How can I construct java robot class methods into a method of my own making

Question

Sorry if the question doesn't make sense. I've got a feeling that if I were able to better word the question I would be able to find the answer myself.

Here's what my code looks like:(omitting parts not pertaining to the question)

Robot robot = new Robot();// create robot
//---Perform Task ---//
//part 1
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);
robot.mouseMove(1300, var);
robot.mousePress(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
robot.mouseRelease(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
robot.delay(stdDelay);
//part 2
robot.mouseMove(1300, var+20);
robot.mousePress(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
robot.mouseRelease(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
robot.delay(stdDelay);
//part 3
robot.mouseMove(1300, var+40);
robot.mousePress(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
robot.mouseRelease(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
robot.delay(stdDelay);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);

What I want to do is place all of that portion beneath //---Perform Task---// into a method so that I can just call that method when I want to have that task performed, rather than having to copy paste all of that code every time I want to perform that task.

To help clarify:

If I do this:

  public class task {
Robot robot = new Robot();
//---Begin task-----//
    robot.mouseMove(16,853);
    robot.mousePress(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
    robot.mouseRelease(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
    //---Wait for task---//
    robot.delay(35000);

}

I get the error on Robot robot line: unreported exception java.awt.AWTException; must be caught or declared to be thrown. Which then leads to all the other lines erroring because they are dependent on the construction of the new robot.

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions already. I will give those a shot!

What I ended up doing was creating a class: public class RobotStuff{} with methods that looked like: Public void doStuff() throws AWTException{} Then I constructed a new Robot() in each method. It is working so far. Thanks for the comments and answers!

Answer 1

public static void doStuff(Robot robot){
   // paste your stuff here
}

Make sure you've got the imports required to get through the compiler, and this should work

Answer 2

It's a good question. Two things to consider:

1. use encapsulation to change the functionality of a class that doesn't quite do what you want. In other words, create a new class called RobotWrapper which has an instance of Robot.
2. wrap a bothersome checked exception in a RuntimeException

Here's what I came up with:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.InputEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;

public class RobotWrapper {

    private static final int STD_DELAY = 35000;

    private final Robot robot;

    public RobotWrapper() {
        try {
            robot = new Robot();
        } catch (AWTException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(e);
        }
    }

    public void doStuff(int x, int y) {
        robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_CONTROL);
        robot.mouseMove(x, y);
        robot.mousePress(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
        robot.mouseRelease(InputEvent.BUTTON1_MASK);
        robot.delay(STD_DELAY);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        RobotWrapper robotWrapper = new RobotWrapper();
        robotWrapper.doStuff(16, 853);
        robotWrapper.doStuff(100, 200);
    }
}

Answer 3

Note that some people think singletons are anti-patterns - this vastly depends on what you want to do, but will work for your simple case. You should read a bit more about this before you blindly use it.

You can use singleton pattern for this:

public class Singleton {

    private static final Singleton INSTANCE = new Singleton();

    // Private constructor prevents instantiation from other classes
    private Singleton() {
    }

    public static Singleton getInstance() {
        return INSTANCE;
    }

    public void doSomeStuff() {
        // Put your code here
    }

}

Then you can call it like this:

Singleton.getInstance().doSomeStuff()

Rename your class to something else that has some meaningful name.

Take a look here for an explanation:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singleton_pattern#Java

Answer 4

You may think about subclassing Robot.

public class ExtendedRobot extends Robot{
public doStuff(){
// paste code here
}
}

To make your stuff happen, you'd make a robot.
Robot robot = new Robot();
robot.doStuff();