Fedora 33 : Testing xdotool linux tool .

Xdotool is a free and open source command line tool for simulating mouse clicks and keystrokes.
You can create beautiful scrips and tools with this command.
The help for this command is this:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool -help

Let's see some examples:
This simulate a keystroke for key c:

m[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool key c
c[mythcat@desk ~]$ c

The next command will simulate a key press for key c:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool keydown c
c[mythcat@desk ~]$ cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc^C
[mythcat@desk ~]$ ^C

The next command will simulate a key release for key c:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool keyup c

Use the enter key:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool key KP_Enter

[mythcat@desk ~]$

The next command will open a new tab in terminal:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool key shift+ctrl+t

This command simulate a right click at current location of pointer

xdotool click 3

The reference is: 1 – Left click, 2 – Middle click, 3 – Right click, 4 – Scroll wheel up, 5 – Scroll wheel down.
The next command get ID of terminal window currently in focus and then minimize it:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool getactivewindow windowminimize

This command lists all open windows:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool search --name ""

I get the open window with name New Tab - Google Chrome, with this command:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool search --name "New Tab -"
18874375

This command get the pid of the active window:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool getactivewindow getwindowpid
3538

The pid is from lxterminal tool:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ ps aux | grep 3538
mythcat     3538  0.3  0.4 601468 42500 ?        Sl   11:42   0:05 lxterminal
mythcat     5713  0.0  0.0 221432   780 pts/1    S+   12:07   0:00 grep 3538

The active window can be move with:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool getactivewindow windowmove 0 0

The next command get the current mouse coordinates:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool getmouselocation --shell
X=521
Y=339
SCREEN=0
WINDOW=16780805

These coordinates can be parsed:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool getmouselocation 2>/dev/null | cut -d\  -f1,2 -
x:0 y:0
[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool getmouselocation 2>/dev/null | sed 's/ sc.*//; s/.://g; s/ /x/'
0x0

Open inkscape and select Layer for this window Always on top:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ inkscape 

Start xdotool with focus on mouse and click on rectangle and draw area and follow the output:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ xdotool search --name "inkscape" behave %@ focus getmouselocation
x:25 y:239 screen:0 window:16786173
x:25 y:239 screen:0 window:16786173
x:340 y:378 screen:0 window:16786173
x:340 y:378 screen:0 window:16786173
x:332 y:358 screen:0 window:16786173
x:332 y:358 screen:0 window:16786173
x:518 y:643 screen:0 window:16786173
x:518 y:643 screen:0 window:16786173
x:723 y:466 screen:0 window:16780805

I create a bash script named inkscape_xdotool.sh and I add these commands:

#! /bin/sh
sleep 1
inkscape > /dev/null 2>&1 &
sleep 3
my_app=xdotool search --sync --name 'inkscape'
xdotool windowactivate $my_app
xdotool mousemove 0 0
xdotool mousemove 25 239
xdotool click 1
xdotool mousemove 332 358 mousedown 1 mousemove 518 643
xdotool mouseup 1
sleep 1
exit

I run the script:

[mythcat@desk ~]$ ./inkscape_xdotool.sh 

The script run well.
The output is an rectangle in inkscape with the default black color.