From: Ed Sinjiashvili <edsin@...>
Date: 2002-03-13T18:18:22+09:00
Subject: Re: Controlling Mouse/Keyboard

"Norman Makoto Su" <normsu@slab.tnr.sharp.co.jp> writes:

> Hi,
> 
> I asked this question about a year ago, so I was wondering if the situation has
> changed at all.  With Ruby, I was wondering if it is possible to (preferably in
> a cross platform way) to:
> 
> 1.) control the mouse (i.e. move the mouse, execute mouse clicks, etc.)
> 2.) make keyboard events occur (i.e. press keys on the keyboard)
> 3.) take screenshots of the desktop
> 
> I'm trying to create a remote PC access application (like pcAnywhere).  I
> remember there being bindings to VNC, but it really didn't provide what I
> needed.  I'm guessing I can use the ruby's Win32API but I'd rather use something
> else that takes more advantage of ruby's programming style and is not Microsoft
> dependent.
> 
> Any suggestions/pointers would be greatly appreciated.
I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but have a look at SDL
cross-platform library. It was designed for making games and may
provide features you need. There are two ruby bindings to SDL, AFAIK:
RUDL and rusdl. I don't have links to them off the top of my head, but
search them at google or RAA. I'm using RUDL myself and must say it's
pretty cool.

Hope that helps,
--Ed