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Controlling the Key board and Mouse with GUI Automation In Python

Introduction
Knowing various Python modules for edit-ing spreadsheets, downloading files, and launching programs is useful, but some-times there just aren’t any modules for the applications you need to work with. The ultimate tools for automating tasks on your computer are pro-grams you write that directly control the keyboard and mouse.Python Course in Bangalore

Here’s how you can get started:

  1. Install Required Libraries First, you need to install the necessary libraries:
  2. Controlling the Mouse with PyAutoGUI You can move the mouse, click, drag, and perform other actions using PyAutoGUI
  3. Controlling the Keyboard with PyAutoGUI PyAutoGUI also allows you to simulate keyboard presses:
  4. More Control with the keyboard Library For more fine-grained control over keyboard inputs, you can use the keyboard library, which allows you to control individual keypresses, listen for specific events, and more.Python Training in Bangalore
  5. Listening for Keyboard Events You can also create keyboard event listeners to trigger actions when certain keys are pressed: Summary PyAutoGUI allows you to control both the keyboard and mouse for GUI automation. keyboard library gives more control over keyboard events and input. By combining these libraries, you can automate complex interactions with your computer. Best Python Course in Bangalore

Installing the pyautogui Module
The pyautogui module can send virtual keypresses and mouse clicks to Windows, OS X, and Linux. Depending on which operating system you’re using, you may have to install some other modules (called dependencies)before you can install PyAutoGUI.Best Python Training Institutes In Bangalore
• On Windows, there are no other modules to install.
• On OS X, run sudo pip3 install pyobjc-framework-Quartz, sudo pip3 install pyobjc-core, and then sudo pip3 install pyobjc.
• On Linux, run sudo pip3 install python3-xlib, sudo apt-get install scrot, sudo apt-get install python3-tk, and sudo apt-get install python3-dev.
(Scrot is a screenshot program that PyAutoGUI uses.)After these dependencies are installed, run pip install pyautogui (or pip3 on OS X and Linux) to install PyAutoGUI.Appendix A has complete information on installing third-party modules.To test whether PyAutoGUI has been installed correctly, run import pyautogui from the interactive shell and check for any error messages.
Staying on Track
Before you jump in to a GUI automation, you should know how to escape problems that may arise. Python can move your mouse and type keystrokes at an incredible speed. Best Python Training Provider in Bangalore In fact, it might be too fast for other programs to keep up with. Also, if something goes wrong but your program keeps mov-ing the mouse around, it will be hard to tell what exactly the program is doing or how to recover from the problem. Like the enchanted brooms from Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which kept filling—and then overfilling— Mickey’s tub with water, your program could get out of control even though it’s following your instructions perfectly. Stopping the program can be diffi-cult if the mouse is moving around on its own, preventing you from clicking the IDLE window to close it. Fortunately, there are several ways to prevent or recover from GUI automation problems.Shutting Down Everything by Logging Out Perhaps the simplest way to stop an out-of-control GUI automation program is to log out, which will shut down all running programs. On Windows and Linux, the logout hotkey is ctrl-alt-del. On OS X, it is z-shift-option-Q.By logging out, you’ll lose any unsaved work, but at least you won’t have to wait for a full reboot of the computer.
Controlling the Keyboard and Mouse with GUI Automation
Pauses and Fail-Safes
You can tell your script to wait after every function call, giving you a short window to take control of the mouse and keyboard if something goes wrong. Online Python Training in Bangalore To do this, set the pyautogui.PAUSE variable to the number of seconds you want it to pause. For example, after setting pyautogui.PAUSE = 1.5, every PyAutoGUI function call will wait one and a half seconds after performing its action. Non-PyAutoGUI instructions will not have this pause.PyAutoGUI also has a fail-safe feature. Moving the mouse cursor to the upper-left corner of the screen will cause PyAutoGUI to raise the pyautogui.FailSafeException exception. Your program can either handle this excep-tion with try and except statements or let the exception crash your program.Either way, the fail-safe feature will stop the program if you quickly movethe mouse as far up and left as you can. You can disable this feature by set-ting pyautogui.FAILSAFE = False. Enter the following into the interactive shell:

import pyautogui
pyautogui.PAUSE = 1
pyautogui.FAILSAFE = True
Here we import pyautogui and set pyautogui.PAUSE to 1 for a one-second pause after each function call. We set pyautogui.FAILSAFE to True to enable the fail-safe feature.
Conclusion


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