How do you record keystrokes when operating on another window in Java?

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How do you record keystrokes when operating on another window in Java?

I'm looking to record keystrokes and mouse positions while I'm in a browser window on various websites, but I'm not sure how to do this outside the SWING (or some other GUI) window.

How can I record keystrokes when a different application's window is the one active?

+1 A:

I don't think you can do this from pure Java. If it is possible at all, it would require the assistance of a (highly) platform specific native code library.

Stephen C 2010-01-06 02:53:59

can't do it in Java or can't do it at all? seems to me like a native library might let you get the behavior, though i'm having trouble coming up with any good-intentioned reason for doing it..

Mark E 2010-01-06 02:56:35

Would this be doable in C++ on a Windows machine?

Chad 2010-01-06 02:57:01

+1 A:

(Windows only) In theory you could use JNA or JNI to bind to GetAsyncKeyState and you'd be able to monitor key presses.

Mark E 2010-01-06 03:11:46

+1 A:

The support you need is not exposed by Java. It is a fairly simple matter to do this if you have access to the RECORD extension in X, or Win32 on Windows.

Here is a Python project that implements support for both of these platforms: pykeylogger.

Adam Goode 2010-01-06 03:14:04

I didn't think of looking at some open source key loggers. Thanks, this is exactly what I need (and it'll let me practice my Python programming skills)

Chad 2010-01-06 03:24:02

ansaurus

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How do you record keystrokes when operating on another window in Java?

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