robotjs-combo

robotjs-combos

Easy node API to allow for the easy use of key combinations in robot.js

I was trying to do a simple chain of keyboard commands, this one does a quick loop around my workspaces (2X2) in linux using the standard ctrl+alt+arrow:

Installation

$ npm install robotjs-combos

Quick Usage

The module takes an array of key combonations executed in order:

robotjs_combo = require('robotjs-combos');
var commands = 	[["alt","control","right"],
        ["alt","control","down"],
        ["alt","control","left"],
        ["alt","control","up"]]
robotjsCombos(commands,function(){
    console.log("around the workspaces!");
},300);

or just a single keypress combination:

 
//takes a single key combination
var command = ["alt","control","left"]
robotjsCombos(command,function(){
    console.log("just left");
},100); 

API Spec:

robotjs_combo(command_string,callback,optional_timeout);

The optional timeout is the length of time between presses. I may add other ways to tune this in the future

Explanation of why:

I was working on a project and wanted a simple API to do complex keypress sequences...here is the above multiple keypress thing i came up with:

robot.keyToggle("alt", 'down');
robot.keyToggle("control", 'down');
 
setTimeout(function(){
    robot.keyTap('right');
    setTimeout(function(){
        robot.keyTap('down');
        setTimeout(function(){
            robot.keyTap('left');
            setTimeout(function(){
                robot.keyTap('up');
                setTimeout(function(){
                    robot.keyToggle("alt", 'up');
                    robot.keyToggle("control", 'up');	
                    setup()
                },300);	
            },300);
        },300);
    },300);
},300);

...ugly.

So instead I wrote a quick module that can be used instead