Using xdotool to control the webgui

Diy and Tweaks
1

Using an existing cabinet with a small touch display 480*640, which is impossible to control by hand I was looking for a way to control it using GPIO. Since Volumio doesn’t provide any alternative to control the GUI, by commands or API, I decided to use xdotool.
sudo apt-get install xdotool.

with xdotool you can simulate keystrokes and mouse movements.

Locate the mouse on the screen item, like menu and run from shell
XAUTHORITY=~volumio/.Xauthority DISPLAY=:0 xdotool getmouselocation --shell
image

this will give you the coordinates for the top menu. Now you use these coordinates to place a the mouse on the menu and click it.
XAUTHORITY=~volumio/.Xauthority DISPLAY=:0 xdotool mousemove 39 48 mousedown 1 click 1

You can repeat this for other menu items your interested in.

Now I am able to control the GUI via GPIO and Rotary encoders.
Example script:

#!/bin/bash
# select
# pin GND - D0
GPIO0=25 # GUI 		=> GUI
# Print debug lines => 1 is print
debug=1

# Common path for all GPIO access
BASE_GPIO_PATH=/sys/class/gpio

# Utility function to export a pin if not already exported
exportPin()
{
  if [ ! -e $BASE_GPIO_PATH/gpio$1 ]; then
    echo "$1" > $BASE_GPIO_PATH/export
  fi
}

# Utility function to set a pin as an output
setInput()
{
    echo "out" > $BASE_GPIO_PATH/gpio$1/direction
	echo "1" > $BASE_GPIO_PATH/gpio$1/value
}

function cleanup() 
{
  if [ ! -e $BASE_GPIO_PATH/gpio$1 ]; then
    echo "$1" > $BASE_GPIO_PATH/unexport
  fi
}
cleanup $GPIO0
exportPin $GPIO0
setInput $GPIO0


if [ $debug == 1 ]; then
  echo "---------------------------------------------------"
  printf "GPIO 0: %s\n"  "${GPIO0}"
  printf "STATUS 0: %s\n"  "${STATUS0}"

fi

# continuously monitor current value
while true; do
  sleep 0.1
  
  STATUS0=$(cat $BASE_GPIO_PATH/gpio${GPIO0}/value)
  
  if [ $debug == 1 ]; then
  echo "---------------------------------------------------"
    printf "STATUS 0: %s\n"  "${STATUS0}"
  fi
  
  if [ "$STATUS0" == 0 ]; then
    XAUTHORITY=~volumio/.Xauthority DISPLAY=:0 xdotool mousemove 39 48 mousedown 1 click 1
	sleep 0.2
  fi

done
1 Like
2

Very interesting! :face_with_monocle: Thanks for sharing.

1 Like
3

Yeah came across this when doing research for another player. Only downside is that it fully depends on the GUI. With the resizing Manifest it will never make it to a plugin.
But now I can use the buttons to navigate, no need to connect a mouse.
Or even use the logic and use the IR-Controller.

And off coarse, your plugin node /data/plugins/user_interface/randomizer/randomTracks is under one of the buttons :grinning:

4

There is a beta version of randomizer which appears on the UI sources menu now so maybe you can access it that way….