Handling hotkeys when modeless popups are active

Is there a standard way to handle this situation? I ask because in Notepad++ the hotkey F3> still works even when the Find popup window has focus.

In my application the main dialog is using the accelerator table to map F3> to a resource ID which is subsequently mapped to the function performing the find action.

But, pressing F3> when the modeless Find window is focussed with not trigger the find as it eats the hotkey itself. From my perspective I think I have two approaches:

1. Add an accelerator table to the Find window for the same hotkey and post a message to the parent when triggered.
2. Use PreTranslateMessage to detect the hotkey and post a message that way.

Is there any other approach that one can use with MFC architecture? I don't think using RegisterHotkey is the way to go, but I could be wrong!

Registering Hotkeys

Actually, using RegisterHotKey etc. was the way to go!

I added the following functions to my MSAFind namespace:

// Registers hotkeys (CTRL+F and F3) for find and repeat commands.
static void RegisterHotKeys(HWND hWnd) {
    if (!RegisterHotKey(hWnd, ID_EDIT_FIND, MOD_CONTROL, 'F')) {
        TRACE(L"Failed to register CTRL + F as a hotkey!\n");
    }
    if (!RegisterHotKey(hWnd, ID_EDIT_REPEAT, 0, VK_F3)) {
        TRACE(L"Failed to register F3 as a hotkey!\n");
    }
}

// Unregisters the hotkeys to release associated resources.
static void UnregisterHotKeys(HWND hWnd) noexcept {
    UnregisterHotKey(hWnd, ID_EDIT_FIND);
    UnregisterHotKey(hWnd, ID_EDIT_REPEAT);
}

// Processes hotkey events and triggers the corresponding actions.
static void OnHotKey(CWnd* pWnd, UINT nHotKeyId, UINT nKey1, UINT nKey2) {
    if (pWnd) {
        switch (nHotKeyId)
        {
        case ID_EDIT_FIND:
            pWnd->PostMessage(WM_COMMAND, ID_EDIT_FIND);
            break;
        case ID_EDIT_REPEAT:
            pWnd->PostMessage(theApp.UWM_FIND_NEXT_MSG);
            break;
        default:
            // Log an error, display a message, or take no action for unrecognized hotkey IDs.
            TRACE(L"Unhandled hotkey ID: %u\n", nHotKeyId);
            break;
        }
    }
}

And, I call them respectively in my respective dialog classes that invoke Find functionality. This approach works fine and the hotkeys work, irrespective of the popup having focus.

Alternative

I take onboard the comments made about the side-effect of using RegisterHotkey being system wide. In which case the simplest solution is to use PreTranslateMessage:

BOOL CMyFindDialog::PreTranslateMessage(MSG* pMsg)
{
    if (pMsg->message == WM_KEYDOWN && pMsg->wParam == VK_F3)
    {
        // Handle the F3 key press here
        CWnd* pWnd = GetParent();
        if (pWnd) {
            pWnd->PostMessage(theApp.UWM_FIND_NEXT_MSG);
        }

        return true; // Message handled
    }


    return __super::PreTranslateMessage(pMsg);
}