#1,086 – Defining a Key Binding in XAML

You define a KeyBinding object to bind a key gesture (i.e. keypress) to a particular command.  You can do this in code by creating a KeyBinding instance and adding it to an UI elements InputBindings collection.

You can also define a key binding in XAML, as shown below.  You use a <KeyBinding> element for each key binding.

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="Commands" Width="320" Height="220">

    <Window.CommandBindings>
        <CommandBinding Command="ApplicationCommands.Open"
                        Executed="Executed_Open"
                        CanExecute="CanExecute_Open"/>
    </Window.CommandBindings>
    <Window.InputBindings>
        <KeyBinding Command="ApplicationCommands.Open"
                    Gesture="Ctrl+O"/>
    </Window.InputBindings>

    <StackPanel/>
</Window>

Here is the code-behind, containing methods for Executed and CanExecute.

        public void Executed_Open(object sender, ExecutedRoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Executing the Open command");
        }

        public void CanExecute_Open(object sender, CanExecuteRoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            e.CanExecute = true;
        }