external mouse actions

[nest17]

I'm interested in determining where a mouse is clicked and how much time has passed since the last click. However, I don't want to be restrained to a component's size and location. I'd like this to a sort of "background" operation, so I can continue clicking as normal in my other applications, while being able to see what I'm doing.
Any suggestions would be a great help.
Thanks.

[Fubarable]

Suggestion 1: don't use Java for this. To do this, you'll likely need to hook the OS's mouse routines, and Java, being relatively OS agnostic, is not a good language for close interactions with the OS.

[nest17]

Okay... I just thought it'd be possible, since MouseInfo already tracks the mouse's location. I figured it'd be a short step away from clicking.
Also, you say "suggestion 1:" as if there is a second suggestion?

[Fubarable]

Okay... I just thought it'd be possible, since MouseInfo already tracks the mouse's location. I figured it'd be a short step away from clicking.
Also, you say "suggestion 1:" as if there is a second suggestion?

Yep, it's see suggestion 1. ;)

[rp181]

What I have done when i needed hardware in Java is write a simple C++ program, relaying whatever information through a socket to Java. Sockets are low level, so it should work on any system. It is hackish, but it works.

[toadaly]

I'm interested in determining where a mouse is clicked and how much time has passed since the last click. However, I don't want to be restrained to a component's size and location. I'd like this to a sort of "background" operation, so I can continue clicking as normal in my other applications, while being able to see what I'm doing.
Any suggestions would be a great help.
Thanks.

As long as the actions are related to your application, you can use java.awt.Toolkit.addAWTEventListener to listen for all events of interest related to your application. This is better than polling mouseinfo, which could miss events during wait cycles.