How do I set the position of the mouse cursor from a Console app in C#?

Question

I've found many articles on how to set the mouse position in a C# windows forms project - I want to do this in a console application. How can I set the absolute mouse position from a C# windows console application?

Thanks!

Hint: it's not Console.setCursorPosition, that only sets the position of the text cursor in the console.

Why does your console application need to set the position of the Windows mouse cursor? This is quite an unusual situation to say the least. — Cody Gray - on strike, Jul 16 '11 at 08:35
@Cody in fairness there are *very few* times you should control the mouse - it would be odd even if it was a windows app :) — Marc Gravell, Jul 16 '11 at 08:36
As you have the solution can you share it with more code? I'm trying to do the same thing but I'm not very experienced with C# — npocmaka, Jun 21 '14 at 20:04

score 17 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 16 '16 at 19:58

17

This is an old thread, but for the sake of completion it can be done this way...

use System.Runtime.InteropServices;

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern bool SetCursorPos(int X, int Y);

then in method whatever position you wish e.g.

  SetCursorPos(500, 500);

answered Mar 16 '16 at 19:58

Chaz

2,311
1
12
9

For feedback, I tried it, works well. – Gray Programmerz Oct 16 '22 at 09:39

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 04 '20 at 11:11

Fixed little mistake in Chaz unswer:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;


namespace ConsoleImageWorker
{
    public static class Mouse
    {

        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
        static extern bool SetCursorPos(int X, int Y);

        public static void SetCursorPosition(int x, int y)
        {
            SetCursorPos(x, y);
        }
    }
}

After that in any class you can just call:

Mouse.SetCursorPosition(100, 100);

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 16 '11 at 08:33

Inside your console application, add a reference to System.Windows.Forms.dll and use the other techniques you've read about. The choice of console vs windows exe only impacts the PE header (and maybe the default code template, but you can hack that trivially); you can still use the full framework in a console exe.

The mouse you want to control is in windows, not the console.

David Heffernan · Answer 4 · 2011-07-16T08:41:38.167

3

You can simply assign to Cursor.Position.

However, in a console application you will need to add references to the WinForms assemblies because console application projects do not include references to WinForms by default.

You will need to add System.Windows.Forms and System.Drawing, the latter to gain access to the Point class.

edited Jul 16 '11 at 08:41

answered Jul 16 '11 at 08:32

David Heffernan

601,492
42
1,072
1,490

Note that this will only work if you first add a reference to the `System.Windows.Forms` libraries to your Console app. (Then again, Console apps shouldn't be messing with the Windows cursor in the first place...) – Cody Gray - on strike Jul 16 '11 at 08:34
Oh, I see. EDIT: C# is not finding System.Windows.Forms. – guywhoneedsahand Jul 16 '11 at 08:35
@Cody Well, I was taking for granted that anyone using something in `System.Windows.Forms` would add a reference to it! – David Heffernan Jul 16 '11 at 08:38
The question specifically started out by saying that he had found many articles about how to do this from a WinForms app, but didn't know how to do it from a Console app. I've learned not to take anything for granted around here... – Cody Gray - on strike Jul 16 '11 at 08:39
Add a reference first, from file browser window, then you can put using System.Windows.Forms in your main class – Jul 16 '11 at 08:39
Thanks all, got it figured out. – guywhoneedsahand Jul 16 '11 at 08:41
@guy Sorry, I misunderstood what you were stuck on. – David Heffernan Jul 16 '11 at 08:44

How do I set the position of the mouse cursor from a Console app in C#?

4 Answers4

Linked