Freeze mouse and keyboard input temporarily from VBA - vba

Question

I have a Word VBA procedure which takes abnormally long time to complete bookmark jumps (probably the code opens the small but many frames containing document a second time, what takes ~6 seconds upon the first positioning function call).
The code then send keys and moves the mouse to perform simple operations in a freeware window (CodeTwo QR …). In order the sequence to work properly, I had to insert Sleep codelines. Thus, the whole operation is slow.
However, any other key press or mouse movement interferes with the code and leads to errors (e.g. when the mouse isn't on the very precise position to click a button). Thus, I am looking for a method to inhibit any unintentional interference from the user. Note that the code is started by clicking a control button, the user's hand is still on the mouse…
SetWindowsHookEx() seems to be a possibility. There is no need to callback the trapped trash (these functions don't appear to be implemented in VBA). But I am a hobby programmer and have no idea how to implement this. A piece of code to try would be highly welcome, thanks in advance !
Of course a PowerShell command could eventually help, too. I have seen following code on Reddit, but it needs to be run as adminstrator (is that possible from vba ?) and even then it performs just nothing and terminates after < 1s while the mouse still moves and keystrokes further go to the editor …
param([switch]$Elevated)
function Test-Admin {
$currentUser = New-Object Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal $([Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent())
$currentUser.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltinRole]::Administrator)
}
if ((Test-Admin) -eq $false) {
if ($elevated) {
# tried to elevate, did not work, aborting
} else {
Start-Process powershell.exe -Verb RunAs -ArgumentList ('-noprofile -noexit -file "{0}" -elevated' -f ($myinvocation.MyCommand.Definition))
}
exit
}
'running with full privileges'
$code = #"
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern bool BlockInput(bool fBlockIt);
"#
$userInput = Add-Type -MemberDefinition $code -Name UserInput -Namespace UserInput -PassThru
function Disable-UserInput($seconds) {
$userInput::BlockInput($true)
Start-Sleep $seconds
$userInput::BlockInput($false)
}
Disable-UserInput -seconds 10 | Out-Null
Otherwise I tried to use AutoIt script language but the generated .exe files lack rights (even when run as administrator). Surely I didn't write an adequate script. Can somebody advice me on suitable .au3 code which would work for disabling external input and enabling it again after a few seconds ?

Answer 1

What I was (and still do) looking for is a Windows method or a script language which I can control myself.
However, I found the small freeware KeyFreeze (909 KB) which does exactly the desired work perfectly:
Sub Finish() ' (in a Word form module)
Dim KF_PID As LongPtr
' …
Me.MousePointer = fmMousePointerHourGlass
Me.WaitMessage.Visible = True
DoEvents
KF_PID = Shell("C:\Programs(portable)\KeyFreeze\KeyFreeze_x64.exe", vbNormal) ' ×32 version available, too
' starts minimized, if desired without any message
' …
' critical part of the sub with many slow commands:
' Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToBookmark, PasteIntoBookmark(),
' SetCursorPos, Sleep, Mouse_Event and SendKeys commands
' …
Call Shell("C:\Windows\SysWOW64\taskkill.exe /f /pid " & KF_PID)
End Sub
Note that this freeware can be easily configured to block keyboard and mouse already on its start, thus it is not even necessary to send the blocking key sequence (by default <CTRL><ALT>F, configurable). It is also not necessary to send the same key sequence again to unlock, as killing the process is sufficient to reactivate keyboard and mouse: one doesn't have to bother about which window has the focus.
I would of course prefer to call Windows functions, but I believe that this freeware can be trusted as VirusTotal reports "No security vendors flagged this file as malicious (0/65)".
BlueLife KeyFreeze v1.4 (Block keyboard and mouse)