SendKeys Action

Applies to TestComplete 15.47, last modified on January 20, 2023

Description

Use the SendKeys action to simulate keyboard input to the screen area that is at the specified distance and in the specified position relative to the text block recognized by the optical character recognition (OCR) engine.

Declaration

TestObj.SendKeys(Keys, Direction, Offset)

TestObj A variable, parameter or expression that specifies a reference to one of the objects listed in the Applies To section
Keys [in]    Required    String    
Direction [in]    Required    Integer    
Offset [in]    Required    Integer    
Result None

Applies To

The method is applied to the following object:

View Mode

This method is available in the Object Browser panel and in other panels and dialogs in both Basic and Advanced view modes.

Parameters

The method has the following parameters:

Keys

Specifies the keystroke to be simulated.

To simulate the pressing of system keys, such as Ctrl, Alt, Shift, F1, Tab and others, use the following constants:

Constant Simulated Key
^ Ctrl
! Shift
~ Alt
^^ ^
!! !
~~ ~
[[ [
[Apps] Application key
[BS] Backspace
[Caps] Caps Lock
[Clear] Clear
[Del] Delete
[Down] Down
[End] End
[Enter] Enter
[Esc] Esc
[F1] F1
[F2] F2
[F3] F3
[F4] F4
[F5] F5
[F6] F6
[F7] F7
[F8] F8
[F9] F9
[F10] F10
[F11] F11
[F12] F12
Constant Simulated Key
[Home] Home
[Ins] Insert
[Left] Left
[NumAsterisk] Num * (* on the numeric keyboard)
[NumLock] Num Lock
[NumMinus] Num - (- on the numeric keyboard)
[NumPlus] Num + (+ on the numeric keyboard)
[NumSlash] Num / (/ on the numeric keyboard)
[PageDown] PageDown
[PageUp] PageUp
[Pause] Pause
[PrtSc] PrintScreen
[Right] Right
[ScrollLock] Scroll Lock
[Tab] Tab
[Up] Up
[Win] Windows key
[Pnnn] Pauses typing for nnn milliseconds.
[Xnn] Specifies a key by its virtual-key code. nn is the decimal virtual-key code of the desired key. For example, [X107] corresponds to the Num Plus key. To learn more about virtual-key codes, see the Virtual-Key Codes article in the MSDN Library.

If the Win32API plugin is installed and enabled in TestComplete, you can refer to the virtual-key codes using the corresponding VK_xxxx constants without the need to define them in your tests. For example, you can use the VK_ADD constant to specify the Num Plus key. The available VK_xxxx constants are listed under the Win32API node in the Code Completion window.

[Dnn] Presses a dead key specified by its key code nn.
[Altnn…] Simulates pressing Alt and typing numeric keys on the numeric keypad (that is, Alt+the character code). nn… is a sequence of numeric keys to be pressed, for instance, [Alt119] will simulate pressing Alt and typing the 1, 1 and 9 keys on the numeric keypad.
All constants (F1, PageDown, X, P, etc.) are case-sensitive.

Shift codes (^, ~ and !) in the Keys parameter do not press Ctrl, Alt or Shift. Instead, the next key in the string will be pressed under the indicated shift conditions. That is, the shift codes influence on the first non-shift key that follows them in the Keys string. For instance, the following code presses Ctrl+ESC (this shortcut shows the Start menu):

To separate shift-key presses from combined key presses like the above, use two consecutive calls of the Keys method. For example, the following code first presses Ctrl and then ESC (this operation does not call the Start menu, since the key presses are separated). Another way to achieve this effect is to use the [Release] constant (more below).

To simulate simultaneous pressing of several keys, use the [Hold] constant. For instance, [Hold][Win]e will launch Windows Explorer.

To deactivate [Hold], use the [Release] and [ReleaseLast] constants. [ReleaseLast] signals to TestComplete that it should simulate the releasing of the last pressed key. For instance, the string [Hold]^f[ReleaseLast]U indicates the following sequence of keypresses: pressing of Ctrl, pressing of f, releasing of f, pressing of U, releasing of U and Ctrl.

[Release] simulates the release of all pressed keys. For example, the string [Hold]^fU[Release] (or [Hold]^fU) indicates that TestComplete should press Ctrl, then press f, then press U and then release all these keys.

You can also simulate a keystroke using virtual-key code of the desired character. To do this, use the X or D tags. X simulates pressing of a key with the specified code using the current keyboard layout. D is typically used for simulating dead-key characters (accent or diacritic). This feature is especially useful if you need to type some national characters (for instance, a with circumflex). When the Keys method finds the D tag, it checks whether the specified key is supported by keyboard layouts installed in the operating system. If the check is successful, the method switches the keyboard layout to the appropriate layout and then simulates the keystroke. Else, the tag is ignored.

The X and D tags can be used along with Ctrl, Alt and Shift constants. For instance, [D221]a will simulate a with circumflex, [D221]!a - A with circumflex.

Direction

Specifies the position of the target screen area, which is relative to the recognized text block. The allowed parameter values are:

Value Description
toLeft The target screen area is located to the left of the text block.
toTop The target screen area is located above the text block.
toRight The target screen area is located to the right of the text block.
toBottom The target screen area is located below the text block.

Offset

Specifies the distance between the point at which you want to simulate user actions and the text block’s border that is closest to the point. For instance, if the target point is located to the right of the text block, the Offset parameter specifies the distance between the block’s left border and the point.

Result Value

None.

Example

To view an example that demonstrates how to use the SendKeys action, see Get Controls With No Text Contents.

See Also

Get Controls With No Text Contents
OCRTextBlock Object Methods
OCRTextBlock Object
Optical Character Recognition
ClickNextTo Action
TouchNextTo Action

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