**<@1201438706926616597> kqoc's Question:** `how can i detect if the f2 key was pressed outside of the c++ console all inside of int main()` Detecting a global key press within `main` without keeping a message loop running or creating a separate thread to handle the hook is not practical due to how global hooks work in the Windows environment. Global hooks are designed to run in the context of a message loop. However, let's say you have a specific scenario where you want your program to do work and intermittently check for the F2 key. You could poll the state of the F2 key using `GetAsyncKeyState`. Please note that this will not be a true global hook—it will only check the state of the key while your program is periodically checking for it, and this may miss key presses if they happen between these checks. Here's a simple example that periodically checks for the F2 key press within the `main` function: ```cpp #include #include int main() { std::cout << "Press F2 to detect within this polling loop." << std::endl; while (true) { // Perform other work... // Check for F2 key press if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_F2) & 0x8000) { std::cout << "F2 key was pressed." << std::endl; // Add a small delay to prevent detecting the same press multiple times Sleep(200); } // Add a small delay to prevent this loop from consuming 100% CPU Sleep(100); } return 0; } ``` A few important notes about the above code: 1. `GetAsyncKeyState` checks the current state of the key. It reports whether the key was pressed since the last call to `GetAsyncKeyState`, which means it is suitable for polling. 2. This loop will consume CPU time and is not efficient. It's generally a bad idea for a production program due to performance implications. 3. This is not the same as a hook that continuously monitors all key presses, regardless of whether the console window has focus or no

how can i detect when the f2 key is pressed outside of the console in c++ (all handled within main)

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