooks the same way the desktop OSes allow them. I think you should implement headphone handling in some other way.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm planning to implement Headphone-Commands that include double and triple clicks, double click followed by hold. Maybe extremely hard to implement if not impossible with C# atm.

[TolikPylypchuk]

Good luck with that, I hope it goes well!