JAVA pressing buttons through application

Lint

Im using a java application to press buttons on the keyboard. Like if you click a button on the application it presses Ctrl P on the keyboard. Can anybody give me any help with this

Smellyirishman

Em, your probably going to have to come up with more than that; what exactly have you tried, what approach are you considering, where are you getting stuck etc....

Lint

i havn't tried anything... what im trying to develop is an application that allows you to perform keystrokes by clicking an icon

dbnavan

at last a java question I answer not ask....u need to look up keyboard mnemonics for java. loadsx of stuff online, dont have time right now to go into but thats will put u on the right path

Lint

ah thats brilliant thanks very much., Another option I have to do it is to use keyboard macros. i'll check out that tho thanks again

dbnavan

Glad to have helped, just learning java myself too.

pH

If you want to send keystrokes within a java gui have a look at java.awt.Robot
- keyPress(key)
- keyRelease(key)

Lint

I got that keyPress working but the thing is now that my application sits on top of media player. and keyboard shortcuts only work for whatever is on the screen at the time. so im gonna have to figure that out now

dbnavan

Lint wrote:

I got that keyPress working but the thing is now that my application sits on top of media player. and keyboard shortcuts only work for whatever is on the screen at the time. so im gonna have to figure that out now

Could be wrong but think you'll have a problem there, keyboard short cuts only apply to the 'active application' like trying to press ctrl+P to print a word document when media player is active application, wont work. May be a work around but i highly doubt it.

clearz

If you are using Windows and you dont mind using JNI you could get a handle to any window using FindWindow and pass messages to it that way.