[C++] manipulating desktop question

newbie0101 · 05-11-2012, 02:36 AM

hello, one short dummy question.
is it possible to write in C++(no java or anything else) application that will control desktop ?
by that i mean for example let's say i have opened a web browser and want the mouse pointer to follow all OK buttons and click on them automatically.
or will move to specific label and input pre-defined number.
what library i should look for (gtk+ or QT or ...) ?
thanks

Snark1994 · 05-11-2012, 05:38 AM

Well, yes and no.

Yes you can move the mouse pointer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2...-in-c-on-linux

Yes you could e.g. take a screenshot and try to find a button with OK on it, or maybe download the HTML for the web page and then parse that to try and work out which buttons have OK on them.

No, it would not be easy at all to do.

A far better way to do it would be to use something like iMacros (also available for Chrome and IE) which would allow you to automate using web forms etc.

dugan · 05-11-2012, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newbie0101

for example let's say i have opened a web browser and want the mouse pointer to follow all OK buttons and click on them automatically.
or will move to specific label and input pre-defined number.

The example you gave does not require control of the desktop. It only requires automation of the web browser. And for that, there's Selenium.

Sample code here:
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/selenium

dugan · 05-11-2012, 09:14 AM

Double post. Sorry.