AutoHotkey background clicking and typing

Question

I'm trying to use AutoHotkey to do some background clicking and typing while I'm doing other stuff in the foreground.

I've gotten used to Send but I haven't figured out how ControlSend works yet. Can anyone give me an example using something simple like MSPaint in the background and changing the color of paint.

Is this even possible to do? I have a script currently that pulls from daily Excel report, assigns each row a variable and punches it into another program, but I need it to click and type some canned messages as well.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 17 '12 at 05:42

The first question should probably be why use mouse control? Keyboard control is sooo much easier and often more reliable. What is it that you try to do with a mouseclick that can't be done through keyboard commands?

Also mouse clicks normally activate the hidden app.

OK you wanted an example...

+Home:: ;Shift + Home = stop/start radio
SetControlDelay -1
ControlClick, x384 y143, Radioplayer
Return

Here i click on the play/pause button of a streaming radioplayer. The mouse coordinates are found with the aforementioned Windows Spy and the title of the browser (you might have to use SetTitleMatchMode). Why not look at the AutoHotKey Command list and check out the examples there....

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 17 '12 at 05:42

0

Let me know if this is (roughly) what you are looking for....

SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
SetTitleMatchMode, 2 ; A window's title can contain the text anywhere
!F1:: ; Press Alt F1 to execute
IfWinExist, Microsoft Excel
{
    ControlSend ,, 1000{Enter}{Down}, Microsoft Excel
}
return

edited Jul 17 '12 at 05:42

Qtax

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answered Dec 12 '11 at 13:13

Robert Ilbrink

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Now when you say `1000{Enter}{Down}` what about the coordinates? – Matthew Dec 15 '11 at 15:17
As in [Ctrl]+g and then e.g. K9[Enter], to jump to cell K9? – Robert Ilbrink Dec 15 '11 at 19:35
Understood, what about ControlClick? I cannot seem to find a good example using coordinates. – Matthew Dec 23 '11 at 07:29
Have you played with the Window Spy mode (right click on icon), here you can see the mouse coordinates, to be used with click. – Robert Ilbrink Dec 28 '11 at 18:46

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 17 '12 at 05:43

Here is some code I used to first record the mouse position (relative mouse position did not work since the window was tiled and the click position could be changed by moving the tiles). Immediately after that I click the mouse at the recorded position (and redo this later on in the code as well).

SplashTextOn, 200, 100, Script Preparations, Please Click on the Person `"Search Term`" link (1) in SAP. ; Show new instructions to the user
WinMove, Script Preparations,, (A_ScreenWidth/2)-150, (A_ScreenHeight/2)-200      ; Move the text instructions window with the name "Script Preparations" 150 pixels right of the center of the screen and 200 pixels up SoundBeep 600, 300 ; Wake up user
; From here on the left mouse button will temporarily be disabled
Hotkey, LButton, on ; Turn Left Mouse Button OFF, to capture the Mouse click
KeyWait, LButton, D ; Wait for LeftMouseButton click Down
MouseGetPos, xposS ,yposS ; Store the position where the mouse was clicked (Search Box)
MouseClick, left, %xposS% ,%yposS% ; Perform the mouse click on the captured mouse location

Hope this helps.

In your situation, I assume that you only need to determine the mouse position with Window Spy.

AutoHotkey background clicking and typing

3 Answers3