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Java Robot class won't interact with an application?

I've been reading up on this and haven't found an answer that has made sense to me.
I'm trying to write a program in Java to interact with an application to see if I can write a program to play a video game for me. The game is on my computer.
Here is an excerpt of code:
public static void main(String[] args) throws java.io.IOException {
Runtime run = Runtime.getRuntime();
run.exec("open /Applications/OpenEmu.app");
try {
Robot robot = new Robot();
System.out.println("Waiting 5 Seconds");
//robot.delay(5000);
System.out.println("Pressed X");
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_X);
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_X);
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_X);
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_X);
//Starts an easy mode game
It opens the application fine, and in something like notepad, it will type XXXX, but it won't do so for the game?
I've assigned the 'x' key on my keyboard as a command button for the game. My guess is that the 'x' press is internal. All help is appreciated!

If you are trying to simulate input, try add robot.keyRelease as well. Javadoc for robot says for keyPress "Presses a given key. The key should be released using the keyRelease method."
System.out.println("Pressed X");
robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_X);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_X);
...
Also remember this:
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/awt/Robot.html "Note that some platforms require special privileges or extensions to access low-level input control. "

Java Robot keyPress crazy behavior

try {
Robot robot = new Robot();
1 robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_1);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_1);
2 robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_2);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_2);
3 robot.keyPress(KeyEvent.VK_3);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_3);
} catch (AWTException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
See the above code, I was trying to enter some text into IE browser tag, however I got weird message saying " left hand side of an assignment must be a variable" while debugging into the robot.keyPress line, & eclipse automatically put a number in the front of the line, ie: 1,2,3 instances above.
Any idea? Is it the the web site tag has some tricky security enforce?
Thanks

While in debug mode, the focus was on Eclipse itself, that's why I saw this weird behavior.

Bring control from application to java frame

I use a java program for communication between a arduino board and a scratch file. The communication happen well. I use a user interface to start the communication where i have buttons called
connect
close and minimize
When the user clicks the connect button code will check the value in combo box and accordingly it opens the scratch file.
Once the connect button is clicked the control moves to the scratch application. After completing my work when i tried closing the scratch. My scratch application closes as expected but the control does not return to the user interface because of which i am not able to close the application and i close it in net beans forcefully. In the output screen i don't see build successful and instead i get build stopped. That is my process works perfectly until i give connect but once the button is pressed it is hanged up some where.
I tried making it as a jar file and running it in a different machine at that time i use end task in task manager to close the application.
private void jButton1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
if("Disconnect".equals(jButton1.getText()))
{
System.exit(0);
}
if(jComboBox2.getSelectedItem()==null)
{
System.out.println("Select one port");
}
else
{
Runtime r = Runtime.getRuntime();
try {
//this.hide();
//p = r.exec("C:\\Program Files\\Scratch 2\\Scratch 2.exe C:\\Users\\Admin\\Desktop\\fwdbckpwm12.sb2");
p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("C:\\Program Files\\Scratch 2\\Scratch 2.exe C:\\Users\\Admin\\Desktop\\scratch files new.sb2");
//Runtime.getRuntime().exec("taskkill /F /IM <p>.exe");
//p.destroy();
//r.exec("C:\\Windows\\notepad.exe C:\\Windows\\ss.txt");
//this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
A4S a4sObj = new A4S(new String[] {jComboBox2.getSelectedItem().toString()}); //defaultline
//A4S a4sObj = new A4S(new String[]{"COM16"}); //addedline
//r.gc();
//this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
} catch (IOException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(serialportselection.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
finally{
//p.destroy();
//System.gc();
// }
}
Here is the code i tried. But none seems to work.

Move all Process related work into separate Thread.
Use waitFor method to recognise Process end - then you are free to
exit your app.

As I can understood you used SWING for creating UI.
You can set
yourFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
for your frame. This must help.

How to close external programs (Powerpoint) running on the native desktop using Java?

I have to create an application that will automatically open a powerpoint file, let it play through, and then close it. Not only do I need to figure out HOW to close it, but I also must detect when it closes or stops.
First option:
I know how long each powerpoint will play for, so I can hardcode when to close the file. I just need to know how to do that. There are no methods in the desktop class (that I could find) for closing.
Second option:
If someone knows a microsoft powerpoint api that lets me open powerpoints and use java to progress through the slideshow and get the state or something, that'd be great. I wouldn't have to go into each presentation and count the number of slides and the transition timer on each slide.
The opening, letting it play, and closing it is a small part of the app I need to create. But here is what I have so far with regards to THIS problem:
File myfile = new File("PowerPoint.ppsx");
try {
Desktop.getDesktop().open(myfile);
} catch (IOException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(Sc.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}

Probably this is the solution how to close external program:
http://www.java-forums.org/new-java/59691-close-another-program.html#post285956
If you want to detect when program has stopped running then you can start new thread with loop which from time to time will check if the program process is still running, using the same method as mentioned in link.
This is solution only for one (Windows) platform, Java is not the best choice for such tasks.

Here a solution using JNA. First we get the handle, we search using the "class name" of the window. You can determine the class name for a specific program (in this case Powerpoint) with a special utility like Spy++ (included with Visual Studio). It's possible to make the search more precise using the class name and the window caption (but here I use only the class name) so if you have more than one presentation running ... you may not close the good one!.
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.User32;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.WinUser;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.WinDef.HWND;
// https://github.com/twall/jna#readme
// you need 2 jars : jna-3.5.1.jar and platform-3.5.1.jar
public class KillMyPP {
public static void main(String[] args) {
HWND hwnd = User32.INSTANCE.FindWindow("screenClass", null);
if (hwnd == null) {
System.out.println("PPSX is not running");
}
else {
User32.INSTANCE.PostMessage(hwnd, WinUser.WM_QUIT, null, null);
}
}
}

keyReleases are simulating keyPresses in Linux (java Swing GUI)

I have a kiosk GUI application I'm working on and it requires me to block users from being able to Alt-Tab out of the fullscreen window. I posted a question about this a while back and a member helped me with some code, which worked perfectly under a Windows environment.
Here it is:
public class TabStopper implements Runnable {
private boolean isWorking = false;
private MenuFrame parent;
public TabStopper(MenuFrame parent) {
this.parent = parent;
new Thread(this, "TabStopper").start();
}
public void run() {
this.isWorking = true;
Robot robot;
try {
robot = new Robot();
while (isWorking) {
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_ALT);
robot.keyRelease(KeyEvent.VK_TAB);
parent.requestFocus();
Thread.sleep(10);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void stop() {
this.isWorking = false;
}
public boolean isWorking() {
return this.isWorking;
}
}
However, I need this to be able to work in Linux as well. I made an executable jar from the source and brought it into Linux. Everything worked except the Alt and Tab keys were being constantly pressed. The buttons on my GUI were constantly being cycled and I was able to open a terminal (I set a backdoor in the application during testing in case something like this happens) which wouldn't let me type anything because Tab lists all the files in the current directory.
Could anyone tell me if there would be a fix that would work in both Linux and Windows environments. However, if I had to choose, I would go for Linux.
EDIT: I can also confirm that the Alt key is being "pressed". What's with this weird behaviour?

Forget grabbing Alt+Tab with hacks like this. It is a bad hack and it is error-prone. There are also so many other hotkey combinations.
For linux you have two options:
Use a minimal window manager or no window manager at all. For example, with fluxbox you can remove all key bindings alltogether and you can also make your application maximise by default, etc. You can empty the desktop menus such that the user gains no control even when your application crashes. This is a clean solution that really solves your problem instead of some parts of it. There are many ways to fiddle with the system other than Alt+Tab.
Grab input controls completely. This is what games do. For example libSDL does it for you and there are java wrappers for the functionality as well. This should also work as expected, except you use a window manager that does not allow input control grabbing per default (I don't know of any).