Question

How to track a user's idle time in a VB.NET application

Asked by: Stevejdl

Does anyone know of a way to track a users idle time in a .Net application. A sample in VB.NET or C# would be great.  We have a need to make an application either close or become partially unresponsive if a certain amount of time has passed. It needs to be application wide not just a form. We have tried the stopwatch and timer controls with marginal success. All samples we have seen so far are form specific or mention ASP.NET.  We would prefer not to use API calls to do this but if nothing else can be done then perhaps that will be the solution.

Using: Visual Studio 2005, VB.NET,  Framework 2.0, XP Pro

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Asked On
2008-10-16 at 16:27:44ID23822485
Topics

Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

,

Microsoft Visual C#.Net

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: RedKelvinPosted on 2008-10-16 at 16:59:48ID: 22736906

Hi there,
You will find a complete example here
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/SystemIdleTimerComponent.aspx

Good luck
RedK

 

by: Idle_MindPosted on 2008-10-16 at 19:29:11ID: 22737415

Here is a completely .Net, managed code, application wide implementation that closes the app if no activity has occurred in the last 10 minutes:

Public Class Form1
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Application.AddMessageFilter(New MyFilter)
    End Sub
 
    Private Class MyFilter
        Implements IMessageFilter
 
        Private Const WM_LBUTTONDOWN As Integer = &H201
        Private Const WM_LBUTTONUP As Integer = &H202
        Private Const WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK As Integer = &H203
        Private Const WM_RBUTTONDOWN As Integer = &H204
        Private Const WM_RBUTTONUP As Integer = &H205
        Private Const WM_RBUTTONDBLCLK As Integer = &H206
        Private Const WM_MBUTTONDOWN As Integer = &H207
        Private Const WM_MBUTTONUP As Integer = &H208
        Private Const WM_MBUTTONDBLCLK As Integer = &H209
        Private Const WM_MOUSEWHEEL As Integer = &H20A
        Private Const WM_KEYDOWN As Integer = &H100
        Private Const WM_KEYUP As Integer = &H101
        Private Const WM_SYSKEYDOWN As Integer = &H104
        Private Const WM_SYSKEYUP As Integer = &H105
 
        Private IdleTimeInMinutes As Integer = 10
        Private WithEvents tmr As System.Timers.Timer
        Private TargetDateTime As DateTime
 
        Public Sub New()
            TargetDateTime = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(IdleTimeInMinutes)
            tmr = New System.Timers.Timer
            tmr.Interval = 1000
            tmr.Start()
        End Sub
 
        Public Function PreFilterMessage(ByRef m As System.Windows.Forms.Message) As Boolean Implements System.Windows.Forms.IMessageFilter.PreFilterMessage
            Select Case m.Msg
                Case WM_MOUSEWHEEL, WM_KEYDOWN, WM_KEYUP, WM_SYSKEYDOWN, WM_SYSKEYUP, _
                        WM_LBUTTONDOWN, WM_LBUTTONUP, WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK, _
                        WM_RBUTTONDOWN, WM_RBUTTONUP, WM_RBUTTONDBLCLK, _
                        WM_MBUTTONDOWN, WM_MBUTTONUP, WM_MBUTTONDBLCLK
 
                    TargetDateTime = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(IdleTimeInMinutes)
            End Select
        End Function
 
        Private Sub tmr_Elapsed(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs) Handles tmr.Elapsed
            If TargetDateTime.Subtract(DateTime.Now).TotalMilliseconds < 0 Then
                tmr.Stop()
                Application.Exit()
            End If
        End Sub
 
    End Class
 
End Class

                                              
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by: StevejdlPosted on 2008-10-17 at 16:38:45ID: 31506997

The only change made was to add a new constant:  Private Const WM_MOUSEMOVE As Integer = &H200. It was then placed at the beginning of the case statement. We wanted the app to be as responsive as the Windows screen saver.
Actually both solutions given were great but the one using managed code was preferred. Note: the other was on codeproject - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/SystemIdleTimerComponent.aspx
Thanks again

 

by: Idle_MindPosted on 2008-10-17 at 20:20:50ID: 22746919

WM_MOUSEMOVE is often a controversial choice for "idle activity" routines.

It is possible for the user to be interacting with OTHER applications and simply move the mouse across your application without actually interacting with it.  Should that still be considered activity for your app?  Some say yes, others no.  The user is obviously using the computer but the mouse activity may not be intended for your particular app...

Also, I found that on my system I was getting intermittent WM_MOUSEMOVE messages sent to my application by something occuring outside my application...even when the mouse wasn't being moved.  I've never figured out what causes it so I removed it from my filter since it was causing my app to never idle time out.  I'm running VB.Net 2005 Express on a WinXP Pro system.

Glad the code was helpful to you though.  =)


20120131-EE-VQP-002

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