Macro recorder Linux

Description:

GNU Xnee is a suite of programs that can record, replay, and distribute user actions under the X11 window system (Linux graphical user interface). We use this tool to set up and run click simulation macros on Linux images.

Installation

Open a terminal window from the Desktop
Update the system repositories:

sudo apt update

(if promped for a password use 00000000)

Install Xnee

sudo apt install xnee

Recording a mouse macro

connect a USB mouse to the system
open the terminal
open the visualisation and press Alt + Tab to display the terminal window on top of it
input the following command into the terminal and press Enter to start recording

cnee --record --mouse -o macro.xns

once you are done recording your clicks press Alt + Tab to switch back to the terminal
press Ctrl + C to stop the macro recording

Now you have a file called macro.xns that contains the recorded actions in the /home/woojin directory.

Replaying the macro

To replay the we first need to set up a bash script. Follow the next steps to do this:

open the /home/woojin directory
right click and select Create New.. -> Empty File
chose a name, for example MacroLoop.sh
right click on the file and open it with Visual Studio Code
write the following code inside and save the file:

#!/bin/bash
# Infinite loop to replay the macro

keep_running=1

while [ $keep_running -eq 1 ]
do
    cnee --replay --file macro.xnl --stop-key q
    
    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
       keep_running=0
       break
    fi

    sleep 5  
done

make the script executable with the following command in terminal:

chmod +x MacroLoop.sh

open the terminal
open the visualisation and press Alt + Tab to display the terminal window on top of it
input the following command into the terminal and press Enter to start recording

./MacroLoop.sh

Stopping the macro

By defaul the macro will run in an endless loop. To stop the execution of the macro press Q key. This will stop the execution for 5 seconds. In this time you can either press Alt + Tab to display the terminal window again, and then stop the macro execution with Ctrl + C . If you don’t stop it in these 5 seconds window, the macro will be executed again.