Qt – Ignore mouse and keyboard events in Qt

I found the following solution (tested on Linux, also works on Windows according to @TheSHEEEP):

setWindowFlags(windowFlags() | Qt::WindowTransparentForInput);

It has been added in more recent qt release (i did not find when) see http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qt.html

After more research, I discovered the Application.AddMessageFilter method. Using this, I created a .NET version of a mouse hook:

class MouseMessageFilter : IMessageFilter, IDisposable
{
    public MouseMessageFilter()
    {
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        StopFiltering();
    }

    #region IMessageFilter Members

    public bool PreFilterMessage(ref Message m)
    {
         // Call the appropriate event
         return false;
    }

    #endregion

    #region Events

    public class CancelMouseEventArgs : MouseEventArgs
    {...}

    public delegate void CancelMouseEventHandler(object source, CancelMouseEventArgs e);
    public event CancelMouseEventHandler MouseMove;
    public event CancelMouseEventHandler MouseDown;
    public event CancelMouseEventHandler MouseUp;

    public void StartFiltering()
    {
        StopFiltering();
        Application.AddMessageFilter(this);
    }

    public void StopFiltering()
    {
        Application.RemoveMessageFilter(this);
    }
}

Then, I can handle the MouseMove event in my container control, check to see if the mouse is inside my parent control, and start the work. (I also had to track the last moused over parent control so I could stop the previously started parent.)

---- Edit ----

In my form class, I create and hookup the filter:

public class MyForm : Form
{
   MouseMessageFilter msgFilter;

   public MyForm()
   {...
       msgFilter = new MouseMessageFilter();
       msgFilter.MouseDown += new MouseMessageFilter.CancelMouseEventHandler(msgFilter_MouseDown);
       msgFilter.MouseMove += new MouseMessageFilter.CancelMouseEventHandler(msgFilter_MouseMove);
    }

    private void msgFilter_MouseMove(object source, MouseMessageFilter.CancelMouseEventArgs e)
    {
        if (CheckSomething(e.Control)
            e.Cancel = true;
    }   
}