keyboard

This gem is a component of AXElements. It provides an interface for posting keyboard events to the system as well as a mixin for parsing a string into a series of events.

A port of keyboard simulator code from AXElements, but cleaned up and released as its own gem.

By itself, the accessibility_keyboard gem has limited use; but in combination with a gem for performing other GUI manipulations, like AXElements, this gem is very powerful and can be used for tasks such as automated functional testing.

Examples

The basics:

    require 'accessibility/keyboard'

    include Accessibility::Keyboard

    keyboard_events_for("Hey, there!").each do |event|
      KeyCoder.post_event event
    end

Something a bit more advanced:

    require 'accessibility/keyboard'

    include Accessibility::Keyboard

    keyboard_events_for("\\COMMAND+\t").each do |event|
      KeyCoder.post_event event
    end

Documentation

• Keyboarding Blog Post.
• API documentation
• The AXElements keyboarding tutorial

Development

Development of this library happens as part of AXElements, but tests and the API for this component remain separate so that it can be released as part of the accessibility_keyboard gem.

TODO

The API for posting events is ad-hoc for the sake of demonstration; AXElements exposes this functionality via Kernel#type. The standalone API provided here could be improved.

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2013, Mark Rada All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
• Neither the name of Mark Rada nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL Mark Rada BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.