RobotJS

Examples

Thu, 13 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Mouse

// Move the mouse across the screen as a sine wave.
var robot = require("robotjs");

// Speed up the mouse.
robot.setMouseDelay(2);

var twoPI = Math.PI * 2.0;
var screenSize = robot.getScreenSize();
var height = (screenSize.height / 2) - 10;
var width = screenSize.width;

for (var x = 0; x < width; x++)
{
	y = height * Math.sin((twoPI * x) / width) + height;
	robot.moveMouse(x, y);
}

Keyboard

// Type "Hello World" then press enter.
var robot = require("robotjs");

// Type "Hello World".
robot.typeString("Hello World");

// Press enter.
robot.keyTap("enter");

Syntax

Wed, 12 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Methods

Keyboard

Keys

keyToggle and keyTap support for following keys.

Note: The names of the letter and number keys are the same as that single letter or digit. For example: b is the “b” key and 5 is the “5” key.

Key	Description	Notes
backspace
delete
enter
tab
escape
up	Up arrow key
down	Down arrow key
right	Right arrow key
left	Left arrow key
home
end
pageup
pagedown
f1
f2
f3
f4
f5
f6
f7
f8
f9
f10
f11
f12
command
alt
control
shift
right_shift
space
printscreen		No Mac support
insert		No Mac support
audio_mute	Mute the volume
audio_vol_down	Lower the volume
audio_vol_up	Increase the volume
audio_play	Play
audio_stop	Stop
audio_pause	Pause
audio_prev	Previous Track
audio_next	Next Track
audio_rewind		Linux only
audio_forward		Linux only
audio_repeat		Linux only
audio_random		Linux only
numpad_0		No Linux support
numpad_1		No Linux support
numpad_2		No Linux support
numpad_3		No Linux support
numpad_4		No Linux support
numpad_5		No Linux support
numpad_6		No Linux support
numpad_7		No Linux support
numpad_8		No Linux support
numpad_9		No Linux support
lights_mon_up	Turn up monitor brightness	No Windows support
lights_mon_down	Turn down monitor brightness	No Windows support
lights_kbd_toggle	Toggle keyboard backlight on/off	No Windows support
lights_kbd_up	Turn up keyboard backlight brightness	No Windows support
lights_kbd_down	Turn down keyboard backlight brightness	No Windows support

Up to date as of v0.4.4.

setKeyboardDelay(ms)

Sets the delay in milliseconds to sleep after a keyboard event. This is 10ms by default.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`ms`	Time to sleep in milliseconds.	None

keyTap(key, [modifier])

Press a single key.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`key`	See keys.	None
`modifier`	String or an array. Accepts alt, command (win), control, and shift.	None

keyToggle(key, down, [modifier])

Hold down or release a key.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`key`	See keys.	None
`down`	Accepts down or up.	None
`modifier`	String or an array. Accepts alt, command (mac), control, and shift.	None

typeString(string)

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`string`	The string to send.	None

typeStringDelayed(string, cpm)

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`string`	The string to send.	None
`cpm`	Characters per minute.	None

Mouse

setMouseDelay(ms)

Sets the delay in milliseconds to sleep after a mouse event. This is 10ms by default.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`ms`	Time to sleep in milliseconds.	None

moveMouse(x, y)

Moves mouse to x, y instantly, with the mouse button up.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`x`		None
`y`		None

Examples

var robot = require("robotjs");

//Move the mouse to 100, 100 on the screen.
robot.moveMouse(100, 100);

moveMouseSmooth(x, y, [speed])

Moves mouse to x, y human like, with the mouse button up.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`x`		None
`y`		None
`speed`	Speed of the mousemovement in miliseconds. Between every movement, there will be a sleep of X miliseconds, where X is a random number between 1.0 and this variable.	3.0 (ms)

mouseClick([button], [double])

Clicks the mouse.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`button`	Accepts left, right, or middle.	left
`double`	Set to true to perform a double click.	false

Examples

var robot = require("robotjs");

robot.mouseClick();

mouseToggle([down], [button])

Toggles mouse button.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`down`	Accepts down or up.	down
`button`	Accepts left, right, or middle.	left

Examples

var robot = require("robotjs");

robot.mouseToggle("down");

setTimeout(function()
{
    robot.mouseToggle("up");

}, 2000);

dragMouse(x, y)

Moves mouse to x, y instantly, with the mouse button held down.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`x`		None
`y`		None

Examples

var robot = require("robotjs");

//Mouse down at 0, 0 and then drag to 100, 100 and release.
robot.moveMouse(0, 0);
robot.mouseToggle("down");
robot.dragMouse(100, 100);
robot.mouseToggle("up");

getMousePos()

Gets the mouse coordinates.

Return

Returns an object with keys x and y.

Examples

var robot = require("robotjs");

var mouse = robot.getMousePos();
console.log("Mouse is at x:" + mouse.x + " y:" + mouse.y);

scrollMouse(x, y)

Scrolls the mouse in any direction.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`x`	The magnitude and direction of the scroll left and right. Left is negative.	None
`y`	The magnitude and direction of the scroll up and down. Down is negative.	None

Examples

var robot = require("robotjs");

robot.scrollMouse(50, 0);

setTimeout(function()
{
    robot.scrollMouse(50, 0);
}, 2000);

Screen

getPixelColor(x, y)

Gets the pixel color at x, y. This function is perfect for getting a pixel or two, but if you’ll be reading large portions of the screen use screen.capture.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`x`		None
`y`		None

Return

Returns the hex color code of the pixel at x, y.

getScreenSize()

Gets the screen width and height.

Return

Returns an object with .width and .height.

screen.capture([x], [y], [width], [height])

Gets part or all of the screen.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`x`		0
`y`		0
`width`		Screen width
`height`		Screen height

If no arguments are provided, screen.capture will get the full screen.

Return

Returns a bitmap object.

Examples

For higher density screens (Macs) the resulting screen capture could be larger than the area requested. You can work around this by dividing the image size by the requested size. For example:

var size = 10;
var img = robot.screen.capture(0, 0, size, size);
// Support for higher density screens.
var multi = img.width / size;
// Get color at 2, 3.
var color = img.colorAt(2 * multi, 3 * multi);

Bitmap

This is an object returned by screen.capture.

Properties

Property	Description
`width`	The width of the bitmap.
`height`	The height of the bitmap.
`image`	The raw image (buffer).
`byteWidth`
`bitsPerPixel`
`bytesPerPixel`

colorAt

Gets the pixel color at x, y of a bitmap.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Default
`x`		None
`y`		None

Return

Returns the hex color code of the pixel at x, y.

Examples

var robot = require("robotjs");

//Get a 100x100 screen capture starting at 0, 0.
var img = robot.screen.capture(0, 0, 100, 100);

console.log(img.width)

//Get pixel color at 50, 50.
var hex = img.colorAt(50, 50);
console.log(hex);

Building

Wed, 12 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Please ensure you have the required dependencies before installing:

Windows
- Visual Studio 2013 (Express works fine).
- Python (v2.7.3 recommended, v3.x.x is not supported).
Mac
- Xcode Command Line Tools.
Linux
- Python (v2.7 recommended, v3.x.x is not supported).
- make.
- A C/C++ compiler like GCC.
- libxtst-dev and libpng++-dev (sudo apt-get install libxtst-dev libpng++-dev).

Install node-gyp using npm:

npm install -g node-gyp

Then build:

node-gyp rebuild

See the node-gyp readme for more details.

FAQ

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Does RobotJS support global hotkeys?

Not currently, and I don’t know if it ever will. I personally use Electron/NW.js for global hotkeys, and this works well. Later on I might add hotkey support or create a separate module. See #55 for details.

Can I take a screenshot with RobotJS?

Soon! This is a bit more complicated than the rest of the features, so I saved it for last. Luckily the code is already there, I just need to write the bindings, and I’ve already started. Subscribe to #13 for updates.

Why is <insert key> missing from the keyboard functions?

We’ve been implementing keys as we need them. Feel free to create an issue or submit a pull request!

How about multi-monitor support?

The library doesn’t have explicit multi-monitor support, so anything that works is kind of on accident. Subscribe to #88 for updates.

For any other questions please submit an issue.

Electron

Mon, 10 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

You can use this line to rebuild RobotJS for Electron:

npm rebuild --runtime=electron --target=1.1.3 --disturl=https://atom.io/download/atom-shell --abi=48

Target should be the Electron version, and abi should be the abi version of the included Node. You can check what version of Node is used in Electron by looking it up in the releases page or by using process.version (see Quick Start for example). You can find the correct abi version here.

You can include this line in the scripts section of your package.json to build RobotJS automatically.

"rebuild": "npm rebuild --runtime=electron --target=1.1.3 --disturl=https://atom.io/download/atom-shell --abi=48"