keypress + Robot + Method

[john price]

I am using awt.Robot. I am trying to create a method for keyPresses, but can't figure it out. I've spent 2 hours trying various ways to get this to work. Here is the skeleton:
call:

pressIT(someChar);

  public static void pressIT (char jar) {
 Robot r = new Robot();
r.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_ + jar); //Some code in here that parses the char "jar" into a keypress
r.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK + jar); //Some code in here that parses the char "jar" into a keypress
  }

I've tried various ways of making this work. Tried to convert the char to keyevent and other ways. Is this even possible?
Thanks,
John Price aka cc11rocks

[Rob Camick]

You need to use reflection to get the proper "key code" to use:

import java.awt.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class RobotCharacter
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
		throws Exception
	{
		JTextField textField = new JTextField(10);

		JFrame frame = new JFrame();
		frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
		frame.add( textField );
		frame.pack();
		frame.setLocationRelativeTo( null );
		frame.setVisible( true );

		Robot robot = new Robot();
		typeCharacter(robot, "a");
		typeCharacter(robot, "b");
		typeCharacter(robot, "C");
		typeCharacter(robot, "D");
	 }

	public static void typeCharacter(Robot robot, String letter)
	{
		try
		{
			boolean upperCase = Character.isUpperCase( letter.charAt(0) );
			String variableName = "VK_" + letter.toUpperCase();

			KeyEvent ke = new KeyEvent(new JTextField(), 0, 0, 0, 0, ' ');
			Class clazz = ke.getClass();
			Field field = clazz.getField( variableName );
			int keyCode = field.getInt(ke);

			robot.delay(1000);

			if (upperCase) robot.keyPress( KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT );

			robot.keyPress( keyCode );
			robot.keyRelease( keyCode );

			if (upperCase) robot.keyRelease( KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT );
		}
		catch(Exception e)
		{
			System.out.println(e);
		}
	}
}

[john price]

I would have never been able to do that by myself. Thank you! Here is what I came up with:

import java.awt.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class RobotCharacter {
	public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
		JTextField textField = new JTextField(10);
		JFrame frame = new JFrame();
		frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		frame.add(textField);
		frame.pack();
		frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
		frame.setVisible(true);

		parseChars("Hello! How are you?");
		Thread.sleep(1000);
		textField.setText("");
		parseChars("Well, thanks.");
		
	 }

	 public static void parseChars(String letter) {
	 for (int i = 0; i < letter.length(); i ++) {
	 char chary = letter.charAt(i);
	 typeCharacter(Character.toString(chary));
	 }
	 }
	public static void typeCharacter(String letter) {
	Robot robot = null;
	try { robot = new Robot(); }
	catch (Exception ex) { ex.printStackTrace(); }
	if (Character.isLetter(letter.charAt(0))) {
		try {
			boolean upperCase = Character.isUpperCase(letter.charAt(0));
			String variableName = "VK_" + letter.toUpperCase();

			KeyEvent ke = new KeyEvent(new JTextField(), 0, 0, 0, 0, ' ');
			Class clazz = ke.getClass();
			Field field = clazz.getField(variableName);
			int keyCode = field.getInt(ke);
			
			System.out.println(keyCode + " = keyCode");

			robot.delay(80);

			if (upperCase) robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);

			robot.keyPress(keyCode);
			robot.keyRelease(keyCode);

			if (upperCase) robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
		}
		catch(Exception e) { System.out.println(e); }
		}
		else {
		if (letter.equals(".")) {
			robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_PERIOD); //keyCode 46
			robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_PERIOD);
			}
			else if (letter.equals("!")) {
			robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT); //keyCode 16
			robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_1); //keycode 49
			robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_1);
			robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
			}
			else if (letter.equals(" ")) {
			robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SPACE);
			robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SPACE);
			}
			else if (letter.equals("?")) {
			robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT); //keyCode 16
			robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SLASH); //keyCode 47
			robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SLASH);
			robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
			}
			else if (letter.equals(",")) {
			robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_COMMA);
			robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_COMMA);
			}
		}
	}
}

Thanks,
John Price aka cc11rocks

[Rob Camick]

Here is what I came up with

Please learn by example. I didn't use any "magic numbers" in my example code, so why did you?

I used KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT. Why did you use "16". People don't know what that means.

[john price]

Changed for you!
,
cc11rocks aka John Price

[Rob Spoor]

Note that VK_A == 'A', VK_B == 'B', VK_1 == '1', etc. This is documented in the KeyEvent Javadoc:

VK_A thru VK_Z are the same as ASCII 'A' thru 'Z' (0x41 - 0x5A)

VK_0 thru VK_9 are the same as ASCII '0' thru '9' (0x30 - 0x39)

Therefore, a simple Character.toUpperCase() should be enough. You don't need to use reflection for this:

boolean upperCase = Character.isUpperCase(letter.charAt(0));   
int keyCode = Character.toUpperCase(letter.charAt(0));

Also, if you use reflection, note that a) you can get the KeyEvent Class object by using KeyEvent.class, and b) the fields are static. Therefore, you don't need to create an instance:

//KeyEvent ke = new KeyEvent(new JTextField(), 0, 0, 0, 0, ' ');   
//Class clazz = ke.getClass();   
//Field field = clazz.getField( variableName );   
//int keyCode = field.getInt(ke);   
Class<?> clazz = KeyEvent.class;
Field field = clazz.getField(variableName);
int keyCode = field.getInt(null); // static allows null as argument

[Rob Camick]

you can get the KeyEvent Class object by using KeyEvent.class,

Thanks, I knew there was a way, I just escaped me at the moment.