Java System-Wide Keyboard Shortcut

Question

Is there any way or a library to get a system-wide (global) keyboard shortcut to perform an action in a Java application?

Answer 1

You can use JNA now - see https://github.com/tulskiy/jkeymaster

I've had this working fairly easily on a Windows 10 laptop - I haven't personally tested on other platforms - apparently it also works for MacOS and 'X11-based systems (in theory, only tested on some Linux distros and PCBSD)'.

It's shouldn't be difficult to setup - you will need slf4j to get it to run.

You shouldn't need to build the jar.

As an example, this code effectively disables the 'f' key and logs the fact that you pressed it.

import com.tulskiy.keymaster.common.Provider;
import com.tulskiy.keymaster.common.HotKeyListener;
import com.tulskiy.keymaster.common.HotKey;
import javax.swing.*;

// ...          

Provider provider = Provider.getCurrentProvider(false); 
    provider.register(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("F"), new HotKeyListener() {
            public void onHotKey(HotKey hotKey) {
                System.out.println(hotKey);
            }
        });

I hope this helps someone

Answer 2

I am the author of JIntellitype and I can tell you for a fact this must be done natively in DLL and called from Java JNI just like JIntellitype does it. This is an OS level hook that is not implemented in the JDK so libraries like JIntellitype and jxGrabKey must be used. As far as I know no one has written one for OSX yet.

JIntellitype is open source on Github, so if you want an idea of how it works just check out the source code

Answer 3

JDIC (Java Desktop Integration) could help
https://jdic.dev.java.net/

Seems to be a little unmaintained to me. I'm not sure.
If someone know more, please report!
I'm also very interested in this feature.

Answer 4

UPDATE: I don't know if you can hook events from OUTSIDE the JVM. I think a Swing/AWT component must have focus for this to work.

You'll want to hook in the Java AWT Event Queue to be absolutely sure you can get a global (jvm wide) keypress.

Use

EventQueue ev = Toolkit.getSystemEventQueue();
// MyCustomEventQueue extends EventQueue and processes keyboard events in the dispatch
ev.push(new MyCustomEventQueue());

class MyEventQueue extends EventQueue
{
    protected void dispatchEvent(AWTEvent event)
    {
       // all AWTEvents can be indentified by type, KeyEvent, MouseEvent, etc
       // look for KeyEvents and match against you hotkeys / callbacks
    }
}

I think there may be other ways to accomplish global key presses with action maps. I've actually used the above mether

Answer 5

There is not, but in windows you can use this:

jintellitype

Unfortunately there is nothing I'm aware of for Linux and OSX, probably that's why it doesn't come with java out of the box.

If you find for the other platforms post it here please :)

Just for couriosity, what are you doing with that?

Answer 6

For windows you need a keyboard hook dll. You can initialize your dll from java, which will cause it to register the listener. You'll get what you need. Check msdn for dll hooks, or keyboard hooks. One of those should set you up.

For linux I think this should be easier, but I have never done it myself.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=864566

Google's first result for "linux listen for global key presses" (no quotes) turns up something which I think will help you out for X11 environments

OSX might just be able to use a solution close to this. But in the end, you'll probably need a dll for every platform, unless JNA could do this without issue, then the worst is done.