onTouchEvent by code via Instrumentation

Question

I want to accomplish following:

I have two buttons. When first button is pressed,
it will fire onTouchEvent on second button, thus pressing second button.

Here is the excerpt of code that fires event:

int test1[] = new int[2];
button2.getLocationInWindow(test1);   //--->getting coordinates of second button
Instrumentation m_Instrumentation = new Instrumentation();
//firing event
m_Instrumentation.sendPointerSync(MotionEvent.obtain(android.os.SystemClock.uptimeMillis(),android.os.SystemClock.uptimeMillis(),MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN,test1[0]+10, test1[1]+10, 0));

Note: I use genymotion emulator.

Error log:

07-08 12:47:38.743: E/InputEventReceiver(6849): Exception dispatching input event.
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849): Exception in MessageQueue callback: handleReceiveCallback
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849): java.lang.RuntimeException: This method can not be called from the main application thread
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.app.Instrumentation.validateNotAppThread(Instrumentation.java:1651)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.app.Instrumentation.sendPointerSync(Instrumentation.java:933)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at com.example.touchtest1.MainActivity.fireEvent(MainActivity.java:55)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at com.example.touchtest1.MainActivity$MyTouchListener.onTouch(MainActivity.java:75)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.View.dispatchTouchEvent(View.java:7701)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTransformedTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:2216)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:1917)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTransformedTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:2216)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:1917)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTransformedTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:2216)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:1917)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTransformedTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:2216)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:1917)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:2068)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1515)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.app.Activity.dispatchTouchEvent(Activity.java:2458)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivityDelegateICS$WindowCallbackWrapper.dispatchTouchEvent(ActionBarActivityDelegateICS.java:260)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.dispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:2016)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.View.dispatchPointerEvent(View.java:7886)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at  android.view.ViewRootImpl$ViewPostImeInputStage.processPointerEvent(ViewRootImpl.java:3954)
07-08 12:47:38.743: E/MessageQueue-JNI(6849):   at android.view.ViewRootImpl$ViewPostImeInputStage.onProcess(ViewRootImpl.java:3833)

However, it is not going as intended. Where can be problem?

With regards

Answer 1

Based on the error and the excerpt at the bottom of this documentation, it looks like you can't run this on the main thread (in other words, the UI thread).

A possible solution would be to run it in another thread. It would look like this:

int test1[] = new int[2];
button2.getLocationInWindow(test1);   //--->getting coordinates of second button
final Instrumentation m_Instrumentation = new Instrumentation();
//firing event

new Thread(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        m_Instrumentation.sendPointerSync(MotionEvent.obtain(
               android.os.SystemClock.uptimeMillis(),
               android.os.SystemClock.uptimeMillis(),
               MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN,test1[0]+10, test1[1]+10, 0));
    }
}).start();

Note that I changed your m_Instrumentation to a final variable so that it could be used in a different thread.