simple keystroke script

[cartisdm]

I want to run a command from kAlarm. I need to have the keystrokes "ctrl + R" pressed at a certain time to initial something. kAlarm allows for scripts so could someone create a simple script that makes the computer think I pressed those keys?

[nanotube]

I want to run a command from kAlarm. I need to have the keystrokes "ctrl + R" pressed at a certain time to initial something. kAlarm allows for scripts so could someone create a simple script that makes the computer think I pressed those keys?

the following references may be of use:
http://search.cpan.org/~ctrondlp/X11-GUITest-0.21/GUITest.pm (perl)

http://osdir.com/ml/misc.misterhouse.user/2003-07/msg00207.html (c)

http://python-xlib.sourceforge.net/doc/html/python-xlib_14.html#SEC13 (python)

[cartisdm]

Awesome for the info, but my programming knowledge registers about a .5 on the scale. I don't particularly have the time to invest in learning it right now either. Anyone wanna help a brother out and put together a simple script?

[nanotube]

Awesome for the info, but my programming knowledge registers about a .5 on the scale. I don't particularly have the time to invest in learning it right now either. Anyone wanna help a brother out and put together a simple script?

well ok, here's a little c program to send control-r to the active application:

#include <X11/extensions/XTest.h>

#define KEY_DOWN True
#define KEY_UP False

#define KEYCODE_LCONTROL 37
#define KEYCODE_R 32

int main() {
Display *dpy = XOpenDisplay(NULL);
if (!dpy) return 1;
XTestFakeKeyEvent(dpy, KEYCODE_LCONTROL, KEY_DOWN, CurrentTime);
XTestFakeKeyEvent(dpy, KEYCODE_R, KEY_DOWN, CurrentTime);
XTestFakeKeyEvent(dpy, KEYCODE_R, KEY_UP, CurrentTime);
XTestFakeKeyEvent(dpy, KEYCODE_LCONTROL, KEY_UP, CurrentTime);
XCloseDisplay(dpy);
return 0;
}

save file as injectkey.c

to compile, install package libxtst-dev:

sudo apt-get install libxtst-dev

and then run
gcc -o injectkey -lXtst injectkey.c

for your convenience, i also attach the binary, built on i386 arch. (it's an executable, not a shell script, but the forum wouldn't accept it without an "allowed" extension)

have fun, enjoy. you can use it in any script to trigger a control-r keycombo.

credits: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_inject_fake_keystrokes

[cartisdm]

Hey man thanks for the script. I tried messing around with it but was unable to get it to work. I decided to take a different route (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=860350) with what I'm trying to accomplish. Right now it looks like Audacity has a timer recording option but I'm running into problems with audio playback with Audacity

[nanotube]

Hey man thanks for the script. I tried messing around with it but was unable to get it to work. I decided to take a different route (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=860350) with what I'm trying to accomplish. Right now it looks like Audacity has a timer recording option but I'm running into problems with audio playback with Audacity

so all you want to do is record audio (from your microphone, e.g.) at a specified time? then you can just use "arecord" program. start it from a cron job with the appropriate arguments, and tada.


man arecord
for more details.