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I am working with software that requires only occasional input and that otherwise runs completely in the background.

The input it requires is so simple that I have been able to fully automate it using OpenCV and python. Unfortunately in order to send the input, I need to use mouse events for this, resulting in my mouse being moved around. I tried other ways, such as sending other post_messages directly to the window, but they didn't work unfortunately. So since moving the mouse is the only way to interact, it hinders my productivity, since it will interfere with my daily work. Ideally I would like to use multiple desktops, where the mouse/keyboard inputs are completely separated and where I run all my usual stuff on Desktop 1 and the program & automation on Desktop 2. Doing this seems difficult, however, since there is only one input stream and I would need to have separate input streams which can be controlled individually.

So my question is basically if it is possible to have multiple desktops with independent inputs that can be automated separately?

Please note:

  1. I know there are some solutions that provide input for two mice, but I haven't seen any info on how to interface with them (from python for example), and a lot of them seem to be buggy or discontinued.

  2. I also know that I can use a virtual machine, but unfortunately that is a bit of an overkill, especially given that the underlying program that I want to automate requires quite a bit of resources and those are better used within my primary system.

Muppet
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  • Which GUI framework do your app use? There may be a way to automate it silently not using real user input like mouse_event() or keybd_event(). – Vasily Ryabov Oct 10 '15 at 15:40
  • Yes I tried that, unfortunately this doesn't work. It's some self-designed non-standard stuff. I could fix it using OllyDbg for example, but I rather want to have a good standardized solution to this problem, as I had this a few times in the past. Thanks for your comment though – Muppet Oct 10 '15 at 17:12
  • I meant possible GUI automation like that: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32846550/python-control-window-with-pywinauto-while-the-window-is-minimized-or-hidden But if mentioned stuff is custom controls, that may be a problem. – Vasily Ryabov Oct 10 '15 at 19:55

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