How do I stop WPF KeyDown events from bubbling up from certain contained controls (such as TextBox)?

redroze picture redroze · Jul 21, 2014 · Viewed 13.6k times · Source

My program is quite large, and uses WPF, and I want to have a global shortcut key that uses 'R', with no modifiers.
There are many controls such as TextBox, ListBox, ComboBox, etc. that all use letters inside the control itself, which is fine - that's correct for me.
But - I want to keep that KeyDown event from bubbling up to the main window, where it would trigger the shortcut any time a user is typing the letter 'R' in a TextBox, for example.
Ideally, I would like to be able to do this without having to specify (and do if-then logic on) every instance/type of control that might receive normal alphabetical key presses (not just the TextBox controls, though they are the worst offenders).

Answer

Troels Larsen picture Troels Larsen · Jul 21, 2014

Simply check what the OriginalSource is in your KeyDown event handler on the Window:

private void Window_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e) {
    if(e.OriginalSource is TextBox || e.OriginalSource is DateTimePicker) //etc
    {
        e.Handled = true;
        return;
    }
}

Or if you are using InputBindings, experiment with setting e.Handled = true in either the KeyDown or the PreviewKeyDown event on your Window, rather than the individual controls. In anyway, I think OriginalSource is the key to your answer. (I swear that was not a pun).