Programmatically move the cursor to a desired location on the screen

Question

Is it possible to set/move the mouse pointer's location directly from Mathematica without using external tools like Run["xdotool mousemove x y"]?

If an interactive application like Mathematica did that, I would consider it a bug... Anyway, I don't think it's possible from within Mathematica. — Jens, Commented Aug 12, 2012 at 2:50
You don't mean setting the current insertion point or selection? — Sjoerd C. de Vries, Commented Aug 12, 2012 at 6:55
not the selection inside Mathematica. Just moving the mouse pointer anywhere inside the screen — my account_ram, Commented Aug 15, 2012 at 6:34

rm -rf · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-18 23:15:29Z

40

Needs["JLink`"]
ReinstallJava[]
robotclass=JavaNew["java.awt.Robot"]
robotclass@mouseMove[#,300]&/@Range@900;

rm -rf♦

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answered Aug 21, 2012 at 0:36

Andreas Lauschke

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3

$\begingroup$ Impressive .. :) $\endgroup$
– Dr. belisarius
Commented Aug 21, 2012 at 0:50
1

$\begingroup$ Second that, impressive indeed, +1. $\endgroup$
– Leonid Shifrin
Commented Aug 21, 2012 at 0:53
5

$\begingroup$ +1 Great ;-) Table[robotclass@mouseMove[Round[300 (Cos[x] + 1)], Round[100 (Sin[2 x] + 1)]], {x, 0, 2 Pi, .001}]; $\endgroup$
– Vitaliy Kaurov
Commented Aug 21, 2012 at 1:25
2

$\begingroup$ Impressive?? That's scary... $\endgroup$
– sebhofer
Commented Oct 19, 2012 at 8:41
2

$\begingroup$ @John: No, it's not. a) in the example of the o/p xdotool would be an external tool/application/program that you'd need to call. b) JLink is part of M, and WRI's official position is that this makes all of Java part of M (same with NETLink and .Net), as indicated by marketing materials. c) you ARE actually writing this in M. My code above is NOT Java code, it's M code. It just LOOKs like Java code (and that's a smart design choice of JLink/NETLink), but it isn't. These are all M symbols, it's M syntax, it runs from the M f/e, and it is executed/"scripted" through the kernel. $\endgroup$
– Andreas Lauschke
Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 16:03

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