Automation of user inputs always requires to click several buttons or menus. I personally prefer to use mouse.py to automate and control my mouse in python. It was posted in a forum entry on stackoverlow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4263608/ctypes-mouse-events.
The module as is works great. I did however miss some functionality: Clicking without moving the cursor. I extended mouse.py to click without moving the cursor. I have noticed that very rarely you still see the cursor moving. This only happens if my computer is rather busy. I remember using PostMessage back in my old AHK days, but unfortunately I can not get it to work.
An other function I included is clicking relative coordinates. I often would rather click coordinates in a window without having to deal with where that window is actually at. On a side note, a great tool for relative coordinates especially with multiple monitors is my module python screen coordinates. It does all the conversion of coordinates and has a hit test to determine what screen you are on.
Do you know of other ways to control your mouse in python? Please share any method you know. I would really like to see a PostMessage example work. I know TableCrab has a working solution, but I didnt get a chance yet to look through all the code.
Here is my extended version of mouse.py
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<pre lang="py" toggle="no">import win32gui, win32api, win32con, ctypes
class Mouse:
"""It simulates the mouse"""
MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE = 0x0001 # mouse move
MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTDOWN = 0x0002 # left button down
MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTUP = 0x0004 # left button up
MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTDOWN = 0x0008 # right button down
MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTUP = 0x0010 # right button up
MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEDOWN = 0x0020 # middle button down
MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEUP = 0x0040 # middle button up
MOUSEEVENTF_WHEEL = 0x0800 # wheel button rolled
MOUSEEVENTF_ABSOLUTE = 0x8000 # absolute move
SM_CXSCREEN = 0
SM_CYSCREEN = 1
def _do_event(self, flags, x_pos, y_pos, data, extra_info):
"""generate a mouse event"""
x_calc = 65536L * x_pos / ctypes.windll.user32.GetSystemMetrics(self.SM_CXSCREEN) + 1
y_calc = 65536L * y_pos / ctypes.windll.user32.GetSystemMetrics(self.SM_CYSCREEN) + 1
return ctypes.windll.user32.mouse_event(flags, x_calc, y_calc, data, extra_info)
def _get_button_value(self, button_name, button_up=False):
"""convert the name of the button into the corresponding value"""
buttons = 0
if button_name.find("right") >= 0:
buttons = self.MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTDOWN
if button_name.find("left") >= 0:
buttons = buttons + self.MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTDOWN
if button_name.find("middle") >= 0:
buttons = buttons + self.MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEDOWN
if button_up:
buttons = buttons << 1
return buttons
def move_mouse(self, pos):
"""move the mouse to the specified coordinates"""
(x, y) = pos
old_pos = self.get_position()
x = x if (x != -1) else old_pos[0]
y = y if (y != -1) else old_pos[1]
self._do_event(self.MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE + self.MOUSEEVENTF_ABSOLUTE, x, y, 0, 0)
def press_button(self, pos=(-1, -1), button_name="left", button_up=False):
"""push a button of the mouse"""
self.move_mouse(pos)
self._do_event(self.get_button_value(button_name, button_up), 0, 0, 0, 0)
def click(self, pos=(-1, -1), button_name= "left"):
"""Click at the specified placed"""
## self.move_mouse(pos)
self._do_event(self._get_button_value(button_name, False)+self._get_button_value(button_name, True), 0, 0, 0, 0)
def double_click (self, pos=(-1, -1), button_name="left"):
"""Double click at the specifed placed"""
for i in xrange(2):
self.click(pos, button_name)
def get_position(self):
"""get mouse position"""
return win32api.GetCursorPos()
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#Added functions
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
def invisible_click(self,pos=(-1, -1), button_name="left"):
"""Click in specified place without moving mouse"""
xcur,ycur = win32gui.GetCursorPos()
ctypes.windll.user32.SetCursorPos(pos[0],pos[1])
self.click(pos,button_name)
ctypes.windll.user32.SetCursorPos(xcur,ycur)
def invisible_click_rel(self,handle,pos, button_name="left"):
"""Click in window coordinates without moving mouse"""
#get window info
xleft, ytop, xright, ybottom = win32gui.GetWindowRect(handle)
xcur,ycur = win32gui.GetCursorPos()
ctypes.windll.user32.SetCursorPos(pos[0]+xleft,pos[1]+ytop)
self.click((pos[0]+xleft,pos[1]+ytop),button_name)
ctypes.windll.user32.SetCursorPos(xcur,ycur)
if __name__ == '__main__':
## p = (210,260)
## print win32gui.GetForegroundWindow()
## mouse = Mouse()
## mouse.invisible_click_rel(win32gui.GetForegroundWindow(),p)
I hope it helps you, please let me know about questions. Comments are always welcome!