# hs.uielement.watcher

Watch for events on certain UI elements (including windows and applications)

You can watch the following events:

# Application-level events

See hs.application.watcher for more events you can watch.

  • hs.uielement.watcher.applicationActivated: The current application switched to this one.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.applicationDeactivated: The current application is no longer this one.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.applicationHidden: The application was hidden.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.applicationShown: The application was shown.

# Focus change events

These events are watched on the application level, but send the relevant child element to the handler.

  • hs.uielement.watcher.mainWindowChanged: The main window of the application was changed.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.focusedWindowChanged: The focused window of the application was changed. Note that the application may not be activated itself.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.focusedElementChanged: The focused UI element of the application was changed.

# Window-level events

  • hs.uielement.watcher.windowCreated: A window was created. You should watch for this event on the application, or the parent window.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.windowMoved: The window was moved.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.windowResized: The window was resized.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.windowMinimized: The window was minimized.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.windowUnminimized: The window was unminimized.

# Element-level events

These work on all UI elements, including windows.

  • hs.uielement.watcher.elementDestroyed: The element was destroyed.
  • hs.uielement.watcher.titleChanged: The element's title was changed.

# API Overview

Methods - API calls which can only be made on an object returned by a constructor

  • element
  • pid
  • start
  • stop

# API Documentation

# Methods

# element

Signature hs.uielement.watcher:element() -> object
Type Method
Description Returns the element the watcher is watching.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • The element the watcher is watching.
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/uielement/libuielement_watcher.m line 57

# pid

Signature hs.uielement.watcher:pid() -> number
Type Method
Description Returns the PID of the element being watched
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • The PID of the element being watched
Notes None
Examples None
Source extensions/uielement/libuielement_watcher.m line 40

# start

Signature hs.uielement.watcher:start(events) -> hs.uielement.watcher
Type Method
Description Tells the watcher to start watching for the given list of events.
Parameters
  • An array of events to be watched for.
Returns
  • hs.uielement.watcher
Notes
  • See hs.uielement.watcher for a list of events. You may also specify arbitrary event names as strings.
  • Does nothing if the watcher has already been started. To start with different events, stop it first.
Examples None
Source extensions/uielement/uielement.lua line 114

# stop

Signature hs.uielement.watcher:stop() -> hs.uielement.watcher
Type Method
Description Tells the watcher to stop listening for events.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • hs.uielement.watcher
Notes
  • This is automatically called if the element is destroyed.
Examples None
Source extensions/uielement/uielement.lua line 148

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