Testing whether a key on keyboard is actually pressed

Question

I have placed a textbox and other controls on a form. I have the event handler:

private void textbox_KeyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)
{
//code to ensure text entered are numbers;
}
How can I test whether a key on the keyboard is actually pressed. If the user presses no key within say 5 seconds I wish to switch focus to another control.

I have tried writing:

if(textbox->Text == "") //then switch focus

in the Tick event of the timer but it does not work.

I would be very grateful for all help.

Scott Lysle · Answer

With a textbox button and timer control set with an interval of 5000 msec: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Data; using System.Drawing; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Windows.Forms; namespace ButtonHitTest { public partial class Form1 : Form { public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); } private void textBox1_KeyPress( object sender KeyPressEventArgs e) { if (! Char .IsDigit(e.KeyChar)) e.Handled = true ; else timer1.Enabled = true ; } private void timer1_Tick( object sender EventArgs e) { if (! String .IsNullOrEmpty(textBox1.Text)) MessageBox .Show( There is something in the box ); timer1.Enabled = false ; } } }