Key pressing special characters using Robot class Java

Question

I am writing a program that simply retypes the text from the data file. The program works until it hits its first special character. Here is an example:

data file

Hey what is up?

what i get

Hey what is up (throws illegal argument exception)

Here is my code:

 public static void KeyPresser() throws FileNotFoundException, AWTException {
        Robot robot = new Robot();
        Scanner file = new Scanner(new File("script.dat"));
        while(file.hasNext()) {
            String word = file.nextLine();
            for(int i = 0;i<word.length();i++) {
                char c = word.charAt(i);
                if (Character.isUpperCase(c)) {
                    robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
                }

                robot.keyPress(Character.toUpperCase(c));
                robot.keyRelease(Character.toUpperCase(c));

                if (Character.isUpperCase(c)) {
                    robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
                }
               if(c=='?') {
                   robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
                   robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SLASH);
                   robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SLASH);
                   robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
               }

            }

    }

        }

It types up the letters, but not the special characters? Am I gonna have to use a long switch code? Or is there an easy fix to this? As you can tell I have tried using

                  if(c=='?') {
                   robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
                   robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_SLASH);
                   robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SLASH);
                   robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT); 
}

But that doesnt work, what can i do?

Answer 1

I am writing a program that simply retypes the text from the data file

Why are you using a Robot to retype the text? Why can't you just insert the text into a document of your text component.

Am I gonna have to use a long switch code?

You can use a HashMap to map a key that needs to be shifted with the regular key:

import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class RobotString extends JPanel
{
    private static HashMap<Character, Character> keyMap = new HashMap<>();

    private JTextField original;
    private JTextField copy;


    public RobotString()
    {
        setLayout( new BorderLayout() );

        original = new JTextField(10);
        add(original, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);

        JButton button = new JButton("Use Robot");
        add(button, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        button.addActionListener((e) -> invokeRobot() );

        copy = new JTextField(10);
        add(copy, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);

        //  Create mapping of keys

        keyMap.put('!', '1');
        keyMap.put('@', '2');
        keyMap.put('#', '3');
        keyMap.put(':', ';');
        keyMap.put('?', '/');
    }

    private void invokeRobot()
    {
        copy.requestFocusInWindow();
        copy.setText( "" );

        try
        {
            Robot robot = new Robot();

            char[] letters = original.getText().toCharArray();

            for(char letter: letters)
            {
                boolean shiftRequired = false;
                Character value = keyMap.get(letter);

                if (value != null)
                {
                    shiftRequired = true;
                    letter = value;
                }
                else if (Character.isUpperCase(letter))
                {
                    shiftRequired = true;
                }

                int keyCode = KeyEvent.getExtendedKeyCodeForChar( letter );

                if (shiftRequired)
                    robot.keyPress(java.awt.event.KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);

                robot.keyPress( keyCode );
                robot.keyRelease( keyCode );

                if (shiftRequired)
                    robot.keyRelease(java.awt.event.KeyEvent.VK_SHIFT);
            }
        }
        catch(Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
    }

    private static void createAndShowGUI()
    {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("SSCCE");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.add(new RobotString());
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationByPlatform( true );
        frame.setVisible( true );
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater( () -> createAndShowGUI() );
    }
}

Just type a text string in the top text field and click the button. Note it only supports a few special characters. But note this is not a reliable solution because the mapping depends on the keyboard.

I know of now way to provide a generic solution for all keyboards.