C API

Overview

The C API is able to send information, events, or requests to OpenKneeboard; it is not able to receive data from OpenKneeboard. It requires a dynamic library - OpenKneeboard_CAPI32.dll or OpenKneeboard_CAPI64.dll. The implementation of this DLL changes in every version of OpenKneeboard, however the API is expected to remain stable.

  • The DLL is installed and kept up to date in C:\Program Files\OpenKneeboard\bin\
  • The header is available in C:\Program Files\OpenKneeboard\include\

As the implementation changes with every release, you should dynamically load the DLL using LoadLibraryW(), and find the function of interest with GetProcAddress().

I recommend that programs attempt to locate the DLL by:

  • checking for the presence of an OPENKNEEBOARD_CAPI_DLL environment variable; if present, use it as the full path to the DLL
  • otherwise, check %ProgramFiles%\OpenKneeboard\bin\. Program files should ideally be located with SHGetKnownFolderPath(), but the ProgramFiles environment variable can also be used when SHGetKnownFolderPath() is impractical

Functions 

OPENKNEEBOARD_CAPI void OpenKneeboard_send_utf8(
  const char* messageName,
  size_t messageNameByteCount,
  const char* messageValue,
  size_t messageValueByteCount);

OPENKNEEBOARD_CAPI void OpenKneeboard_send_wchar_ptr(
  const wchar_t* messageName,
  size_t messageNameCharCount,
  const wchar_t* messageValue,
  size_t messageValueCharCount);

#define OPENKNEEBOARD_CAPI_DLL_NAME_A /* varies */
#define OPENKNEEBOARD_CAPI_DLL_NAME_W /* varies */
  • OPENKNEEBOARD_CAPI_DLL_NAME_A will be the filename as a C string literal, e.g. "OpenKneeboard_CAPI64.dll" or "OpenKneeboard_CAPI32.dll"
  • OPENKNEEBOARD_CAPI_DLL_NAME_W will be the filename as a C wide-string literal, e.g. L"OpenKneeboard_CAPI64.dll" or L"OpenKneeboard_CAPI32.dll"

Messages

See the messages documentation for information on supported messages.

Examples