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Obtaining idle time via VB.NET.

Happy new year all...

I am trying to get the system idle time via version 4 of the .NET framework using VB.NET.

Public Class idleTime
    Public Structure LASTINPUTINFO
        Public cbSize As UInteger
        Public dwTime As UInteger
    End Structure

    <DllImport("user32.dll")>
    Private Shared Function GetLastInputInfo(ByRef plii As LASTINPUTINFO) As Boolean
    End Function

    Public Function GetInactiveTime() As String ' Nullable(Of TimeSpan)
        Dim info As LASTINPUTINFO = New LASTINPUTINFO
        info.cbSize = CUInt(Marshal.SizeOf(info))

        If (GetLastInputInfo(info)) Then
            Return TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(Environment.TickCount - info.dwTime).ToString '  
        Else
            Return "N/A" 'Nothing
        End If
    End Function
End Class

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Through testing I see that info.dwTime always returns zero.

Thoughts?

DevAdmin

Read this https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/api/winuser/nf-winuser-getlastinputinfo

If return 0 the function fails.

Try change the definitio of LASTINPUTINFO

Private Structure LASTINPUTINFO
Dim cbSize As Int32
Dim dwTime As Int32
End Structure

Ron Malmstead

This link claims to have a working example.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8280799/vb-net-how-to-know-time-for-which-system-is-idle

Looks a lot like yours except this >

Private Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "kernel32" () As Long

Sheldon Livingston

ASKER

I think the issue is with LASTINPUTINFO... it always returns zero while tick count is good.

DevAdmin

With these definition work for me:

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

<StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)> Structure LASTINPUTINFO
<MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)> Public cbSize As Integer
<MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)> Public dwTime As Integer
End Structure

<DllImport("user32.dll")>
Shared Function GetLastInputInfo(ByRef plii As LASTINPUTINFO) As Boolean
End Function

And I test idle time with this code:

lastInputInf.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf(lastInputInf)
lastInputInf.dwTime = 0
GetLastInputInfo(lastInputInf)

Sheldon Livingston

ASKER

It appears that this cannot be done from a service... only an app.

DevAdmin

Look at the help of the function

"This function is useful for input idle detection. However, GetLastInputInfo does not provide system-wide user input information across all running sessions. Rather, GetLastInputInfo provides session-specific user input information for only the session that invoked the function."

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/api/winuser/nf-winuser-getlastinputinfo

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DevAdmin

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Sheldon Livingston

ASKER

Thank you Ermanno... I will be looking into this.