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, Aug 12 '12 at 02:50
You don't mean setting the current insertion point or selection? — Sjoerd C. de Vries, Aug 12 '12 at 06:55
not the selection inside Mathematica. Just moving the mouse pointer anywhere inside the screen — my account_ram, Aug 15 '12 at 06:34

score 40 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 18 '12 at 23:15

40

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

edited Oct 18 '12 at 23:15

rm -rf

answered Aug 21 '12 at 00:36

Andreas Lauschke

3

Impressive .. :) – Dr. belisarius Aug 21 '12 at 00:50
1

Second that, impressive indeed, +1. – Leonid Shifrin Aug 21 '12 at 00:53
5

+1 Great ;-) Table[robotclass@mouseMove[Round[300 (Cos[x] + 1)], Round[100 (Sin[2 x] + 1)]], {x, 0, 2 Pi, .001}]; – Vitaliy Kaurov Aug 21 '12 at 01:25
Excellent - that seems like a prime candidate for causing some desktop mischief ;-) – Yves Klett Aug 21 '12 at 07:00
Very nice Andreas. +1. Java rules! – Rolf Mertig Aug 21 '12 at 09:55
2

Impressive?? That's scary... – sebhofer Oct 19 '12 at 08:41
Impressive + Thanks ! – my account_ram Nov 26 '12 at 13:15
Linking to Java is not considered using an external tool? Interesting.... – John Nov 11 '13 at 01:31
2

@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. – Andreas Lauschke Nov 11 '13 at 16:03

1 Answers1