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rmrichesjr

Member

Registered: 2018-12-18

Posts: 33  

Seeking a replacement for xmacroplay

Is there a replacement for xmacroplay?  It's a marvelously useful utility that uses the XTest facility and allows scripting of control of GUIs.  It can move the cursor to specified pixel positions, pause for specified durations, press and release buttons and/or keys, and enter strings.  It has served me well for many years, including on Debian 7/Wheezy and Slackware 14.2.  However, on a new Devuan Ascii installation, the 32-bit binary (with the necessary 32-bit library packages installed) often behaves slightly erratically.  When entering a string, occasionally it omits or repeats characters, sometimes repeating multiple characters in a row (turning "blog" into "blloog", for example).  I tried recompiling it, but the code is so old the modern compilers choke on it (include <iostream.h>, using a string constant as a (non-const) char array, and at least one more serious issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

GNUser

Member

Registered: 2017-03-16

Posts: 570  

Re: Seeking a replacement for xmacroplay

I'm forced to use Windows at work, so ended up getting used to AutoHotkey for GUI automation. I recreated my favorite ahk functions for my GNU/Linux boxes and called it "penguin-ahk". I made this for my own use so it is not full-featured, but it does everything I need. It is GPL'd, so feel free to use it as-is or as a springboard for your own solution. I just ask that if you modify it for distribution, that you share the improvements with me.
Here it is: penguin-ahk. man penguin-ahk will show you what it does and how to use it.

Last edited by GNUser (2019-01-02 16:10:38)