9
$\begingroup$

Is there a way to raise system-wide "keypress" events programmatically from within Mathematica?

Say "Ctrl+C" or "Ctrl+V", which all other programs can recognize?

This is an attempt to gain simple control/automation of other programs from within the Mathematica environment

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I'm pretty sure that this cannot be done within Mathematica, as it is not a system-wide interface. But you can use the extremely easy-to-learn AutoHotkey which allows you to do exactly this. $\endgroup$
    – István Zachar
    Sep 25, 2013 at 6:55
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the solution. I was using Autoit and it is a Windows-specific solution. Doing it using Mathematica would be cross-platform I thought $\endgroup$
    – my account_ram
    Sep 25, 2013 at 7:30

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7
$\begingroup$

One possibility is to use JLink 

Needs["JLink`"]; 
ReinstallJava[]; 
LoadJavaClass["java.awt.event.KeyEvent"]; 
robotclass = JavaNew["java.awt.Robot"]; 
key = (Function[k,robotclass[keyPress[Symbol["KeyEvent`VKU"<>k]]]] /@ {##};
       Function[k,robotclass[keyRelease[Symbol["KeyEvent`VKU"<>k]]]] /@ {##}
       )&;
(* e.g., select all Input cells in this notebook :*)
NotebookFind[InputNotebook[], "Input", All, CellStyle]; 
(* and press and reslase Ctrl C programmatically *)
key["CONTROL", "C"]; 

(* create a new document *)
CreateDocument[TextCell["Robot says hi ", "Text"]];
(* use the robotclass to hit the down arrow key, thus moving below the cell *)
key["DOWN"];key["DOWN"];
(* and now ececut Ctrl V by robot: *)
key["CONTROL", "V"];
Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.