Crate rdev

Simple library to listen and send events to keyboard and mouse on MacOS, Windows and Linux (x11).

You can also check out Enigo which is another crate which helped me write this one.

This crate is so far a pet project for me to understand the rust ecosystem.

Simple Usage

Listening to global events

use rdev::{listen, Event};

// This will block.
if let Err(error) = listen(callback) {
    println!("Error: {:?}", error)
}

fn callback(event: Event) {
    println!("My callback {:?}", event);
    match event.name {
        Some(string) => println!("User wrote {:?}", string),
        None => (),
    }
}

Sending some events

use rdev::{simulate, Button, EventType, Key, SimulateError};
use std::{thread, time};

fn send(event_type: &EventType) {
    let delay = time::Duration::from_millis(20);
    match simulate(event_type) {
        Ok(()) => (),
        Err(SimulateError) => {
            println!("We could not send {:?}", event_type);
        }
    }
    // Let ths OS catchup (at least MacOS)
    thread::sleep(delay);
}

send(&EventType::KeyPress(Key::KeyS));
send(&EventType::KeyRelease(Key::KeyS));

send(&EventType::MouseMove { x: 0.0, y: 0.0 });
send(&EventType::MouseMove { x: 400.0, y: 400.0 });
send(&EventType::ButtonPress(Button::Left));
send(&EventType::ButtonRelease(Button::Right));
send(&EventType::Wheel {
    delta_x: 0,
    delta_y: 1,
});

Getting the main screen size

use rdev::{display_size};

let (w, h) = display_size();
assert!(w > 0);
assert!(h > 0);

Grabbing global events. (Requires unstable_grab feature)

In the callback, returning None ignores the event and returning the event let's it pass. There is no modification of the event possible here. Caveat: On MacOS, you require the grab loop needs to be the primary app (no fork before) and need to have accessibility settings enabled. Not implemented on Linux, you will always receive an error.

Serialization

Serialization and deserialization. (Requires serialize feature).

Structs

Event

When events arrive from the OS they get some additional information added from EventType, which is the time when this event was received, and the name Option which contains what characters should be emmitted from that event. This relies on the OS layout and keyboard state machinery. Caveat: Dead keys don't function on Linux(X11) yet. You will receive None for a dead key, and the raw letter instead of accentuated letter.

SimulateError

Marking an error when we tried to simulate and event

Enums

Button	Standard mouse buttons Some mice have more than 3 buttons. These are not defined, and different OSs will give different Button::Unknown values.
EventType	In order to manage different OSs, the current EventType choices are a mix and match to account for all possible events.
GrabError	Errors that occur when trying to grab OS events. Be careful on Mac, not setting accessibility does not cause an error it justs ignores events.
Key	Key names based on physical location on the device Merge Option(MacOS) and Alt(Windows, Linux) into Alt Merge Windows (Windows), Meta(Linux), Command(MacOS) into Meta Characters based on Qwerty layout, don't use this for characters as it WILL depend on the layout. Use Event.name instead. Key modifiers gives those keys a different value too. Careful, on Windows KpReturn does not exist, it' s strictly equivalent to Return, also Keypad keys get modified if NumLock is Off and ARE pagedown and so on.
ListenError	Errors that occur when trying to capture OS events. Be careful on Mac, not setting accessibility does not cause an error it justs ignores events.

Functions

display_size	Returns the size in pixels of the main screen. This is useful to use with x, y from MouseMove Event.
listen	Listening to global events. Caveat: On MacOS, you require the listen loop needs to be the primary app (no fork before) and need to have accessibility settings enabled.
simulate	Sending some events

Type Definitions

Callback	Callback type to send to listen function.
GrabCallback	Callback type to send to grab function.