How to generate keyboard keypress events through Python to control PP presentation?

Question

I need to programmatically control powerpoint/pdf presentations (the 4 direction keystrokes need to work at the minimum to go to the previous and next slides).

What library/module/framework can I use with Python to do this on OS X?

I've seen a lot of discussion on doing this in Windows and C# (or OS X and Quartz), but nothing particularly with Python. A cross-platform library / framework would be even better.

Overall, I would like to programmatically control my presentation with Python on OS X (as part of a hobby project, and probably also useful in my own short presentations).

Sorry deleted my answer, somehow I managed to miss the [tag:osx], sorry! — Trufa, Jul 29 '11 at 03:02

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered May 28 '17 at 19:39

You can use Quartz library for Python, e.g.

#!/usr/bin/python
# Script simulating keyboard events in macOS.
# See: https://stackoverflow.com/q/13564851/55075

import sys
import time
from Quartz.CoreGraphics import CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent
from Quartz.CoreGraphics import CGEventPost
from Quartz.CoreGraphics import kCGHIDEventTap
#from Quartz.CoreGraphics import CFRelease # Python releases things automatically.

class Keyboard():
    shiftChars = {
        '~': '`',
        '!': '1',
        '@': '2',
        '#': '3',
        '$': '4',
        '%': '5',
        '^': '6',
        '&': '7',
        '*': '8',
        '(': '9',
        ')': '0',
        '_': '-',
        '+': '=',
        '{': '[',
        '}': ']',
        '|': '\\',
        ':': ';',
        '"': '\'',
        '<': ',',
        '>': '.',
        '?': '/'
    }


    keyCodeMap = {
        'a'              : 0x00,
        's'              : 0x01,
        'd'              : 0x02,
        'f'              : 0x03,
        'h'              : 0x04,
        'g'              : 0x05,
        'z'              : 0x06,
        'x'              : 0x07,
        'c'              : 0x08,
        'v'              : 0x09,
        'b'              : 0x0B,
        'q'              : 0x0C,
        'w'              : 0x0D,
        'e'              : 0x0E,
        'r'              : 0x0F,
        'y'              : 0x10,
        't'              : 0x11,
        '1'              : 0x12,
        '2'              : 0x13,
        '3'              : 0x14,
        '4'              : 0x15,
        '6'              : 0x16,
        '5'              : 0x17,
        '='              : 0x18,
        '9'              : 0x19,
        '7'              : 0x1A,
        '-'              : 0x1B,
        '8'              : 0x1C,
        '0'              : 0x1D,
        ']'              : 0x1E,
        'o'              : 0x1F,
        'u'              : 0x20,
        '['              : 0x21,
        'i'              : 0x22,
        'p'              : 0x23,
        'l'              : 0x25,
        'j'              : 0x26,
        '\''             : 0x27,
        'k'              : 0x28,
        ';'              : 0x29,
        '\\'             : 0x2A,
        ','              : 0x2B,
        '/'              : 0x2C,
        'n'              : 0x2D,
        'm'              : 0x2E,
        '.'              : 0x2F,
        '`'              : 0x32,
        'k.'             : 0x41,
        'k*'             : 0x43,
        'k+'             : 0x45,
        'kclear'         : 0x47,
        'k/'             : 0x4B,
        'k\n'            : 0x4C,
        'k-'             : 0x4E,
        'k='             : 0x51,
        'k0'             : 0x52,
        'k1'             : 0x53,
        'k2'             : 0x54,
        'k3'             : 0x55,
        'k4'             : 0x56,
        'k5'             : 0x57,
        'k6'             : 0x58,
        'k7'             : 0x59,
        'k8'             : 0x5B,
        'k9'             : 0x5C,

        # keycodes for keys that are independent of keyboard layout
        '\n'             : 0x24,
        '\t'             : 0x30,
        ' '              : 0x31,
        'del'            : 0x33,
        'delete'         : 0x33,
        'esc'            : 0x35,
        'escape'         : 0x35,
        'cmd'            : 0x37,
        'command'        : 0x37,
        'shift'          : 0x38,
        'caps lock'      : 0x39,
        'option'         : 0x3A,
        'ctrl'           : 0x3B,
        'control'        : 0x3B,
        'right shift'    : 0x3C,
        'rshift'         : 0x3C,
        'right option'   : 0x3D,
        'roption'        : 0x3D,
        'right control'  : 0x3E,
        'rcontrol'       : 0x3E,
        'fun'            : 0x3F,
        'function'       : 0x3F,
        'f17'            : 0x40,
        'volume up'      : 0x48,
        'volume down'    : 0x49,
        'mute'           : 0x4A,
        'f18'            : 0x4F,
        'f19'            : 0x50,
        'f20'            : 0x5A,
        'f5'             : 0x60,
        'f6'             : 0x61,
        'f7'             : 0x62,
        'f3'             : 0x63,
        'f8'             : 0x64,
        'f9'             : 0x65,
        'f11'            : 0x67,
        'f13'            : 0x69,
        'f16'            : 0x6A,
        'f14'            : 0x6B,
        'f10'            : 0x6D,
        'f12'            : 0x6F,
        'f15'            : 0x71,
        'help'           : 0x72,
        'home'           : 0x73,
        'pgup'           : 0x74,
        'page up'        : 0x74,
        'forward delete' : 0x75,
        'f4'             : 0x76,
        'end'            : 0x77,
        'f2'             : 0x78,
        'page down'      : 0x79,
        'pgdn'           : 0x79,
        'f1'             : 0x7A,
        'left'           : 0x7B,
        'right'          : 0x7C,
        'down'           : 0x7D,
        'up'             : 0x7E
    }

    # See: https://stackoverflow.com/q/3202629/55075
    def toKeyCode(self, c):
        shiftKey = False
        # Letter
        if c.isalpha():
            if not c.islower():
                shiftKey = True
                c = c.lower()
        if c in Keyboard.shiftChars:
            shiftKey = True
            c = Keyboard.shiftChars[c]
        if c in Keyboard.keyCodeMap:
            keyCode = Keyboard.keyCodeMap[c]
        else:
            keyCode = ord(c)
        return keyCode, shiftKey

    def KeyDown(self, k):
        keyCode, shiftKey = self.toKeyCode(k)

        time.sleep(0.0001)

        if shiftKey:
            CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 0x38, True))
            time.sleep(0.0001)

        CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, keyCode, True))
        time.sleep(0.0001)

        if shiftKey:
            CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 0x38, False))
            time.sleep(0.0001)

    def KeyUp(self, k):
        keyCode, shiftKey = self.toKeyCode(k)

        time.sleep(0.0001)

        CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, keyCode, False))
        time.sleep(0.0001)

    def KeyPress(self, k):
        keyCode, shiftKey = self.toKeyCode(k)

        time.sleep(0.0001)

        if shiftKey:
            CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 0x38, True))
            time.sleep(0.0001)

        CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, keyCode, True))
        time.sleep(0.0001)

        CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, keyCode, False))
        time.sleep(0.0001)

        if shiftKey:
            CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 0x38, False))
            time.sleep(0.0001)

    def Type(self, text):
        for key in text:
            self.KeyDown(key)
            self.KeyUp(key)

Here is the demo code using above class:

# DEMO
if __name__ == '__main__':
    keyboard = Keyboard()
    if sys.platform == "darwin":
        keyboard.Type('Hello World!')
    elif sys.platform == "win32":
        print("Error: Platform not supported!")

which will simulate typing Hello World! text on the current window.

You can run above code as a shell script. Check the link to the keyboard.py file.

Related question: Generate keyboard events.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 29 '11 at 02:59

0

You can try PyQt or wxPython

Here is a link for how to handle key press with PyQt - http://www.saltycrane.com/blog/2008/01/how-to-capture-tab-key-press-event-with/

and for wxPython - http://www.wxpython.org/docs/api/wx.KeyEvent-class.html and http://zetcode.com/wxpython/events/

answered Jul 29 '11 at 02:59

arunkumar

32,803
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2

Thanks, but aren't these modules for **collecting** keypress events? Please let me know if I am wrong. I want to generate events, so as to move the presentation to the next slide, through code. – AJJ Jul 29 '11 at 03:06
Just to clarify, e.g., I want to move to the next slide after a timer of 1 minute runs down. So I want to write a command that generates the 'forward key' event on the presentation window after 1 minute. – AJJ Jul 29 '11 at 03:08
Sorry I assumed you were creating the presentation program in Python. One suggestion and I know this is not in Python, but have you looked at AppleScript ? As for a cross platform Python library to send keyboard events to the operating system , the only thing I came across is this using wxPython - http://wxpython-users.1045709.n5.nabble.com/Create-a-mouse-keyboard-event-and-send-to-the-underlying-OS-td4400077.html – arunkumar Jul 29 '11 at 03:53
Thanks! Applescript looks promising. Seems like there isn't a good way to achieve this with Python itself. – AJJ Jul 29 '11 at 04:17
I doubt if there is a cross platform library for doing things like this. wxPython, Qt and similar GUI libraries probably have features like this but aren't built really for this purpose. You could use OS dependent libraries such as http://pyobjc.sourceforge.net/ for OS X and http://python.net/crew/skippy/win32/ for Win32, but this would fall under slightly advanced programming. – arunkumar Jul 29 '11 at 06:03
`py-appscript` lets you do Applescripting in Python: http://appscript.sourceforge.net/py-appscript/index.html – Ned Deily Jul 29 '11 at 10:03
Thanks, that bridge should be very useful! – AJJ Jul 30 '11 at 00:06
Would this be able to work with an inactive/minimized window? – Sal Apr 28 '20 at 04:20

How to generate keyboard keypress events through Python to control PP presentation?

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