Is there a way to programmatically press keyboard keys?

Question

Client requires to programmatically press Keyboard keys like "C", "Ctrl", "Shift", "5", etc.

I have checked some APIs but only handing of key presses are available. Example :

.keypress()

Are there available functions which can mimic this behavior?

[Updated Code]

$("#input").focus();
window.crossBrowser_initKeyboardEvent("keypress", {"key": 1, "char": "!", shiftKey: true});

My goal in the updated code is to focus a textfield and trigger keypresss such that the character I want to show is shown ion the textfield. But, the above code is not working also.

If you could find out why, and in what context this is required, we might be able to help . . . — Pat Dobson, Feb 12 '15 at 09:53
possible duplicate of [Simulate JavaScript Key Events](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/596481/simulate-javascript-key-events) — Praveen Prasannan, Feb 12 '15 at 10:06
@PatDobson: What the client wants is to be able to copy item to clipboard in Chrome by just clicking a button without using flash (just pure JS). I have checked through this but it seems not supported due to some security risks. So, client thinks that if there's a way to trigger the keyboard such that CTRL+C is pressed programmatically then it might solve this issue. — Kim Honoridez, Feb 13 '15 at 03:03

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

2

Use jquery

var e = jQuery.Event("keydown");
    e.which = 8; // # Some key code value
    $("input").trigger(e);

More reference, Also See This

edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Community

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answered Feb 12 '15 at 09:54

Arunprasanth K V

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Does this trigger the system key such that it seems the user has clicked CTRL+C? Please refer to [Updated Code] above. – Kim Honoridez Feb 13 '15 at 03:05
@KimHonoridez go through the second link i have provided – Arunprasanth K V Feb 13 '15 at 04:39
Getting, "TypeError: inst is undefined" on trigger call. – eaglei22 Jul 28 '17 at 13:37

score -1 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 09 '17 at 13:46

-1

If you don't want to use jQuery, this is what I recommend, paste this right into your script tags, run it, and press capital A to see a message.

document.addEventListener("keypress", function (e) 
{                                            //Start of addEventListener
       if (e.which == 65)                    //When A is pressed
                alert("A was pressed");      //Message will show
}, false);                                   //End of addEventListener

edited Aug 09 '17 at 13:46

azro

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answered Aug 09 '17 at 13:02

dizad87

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The question is about firing the keydown event and not handling it, this doesn't answer the question. – cнŝdk Aug 09 '17 at 13:06

Is there a way to programmatically press keyboard keys?

2 Answers2