Java and interaction with system mouse events

Question

I would like my Java app to be notified of all Mouse events (primarily clicks is what I am interested in) even when they occur outside the java app or when java app is not the focus. For example the user may be clicking on the File menu of Microsoft Word. I'd like to know that a mouse click occured at x,y coordinate when that happens.
Can this be done with Java API or is there a need for native code that talks to the OS (Windows and OS X) directly, which should be called with Java Native Interface?
I would appreciate any pointers in the right direction.

Answer 1

Hi,
I'm also trying to find a way of intercepting mouse clicks when they occur outside java components.
The code for getting the pointer location from the desktop is:
import java.awt.*;
public class MouseLocation
     private MouseInfo mInfo;
     private PointerInfo pInfo;
     private Point point = new Point();
     private int buttons = 0;
     private double pointX = 0d;
     private double pointY = 0d;
     private Robot robot;
     public MouseLocation()
          try
          {     robot = new Robot();     }
          catch(Exception e)     {     }
          hasMouse();     
          pointerLocation();
     }//ends constr.
     private void hasMouse()
          buttons = mInfo.getNumberOfButtons();
          if(buttons == -1)
               System.out.println("No mouse detected.  Program terminated.");     
               System.exit(0);     
     }//ends hasMouse()
     private void pointerLocation()
          try
               pInfo = mInfo.getPointerInfo();
               point = pInfo.getLocation();
               pointX = point.getX();
               pointY = point.getY();
               System.out.println("pointer is at: (" + (int)pointX + ", " + (int)pointY + ")");
               delay();
          catch(HeadlessException he)     
               System.out.println((he.toString()) + ".  Program terminated.");     
               System.exit(1);
          catch(SecurityException se)     
               System.out.println((se.toString()) + ".  Program terminated.");     
               System.exit(1);
     }//ends pointerLocation()
     public String getPointerLocation()
     {     return (point.toString());     }//ends getPointerLocation()
     public void delay()
          try
               robot.delay(6000);     
               pointerLocation();
          catch(Exception e)     {     }
     }//ends delay()
     public static void main(String[] args)
          MouseLocation ml = new MouseLocation();
     }//ends
}//ends class MouseLocation