Detect key-presses with Python in macOS-CodePudding

I wrote a script that use key-presses to record time. It is using the keyboard module that does not work on macOS.

Code

import time
import keyboard
import pyautogui

while True:
    if keyboard.is_pressed('e'):
        #recording
        v = [0]
        z = True
        m = time.time()
        while z == True:
            if keyboard.is_pressed('space'):
                v.append(time.time() - m)
            elif keyboard.is_pressed('e'):
                print("Stopped recording")
                z = False
        print(v)
    elif keyboard.is_pressed('x'):
        #replaying
        pyautogui.click()
        for b in range(len(v)-1):
            time.sleep(v[b   1] - v[b])
            pyautogui.keyDown('space')
    elif x == "q":
        #if key 'q' is pressed, it stops
        break

I tried to use pynput but without success to detect key presses in the second while loop.

How to modify the code so it can work on mac?

CodePudding user response：

Welcome to SO!

That cannot work, since a keypress is an asynchronous operation, which cannoct be collected without asynchronous event handlers.

A simple way to obtain what you want is to use pynput.

In a bunch of lines you can achieve what you tried to do:

from pynput import keyboard

recording = False
v = [0]
m = 0

def start_recording():
    recording = True
    m = time.time()

def stop_recording():
    recording = False
    print("Stopped recording")

def on_press(key):
    if key == 'e':
        if recording:
            stop_recording()
        else:
            start_recording()
    elif key == keyboard.Key.space and recording:
        v.append(time.time() - m)

listener = keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press)
listener.start()
listener.join() # This will prevent main process to end

Same goes for the x case and the q case, which I'll leave to you as an exercise.

CodePudding user response：

Although Quartz framework is mainly dedicated to imaging, you can try this as an alternative solution.

Your modified code using pyobjc-framework-Quartz instead of "keyboard":

import time

from Quartz import CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent
from Quartz import kCGEventKeyDown
from Quartz import kCGEventKeyUp
from Quartz import CGEventPost
from Quartz import CGEventSourceCreate
from Quartz import CGKeyCode

import pyautogui

def key_down(key_code):
    event = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, key_code, True)
    CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, event)

def key_up(key_code):
    event = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, key_code, False)
    CGEventPost(kCGHIDEventTap, event)

while True:
    if keyboard.is_pressed('e'):
        # recording
        v = [0]
        z = True
        m = time.time()
        while z == True:
            if keyboard.is_pressed('space'):
                v.append(time.time() - m)
            elif keyboard.is_pressed('e'):
                print("Stopped recording")
                z = False
        print(v)
    elif keyboard.is_pressed('x'):
        # replaying
        pyautogui.click()
        for b in range(len(v)-1):
            time.sleep(v[b   1] - v[b])
            key_down(CGKeyCode('space'))
            key_up(CGKeyCode('space'))
    elif x == "q":
        # if key 'q' is pressed, it stops
        break