Update: There is a new version of this tool, which has been renamed to "Key Jedi". More information here.

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This is a quick a dirty solution to something we thought about during DevTeach.

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a tool that would show in real time any shortcut keys that were pressed in your favorite application? that way, in your presentations and screencasts, people could follow up on your important keystrokes and learn how to use keyboard-power-tools such as Resharper.

• Please see the NEW Version announcement for download details.
• So I made ShortcutWatcher. You can download it from here  (34k).
• There is a second version that will capture keystrokes in all applications. here it is .

It uses a global keyhook and a lot of code is borrowed from this CodeProject article. Also, this tool will only show shortcuts when Visual Studio is active, with a little code borrowed from here.

My main work was to create a simple state class that knows when a shortcut has been pressed with a regular key, not just regular keystrokes.

• You can control the opacity
• it's hard coded for visual studio only , unless you download the "all" version above
• should I make a version that listens to all applications?