I'm trying to create an OS X keyboard hook for assistive technology purposes (i.e. don't worry, not a keylogger).
When a user presses a key, I want to prevent the real keypress and send a fake keypress (character of my choosing) instead.
I have the following code:
- (void) hookTheKeyboard {
CGEventMask keyboardMask = CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventKeyDown);
id eventHandler = [NSEvent addGlobalMonitorForEventsMatchingMask:keyboardMask handler:^(NSEvent *keyboardEvent) {
NSLog(@"keyDown: %c", [[keyboardEvent characters] characterAtIndex:0]);
//Want to: Stop the keyboard input
//Want to: Send another key input instead
}];
}
Any help accomplishing either of those goals? Basically modifying the NSEvent "keyboardEvent" to send a different character. Thanks.
You can't do this with the NSEvent
API, but you can do this with a CGEventTap
. You can create an active event tap and register a callback that receives a CGEventRef
and can modify it (if necessary) and return it to modify the actual event stream.
EDIT
Here's a simple program that, while running, replaces every "b" keystroke with a "v":
#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>
CGEventRef myCGEventCallback(CGEventTapProxy proxy, CGEventType type, CGEventRef event, void *refcon) {
//0x0b is the virtual keycode for "b"
//0x09 is the virtual keycode for "v"
if (CGEventGetIntegerValueField(event, kCGKeyboardEventKeycode) == 0x0B) {
CGEventSetIntegerValueField(event, kCGKeyboardEventKeycode, 0x09);
}
return event;
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
NSAutoreleasePool * pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
CFRunLoopSourceRef runLoopSource;
CFMachPortRef eventTap = CGEventTapCreate(kCGHIDEventTap, kCGHeadInsertEventTap, kCGEventTapOptionDefault, kCGEventMaskForAllEvents, myCGEventCallback, NULL);
if (!eventTap) {
NSLog(@"Couldn't create event tap!");
exit(1);
}
runLoopSource = CFMachPortCreateRunLoopSource(kCFAllocatorDefault, eventTap, 0);
CFRunLoopAddSource(CFRunLoopGetCurrent(), runLoopSource, kCFRunLoopCommonModes);
CGEventTapEnable(eventTap, true);
CFRunLoopRun();
CFRelease(eventTap);
CFRelease(runLoopSource);
[pool release];
exit(0);
}
(Funny story: as I was editing this post, I kept on trying to write "replaces every 'b' keystroke", but it kept on coming out as "replaces every 'v' keystroke". I was confused. Then I remembered that I hadn't stopped the app yet.)