Send a keyboard shortcut to a Mac OS X Window

Question

Is it possible for one window on a Mac desktop to programatically send a keyboard shortcut or key sequence to another?

I\'m looking to control an application which o

Answer 1

You can do this without need for AppleScript also. Here's an example working code which sends a key code with modifiers.

-Edit: this won't let you target a specific app, only post keystrokes to the whole system (as if pressed on a keyboard)

#include <ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h>
// you can find key codes in <HIToolbox/Events.h>, for example kVK_ANSI_A is 'A' key
// modifiers are flags such as kCGEventFlagMaskCommand

void PostKeyWithModifiers(CGKeyCode key, CGEventFlags modifiers)
{
        CGEventSourceRef source = CGEventSourceCreate(kCGEventSourceStateCombinedSessionState);

        CGEventRef keyDown = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(source, key, TRUE);
        CGEventSetFlags(keyDown, modifiers);
        CGEventRef keyUp = CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(source, key, FALSE);

        CGEventPost(kCGAnnotatedSessionEventTap, keyDown);
        CGEventPost(kCGAnnotatedSessionEventTap, keyUp);

        CFRelease(keyUp);
        CFRelease(keyDown);
        CFRelease(source);  
}

Answer 2

One way to do this is embedding Applescript in your Objective-C application. For example executing this apple script, sends Command + M to System Events application:

tell application "System Events" to keystroke "m" using {command down}

You can embed the script above in your Cocoa application with something like this:

//AppControler.h
#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>

@interface AppController : NSObject {
    NSAppleScript *key;
}
-(IBAction)sendkeys:(id)sender;
@end

//AppControler.m
#import "AppController.h"

@implementation AppController

-(IBAction)sendkeys:(id)sender
{
    NSAppleScript *key = [[NSAppleScript alloc] initWithSource:@"tell application "System Events" to keystroke "m" using {command down}"];
    [start executeAndReturnError:nil];
}

@end