Dapplo.Windows

A comprehensive .NET library providing Windows-specific functionality for .NET Framework and .NET Core applications.

Overview

Dapplo.Windows is a collection of packages that provide P/Invoke wrappers and higher-level abstractions for Windows API functionality. Originally developed for Greenshot, this library makes it easy to interact with Windows features from managed code.

Build Status & NuGet Packages

Core Packages

| Package | NuGet | Description | |---------|-------|-------------| | Dapplo.Windows | | Window management and event hooking | | Dapplo.Windows.Clipboard | | Clipboard monitoring and manipulation | | Dapplo.Windows.Dpi | | DPI awareness and scaling | | Dapplo.Windows.Input | | Keyboard and mouse input |

Low-Level API Packages

| Package | NuGet | Description | |---------|-------|-------------| | Dapplo.Windows.User32 | | User32.dll wrappers | | Dapplo.Windows.Gdi32 | | GDI32.dll wrappers | | Dapplo.Windows.Kernel32 | | Kernel32.dll wrappers |

Specialized Packages

| Package | NuGet | Description | |---------|-------|-------------| | Dapplo.Windows.Citrix | | Citrix environment detection | | Dapplo.Windows.DesktopWindowsManager | | DWM (Aero) functionality | | Dapplo.Windows.EmbeddedBrowser | | Enhanced WebBrowser control | | Dapplo.Windows.Messages | | Windows message definitions | | Dapplo.Windows.Com | | COM interop helpers | | Dapplo.Windows.Common | | Shared types and utilities |

Features

Window Management

• Query window properties (title, bounds, class name, process, etc.)
• Enumerate windows with filtering
• Monitor window events (creation, destruction, title changes, etc.)
• Manipulate windows (show, hide, minimize, maximize, move, resize)

Input Handling

• Low-level keyboard hooks using Reactive Extensions
• Low-level mouse hooks using Reactive Extensions
• Generate keyboard input (type text, key combinations)
• Generate mouse input (move, click, scroll)
• Key combination and sequence handlers

Clipboard

• Monitor clipboard changes with Reactive Extensions
• Access clipboard content in various formats (text, files, images, streams)
• Set clipboard content
• Delayed rendering support
• Control Windows Cloud Clipboard and Clipboard History behavior

DPI Awareness

• DPI-aware forms for Windows Forms
• DPI handlers for custom scaling logic
• DPI calculations and conversions
• Bitmap scaling with quality preservation
• Support for both Windows Forms and WPF

Session Management

• Monitor Windows session changes (lock/unlock, logon/logoff)
• Handle session events with simple event-based API
• Pause/resume session monitoring
• Support for all WTS session change events

Native API Access

• Comprehensive User32 API wrappers
• GDI32 graphics API wrappers
• Kernel32 system API wrappers
• Proper SafeHandle usage for resource management
• Well-defined structs and enums

Additional Features

• Citrix session detection and querying
• Desktop Window Manager (DWM) integration
• Enhanced WebBrowser control with configurable IE version
• Software installation enumeration
• Icon extraction
• And much more...

Quick Start

Installation

Install-Package Dapplo.Windows
Install-Package Dapplo.Windows.Clipboard
Install-Package Dapplo.Windows.Dpi
Install-Package Dapplo.Windows.Input

Examples

Monitor Window Title Changes

using Dapplo.Windows.Desktop;

var subscription = WinEventHook.Create(WinEvents.EVENT_OBJECT_NAMECHANGE)
    .Subscribe(winEvent =>
    {
        var window = InteropWindow.FromHandle(winEvent.Handle);
        Console.WriteLine($"Window title changed: {window.GetCaption()}");
    });

Monitor Clipboard

using Dapplo.Windows.Clipboard;
using System.Reactive.Linq;

var subscription = ClipboardNative.OnUpdate
    .Where(info => info.Formats.Contains("Text"))
    .Subscribe(info =>
    {
        using var clipboard = ClipboardNative.Access();
        var text = clipboard.GetAsString();
        Console.WriteLine($"Clipboard: {text}");
    });

Control Cloud Clipboard and History

using Dapplo.Windows.Clipboard;

// Prevent sensitive data from being saved to clipboard history or cloud
using (var clipboard = ClipboardNative.Access())
{
    clipboard.SetAsUnicodeString("MyPassword123!");
    clipboard.SetCloudClipboardOptions(
        canIncludeInHistory: false,
        canUploadToCloud: false
    );
}

Create DPI-Aware Form

using Dapplo.Windows.Dpi.Forms;

public class MyForm : DpiAwareForm
{
    public MyForm()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        // Form automatically scales with DPI changes
    }
}

Hook Keyboard Input

using Dapplo.Windows.Input.Keyboard;
using System.Reactive.Linq;

var keyboardHook = KeyboardHook.Create();
var subscription = keyboardHook.KeyboardEvents
    .Where(e => e.Key == VirtualKeyCode.A && e.IsDown)
    .Subscribe(e => Console.WriteLine("'A' pressed"));

Monitor Session Changes (Lock/Unlock, Logon/Logoff)

using Dapplo.Windows.Messages;

var sessionListener = new WindowsSessionListener();

// Handle lock/unlock events
sessionListener.SessionLockChange += (sender, args) =>
{
    if (args.EventType == WtsSessionChangeEvents.WTS_SESSION_LOCK)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Session locked");
        // Perform actions when session is locked
    }
    else if (args.EventType == WtsSessionChangeEvents.WTS_SESSION_UNLOCK)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Session unlocked");
        // Perform actions when session is unlocked
    }
};

// Handle logon/logoff events
sessionListener.SessionLogonChange += (sender, args) =>
{
    if (args.EventType == WtsSessionChangeEvents.WTS_SESSION_LOGON)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("User logged on");
    }
    else if (args.EventType == WtsSessionChangeEvents.WTS_SESSION_LOGOFF)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("User logged off");
    }
};

sessionListener.Start();

// Pause/resume listening
sessionListener.Pause();
sessionListener.Resume();

// Clean up when done
sessionListener.Dispose();

Documentation

• Full Documentation - Complete guides and API reference
• Getting Started - Quick start guide with examples
• API Reference - Detailed API documentation

Examples

The repository includes example projects:

• Dapplo.Windows.Example.ConsoleDemo - Console application examples
• Dapplo.Windows.Example.FormsExample - Windows Forms examples
• Dapplo.Windows.Example.WpfExample - WPF application examples

Requirements

• .NET Framework 4.6.2 or higher
• .NET Core 3.1 or higher / .NET 5+ (for most packages)
• Windows operating system

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Originally developed for Greenshot, this library has been extracted into a standalone project for easier maintenance and reuse.