Module input 

Input simulation: synthesised pointer and keyboard events.

Input simulation is separate from the accessibility action layer ([crate::Provider], crate::Element, crate::Locator). The two mechanisms are fundamentally different:

• Accessibility actions (element.press(), locator.toggle()) call the platform’s a11y API directly. They work without the target window being focused or visible, are deterministic, and are the preferred way to drive a UI.
• Input simulation (InputSim) generates OS-level pointer/keyboard events at the system event layer. Use it only for interactions that have no a11y equivalent (drag-and-drop, scroll wheels, complex shortcut sequences). Most platforms require the target window to be foregrounded and require additional permissions (Accessibility + Input Monitoring on macOS, Wayland portal grants on Linux, etc.).

There is no implicit bridge between the two: an accessibility-action failure never falls back to input simulation, and InputSim never inspects or auto-resolves the a11y tree on behalf of the caller. If you want to click an element, you compute its bounds (via the a11y API) and pass them in — see IntoPoint and point_for.

Layout

InputSim exposes two sub-handles:

• InputSim::mouse → Mouse for pointer operations (click, drag, scroll, down/up).
• InputSim::keyboard → Keyboard for key operations (press, chord, down/up, type_text).

Modifier keys (Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Meta) are regular variants of Key — there is no separate Modifier type. Key::Char(c) represents the unshifted physical key; use Key::Shift explicitly for uppercase or shifted symbols (see Key for the rationale).

Structs

ClickOptions

Options for Mouse::click_with.

DragOptions

Options for Mouse::drag_with.

InputSim

Synthesises OS-level pointer and keyboard events.

Keyboard

Keyboard operations. Obtain via InputSim::keyboard.

Mouse

Pointer operations. Obtain via InputSim::mouse.

Point

A 2D point in screen coordinates.

ScrollDelta

Direction and magnitude of a scroll event, in platform “ticks” (typically one notch of a physical scroll wheel). Positive dy scrolls content downward (i.e. moves the viewport up); positive dx scrolls right.

Enums

Anchor

Where on an element to land a pointer event.

ClickTarget

Explicit target for Mouse::click_with: either a raw point or an element to anchor against.

Key

A keyboard key.

MouseButton

A mouse button.

Traits

InputProvider

Platform backend trait for synthesised user input.

IntoPoint

A target that can be lowered to a screen Point.

Functions

anchor_point

Compute a Point inside a Rect using the given Anchor.

point_for

Resolve an Element’s current bounds to a screen Point using anchor.