Calling On-Screen Keyboard from Excel VBA - vba

Question

I'm trying to pull up the on-screen keyboard.
Here are my attempts so far:
' Only needed for Test3
Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" ( _
ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, ByVal lpFile As String, _
ByVal lpParameters As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long
Sub Test1()
' Run-time error'53':
' File Not found
Dim RetVal As Variant
RetVal = Shell("C:\WINDOWS\system32\osk.exe", 1)
End Sub
Sub Test2()
' Run-time error '432':
' File name or class name not found during Automation operation
ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink Address:="C:\Windows\System32\osk.exe"
End Sub
Sub Test3()
' No error. Nothing happens at all
ShellExecute 0, vbNullString, "osk.exe", vbNullString, "C:\", 1
End Sub
Test2 from this forum.
Test3 from this forum.
I checked the path to osk.exe is correct.
I have a Surface laptop/tablet, so it has a touch screen and a "touch" keyboard (different from the osk). Is that what's causing the issue or possibly it's a Windows 10 thing?

Answer 1

On a 64-Bit OS try this
Option Explicit
Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal Enable As Boolean) As Boolean
Private Sub RunOsk_on64Bit()
Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
On Error Resume Next
Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection False
ShellExecute 0, "open", "osk.exe", "", "C:\windows\system32\osk.exe", SW_SHOWNORMAL
Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection True
End Sub
Found here, this might the explanation, quote from the link
This is an issue with 64-bit OS, it affects any 64-bit version of Windows.
Basically you are calling osk.exe, but your program you are calling it
from is a 32-bit app. Windows won't allow you to call a 64-bit OSK.exe
from your program. The comments appear to miss your point here, anyone
can start osk.exe from Run, but call it from within a 32-bit
application won't work in 64-bit Windows.
I am developing software that uses the on-screen keyboard, the only
work around is Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection.
Update: A "nicer" version might look like that
Option Explicit
Type SHELLEXECUTEINFO
cbSize As Long
fMask As Long
hwnd As Long
lpVerb As String
lpFile As String
lpParameters As String
lpDirectory As String
nShow As Long
hInstApp As Long
lpIDList As Long
lpClass As String
hkeyClass As Long
dwHotKey As Long
hIcon As Long
hProcess As Long
End Type
Public Declare Function ShellExecuteEx Lib "shell32.dll" _
(lpExecInfo As SHELLEXECUTEINFO) As Long
Declare Function Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByRef ptr As Long) As Boolean
Declare Function Wow64RevertWow64FsRedirection Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByRef ptr As Long) As Boolean
Public Function KeyboardOpen()
Dim shInfo As SHELLEXECUTEINFO
Dim lngPtr As Long
With shInfo
.cbSize = Len(shInfo)
.lpFile = "C:\Windows\Sysnative\cmd.exe" 'best to use Known folders here
.lpParameters = "/c start osk.exe"
.lpDirectory = "C:\windows\system32" 'best to use Known folders here
.lpVerb = "open"
.nShow = 0
End With
Call Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection(lngPtr)
Call ShellExecuteEx(shInfo)
Call Wow64RevertWow64FsRedirection(lngPtr)
End Function
Based on the information in MSDN it might be more reliable to use Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection and Wow64RevertWow64FsRedirection functions instead.