A look at chriskiehl/pyrobot: 218 stars on GitHub, written primarily in Python. A pure python windows automation library loosely modeled after Java's Robot Class.
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PyRobot was written for fun over a long weekend. Development on this stopped long ago. If you're looking for a pure Python automation library that is actively developed and works on Windows, OSX, and linux, checkout PyAutoGui!
What is it?
PyRobot is a lightweight, pure Python Windows automation library loosely modeled after Java's Robot Class. It can be used to drive applications that don't provide an API or any way of hooking into them programatically. Good for when you can't (or don't want to) install the great, but a bit hefty, pywin32 libraries.
You can check out a couple of use cases for PyRobot here
Installation
PyRobot is a single Python file. So, you can either download it directly from this github page, or clone the repo:
git clone https://github.com/chriskiehl/pyrobot
Usage
Similar to Java, everything is controlled via a single class.
# Import the robot class from the pyrobot module
from pyrobot import Robot
# create an instance of the class
robot = Robot()
# Launch a program
robot.start_program('program_name')
# Do cool stuff
location_of_field = (340, 400)
expected_color = (255,255,255)
pixel = robot.get_pixel(location_of_field)
if pixel == (expected_color):
robot.set_mouse_pos(location_of_field)
robot.click_mouse(button='left')
robot.add_to_clipboard('Hello world! How are ya!')
robot.paste()
# etc..
# If you need to take screengrabs, and have PIL Installed,
# PyRobot extends the default behavior of PIL by
# allowing the entire virtual screen to be targeted (rather
# than just the primary).
# returns a list of screen rects for all attached devices
monitors_coords = robot.get_display_monitors()
# Takes a screenshot of the desktop and returns a PIL Image object
im = robot.take_screenshot(monitors_coords[-1]) # Coordinates of last monitor
# You can also do arbitrarily sized boxes
left = 100
top = 430
width = 1000
height = 750
im = robot.take_screenshot((left, top, width, height))
# Save the PIL Image to disk
im.save('my_awesome_screenshot.png', 'png')
# and so on
Updates
Added ability to read data from the clipboard.
my_var = robot.get_clipboard_data()
convenience method press_and_release
robot.press_and_release('caps_lock')
Added Key class
from pyrobot import Robot, Keys
robot = Robot()
robot.press_and_release(Keys.forward_slash)
Doc
Mouse
Method
Summary
get_mouse_pos()
Returns tuple of current mouse coordinates
set_mouse_pos(x, y)
Moves mouse pointer to given screen coordinates.
click_mouse(button)
Simulates a full mouse click. One down event, one up event. button can be 'Left', 'right', or 'middle'
double_click_mouse(button)
Two full mouse clicks. One down event, one up event.
move_and_click(x,y,button)
convenience function: Move to coordinates and click mouse
mouse_down(button)
Presses one mouse button. button can be 'Left', 'right', or 'middle'
mouse_up(button)
Releases mouse button. button can be 'Left', 'right', or 'middle'
scroll_mouse_wheel(direction, clicks)
Scrolls the mouse wheel either 'up' or 'down' X number of 'clicks'.
Keys
Method
Summary
key_press(key)
Presses a given key. Input: string or Keys.* constant
key_release(key)
Releases a given key. Input: string or Keys.* constant
press_and_release()
Simulates pressing a key: One down event, one release event
Clipboard
Method
Summary
add_to_clipboard(string)
Copy text into clip board for later pasting.
clear_clipboard()
Clear everything out of the clipboard
get_clipboard_data()
Retrieves text from the Windows clipboard as a String
paste()
Pastes the contents of the clipboard
Screen
Method
Summary
get_display_monitors()
Enumerates and returns a list of virtual screen coordinates for the attached display devices output = [ (left, top, right, bottom), # Monitor 1 (left, top, right, bottom) # Monitor 2 # etc... ]
get_pixel(x, y)
Returns the pixel color tuple(R,G,B) of the given screen coordinate
take_screenshot(bounds=None)
NOTE: REQUIRES PYTHON IMAGE LIBRARY Takes a screenshot of the entire desktop and returns it as a PIL Image object.
Use with get_display_monitors to target a specific screen, or pass in a tuple consisting of (left, top, width, height).
Misc
Method
Summary
sleep(duration)
Pauses the robot for duration number of seconds.
start_program(full_path)
Launches a windows application. Input type: string
type_backwards(input_string, delay=.05)
Types right to left. Because why not!
type_string(input_string, delay=.005)
Convenience function for typing out strings. delay = time between keystrokes
Special take_snapshot Note
Being that Python has no built in Image library (that I know of), it seemed of little use to include a snapshot method which simply saves the picture to disk. For 90% of program automation, I find that querying pixels works fairly well (e.g. robot.get_pixel). However, if you need to do more advanced display searching, or want to do template matching, you'll need an external library. So there is a method in there to contruct a PIL Image object. It just, of course, requires that PIL be installed. Other than that, dependency free! :-)
TODO
Allow specific window/program targeting so that relative coordinates can be used while scripting.
Contact
Feature request? Bug? Hate it?
Drop me a line at [email protected], or on Twitter @thechriskiehl
The most recent commit recorded on chriskiehl/pyrobot was 6.9 years ago, based on the GitHub push timestamp. The repository has 47 forks — one of the better signals of community interest.
How many stars does chriskiehl/pyrobot have?
chriskiehl/pyrobot has 218 GitHub stars — refresh the page for the live number, or check github.com/chriskiehl/pyrobot. TopGit mirrors GitHub's count but does not claim minute-by-minute accuracy.
Is chriskiehl/pyrobot open source?
Yes — chriskiehl/pyrobot ships under the MIT license, which makes its source code freely readable (and, depending on license terms, forkable and reusable). Source: github.com/chriskiehl/pyrobot.
What is chriskiehl/pyrobot?
chriskiehl/pyrobot (chriskiehl/pyrobot) is a Python project on GitHub. From the project's own README: A pure python windows automation library loosely modeled after Java's Robot Class.
Where do I read more about chriskiehl/pyrobot?
This TopGit page is a snapshot — the READ ME tab shows the project's own README content (links stripped, images preserved). The GitHub repository at github.com/chriskiehl/pyrobot is the definitive source.
Read full README in the tab above.
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