VB Web Browser Keyboard Commands

Question

I created a little tool that loads up three web pages in front of each other. I use 3 buttons to bring their corresponding browser forward and back within a VB Form.

I created 3 buttons for forward and back and refresh and was able to use a little if/elseif/else logic to make them only interact with whichever browser is in front. I would like to add a keyboard shortcut to the buttons so that I can refresh the front browser with CTRL+R... Could someone give me guidance in how to do this?

Here is the form code: Public Class Form1 Dim Front As String

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

    End Sub

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        WebBrowser1.BringToFront()
        Front = "WebBrowser1"
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        WebBrowser2.BringToFront()
        Front = "WebBrowser2"
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button3_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
        WebBrowser3.BringToFront()
        Front = "WebBrowser3"
    End Sub

    Private Sub BackBtn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles BackBtn.Click
        If Front = "WebBrowser1" Then
            WebBrowser1.GoBack()
        ElseIf Front = "WebBrowser2" Then
            WebBrowser2.GoBack()
        ElseIf Front = "WebBrowser3" Then
            WebBrowser3.GoBack()
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub ForwardBtn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ForwardBtn.Click
        If Front = "WebBrowser1" Then
            WebBrowser1.GoForward()
        ElseIf Front = "WebBrowser2" Then
            WebBrowser2.GoForward()
        ElseIf Front = "WebBrowser3" Then
            WebBrowser3.GoForward()
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub RefreshBtn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles RefreshBtn.Click
        If Front = "WebBrowser1" Then
            WebBrowser1.Refresh()
        ElseIf Front = "WebBrowser2" Then
            WebBrowser2.Refresh()
        ElseIf Front = "WebBrowser3" Then
            WebBrowser3.Refresh()
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

Answer 1

Best way to handle such combination is to override ProcessCmdKey, the key combination will be caught anytime.

Example:

Paste the overriden function below in your form.

Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Function ProcessCmdKey(ByRef msg As Message, ByVal keyData As Keys) As Boolean

        If ((keyData And Keys.R) = Keys.R) And ((keyData And Keys.Control) = Keys.Control) Then
            MessageBox.Show("CTRL+R pressed")
        End If

        Return MyBase.ProcessCmdKey(msg, keyData)
    End Function
End Class

Note : one would be tempted to use Control.ModifierKeys to catch CTRL but it won't work, the right approach is to use the one above using the bitwise And operator against keyData.