- Mouse Click Settings
- Auto Mouse Click
- Show Mouse Click Windows 10
- Mouse Click App
- Mouse Click Sound
- Mouse Click Game
- Mac App That Shows Mouse Clicks Like
Automating the User Interface
Unfortunately, not every Mac app has scripting support, and those that do may not always have scripting support for every task you want to automate. You can often work around such limitations, however, by writing a user interface script, commonly called a UI or GUI script. A user interface script simulates user interaction, such as mouse clicks and keystrokes, allowing the script to select menu items, push buttons, enter text into text fields, and more.
Oct 24, 2019 Download Actimeter for macOS 10.12 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. Actimeter is an application that tracks your computer activity and shows it on a traditional, easy-to-read meter. Actimeter does this by counting the frequency of all your computer interactions or events: mouse clicks, keystrokes, scrolls and mouse moves. Nov 25, 2015 I use MacBook Pro 15' with OS X 10.6.3. Today, I found that I cannot do left clicking after I switched user accounts from one to another. Whenever I click my mouse or one fingered click on trackpad, context menu for the area is poped up. Simply, I cannot click or double click anything. Sep 25, 2013 Some of my users got a strange problem from time to time. Sometimes they can't click anymore in an published app (regardless of the app) but keyboard regular input and shortcuts still work (ALT+F4, TAB, ALT+TAB, etc.). The mouse pointer can be moved. But clicks (left or right doesn't matter) aren't recognized.
Enabling User Interface Scripting
User interface scripting relies upon the OS X accessibility frameworks that provide alternative methods of querying and controlling the interfaces of apps and the system. By default, accessibility control of apps is disabled. For security and privacy reasons, the user must manually enable it on an app-by-app (including script apps) basis.
Launch System Preferences and click Security & Privacy.
Click Accessibility.
Choose an app and click Open.
When running an app that requires accessibility control for the first time, the system prompts you to enable it. See Figure 37-1.
Attempting to run an app that has not been given permission to use accessibility features results in an error. See Figure 37-2.
Note
To run a user interface script in Script Editor, you must enable accessibility for Script Editor.
Admin credentials are required to perform enable user interface scripting.
Targeting an App
User interface scripting terminology is found in the Processes Suite of the System Events scripting dictionary. This suite includes terminology for interacting with most types of user interface elements, including windows, buttons, checkboxes, menus, radio buttons, text fields, and more. In System Events, the process
class represents a running app. Listing 37-1 shows how to target an app using this class.
APPLESCRIPT
Listing 37-1AppleScript: Targeting an app for user interface scriptingtell application 'System Events'
tell process 'Safari'
-- Perform user interface scripting tasks
end tell
end tell
To control the user interface of an app, you must first inspect the app and determine its element hierarchy. This can be done by querying the app. For example, Listing 37-2 asks Safari for a list of menus in the menu bar.
APPLESCRIPT
Listing 37-2AppleScript: Querying an app for user interface element informationMouse Click Settings
tell application 'System Events'
tell process 'Safari'
name of every menu of menu bar 1
end tell
end tell
--> Result: {'Apple', 'Safari', 'File', 'Edit', 'View', 'History', 'Bookmarks', 'Develop', 'Window', 'Help'}
Accessibility Inspector (Figure 37-3) makes it even easier to identify user interface element information. This app is included with Xcode. To use it, open Xcode and select Xcode > Open Developer Tool > Accessibility Inspector.
Once you know how an element fits into an interface, you target it within that hierarchy. For example, button X of window Y of process Z
.
Clicking a Button
Use the click
command to click a button. Listing 37-3 clicks a button in the Safari toolbar to toggle the sidebar between open and closed.
APPLESCRIPT
Listing 37-3AppleScript: Clicking a buttontell application 'System Events'
tell process 'Safari'
tell toolbar of window 1
click (first button where its accessibility description = 'Sidebar')
end tell
end tell
end tell
--> Result: {button 1 of toolbar 1 of window 'AppleScript: Graphic User Interface (GUI) Scripting' of application process 'Safari' of application 'System Events'}
Choosing a Menu Item
Menu items can have a fairly deep hierarchy within the interface of an app. A menu item generally resides within a menu, which resides within a menu bar. In scripting, they must be addressed as such. Listing 37-4 selects the Pin Tab menu item in the Window menu of Safari.
APPLESCRIPT
Listing 37-4AppleScript: Choosing a menu itemAuto Mouse Click
tell application 'System Events'
tell process 'Safari'
set frontmost to true
click menu item 'Pin Tab' of menu 'Window' of menu bar 1
end tell
end tell
--> Result: menu item 'Pin Tab' of menu 'Window' of menu bar item 'Window' of menu bar 1 of application process 'Safari' of application 'System Events'
Note
Scripting the user interface of an app can be tedious and repetitious. To streamline the process, consider creating handlers to perform common functions. For example, Listing 37-5 shows a handler that can be used to choose any menu item of any menu in any running app.
Show Mouse Click Windows 10
APPLESCRIPT
Listing 37-5AppleScript: A handler that chooses a menu itemon chooseMenuItem(theAppName, theMenuName, theMenuItemName)
try
-- Bring the target app to the front
tell application theAppName
activate
end tell
-- Target the app
tell application 'System Events'
tell process theAppName
-- Target the menu bar
tell menu bar 1
-- Target the menu by name
tell menu bar item theMenuName
tell menu theMenuName
-- Click the menu item
click menu item theMenuItemName
end tell
end tell
end tell
end tell
end tell
return true
on error
return false
end try
end chooseMenuItem
Listing 37-6 calls the handler in Listing 37-5 to select the Pin Tab menu item in the Window menu of Safari.
Mouse Click App
APPLESCRIPT
Mouse Click Sound
Choosing a Submenu Item
Mouse Click Game
Some menus contain other menus. In these cases, it may be necessary to select a menu item in a submenu of a menu. Listing 37-7 demonstrates how this would be done by selecting a submenu item in Safari.
APPLESCRIPT
Mac App That Shows Mouse Clicks Like
Listing 37-7AppleScript: Selecting a submenu itemtell application 'System Events'
tell process 'Safari'
set frontmost to true
click menu item 'Email This Page' of menu of menu item 'Share' of menu 'File' of menu bar 1
end tell
end tell
--> Result: {menu item 'Email This Page' of menu 'Share' of menu item 'Share' of menu 'File' of menu bar item 'File' of menu bar 1 of application process 'Safari' of application 'System Events'}
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