What are the capabilities of Puppeteer-Sharp for keyboard input simulation?

Puppeteer-Sharp is a .NET port of the Node.js library Puppeteer which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium over the DevTools Protocol. Puppeteer-Sharp is used for browser automation, allowing developers to programmatically control a web page, scrape content, and perform tasks like form submission, UI testing, keyboard input simulation, and more.

Regarding keyboard input simulation, Puppeteer-Sharp has several capabilities that allow developers to simulate complex keyboard interactions with a web page. Below are some of the key capabilities and methods provided by Puppeteer-Sharp for keyboard input simulation:

1. Keyboard.TypeAsync(string text, TypeOptions options = null): This method is used to simulate typing text into an input field or other elements that can receive input. It sends a series of keydown, keypress/input, and keyup events for each character in the text string.

   await page.Keyboard.TypeAsync("Hello, World!");

1. Keyboard.PressAsync(string key, PressOptions options = null): This method is used to simulate pressing a specific key. The key parameter is a string representing the key to press, which could be a single character or a special key such as Enter, Backspace, ArrowLeft, etc.

   await page.Keyboard.PressAsync("Enter");

1. Keyboard.DownAsync(string key, DownOptions options = null) and Keyboard.UpAsync(string key): These methods simulate pressing a key down and releasing it, respectively. They can be used together to simulate more complex interactions, such as key combinations or holding a key down for a specific amount of time.

   // Simulate holding down the Shift key
   await page.Keyboard.DownAsync("Shift");
   // Type a capital letter "A" while holding Shift
   await page.Keyboard.PressAsync("KeyA");
   // Release the Shift key
   await page.Keyboard.UpAsync("Shift");

1. Keyboard.SendCharacterAsync(string char): This method can be used to send a single character to the page as if it was typed. Unlike TypeAsync, it doesn't generate keydown or keyup events, only keypress/input.

   await page.Keyboard.SendCharacterAsync("a");

1. Keyboard Shortcuts: By combining DownAsync and UpAsync methods, you can simulate keyboard shortcuts. For instance, to simulate the shortcut Ctrl+A (which typically selects all text), you would do the following:

   // Press down the Control key
   await page.Keyboard.DownAsync("Control");
   // Press the "A" key
   await page.Keyboard.PressAsync("KeyA");
   // Release the Control key
   await page.Keyboard.UpAsync("Control");

1. Input.DispatchKeyEventAsync: This is a lower-level API that can be used for more granular control over the keyboard events. It is useful when you need to specify additional event properties that are not exposed by the higher-level keyboard methods.

Remember that Puppeteer-Sharp mimics human typing, so if you want to simulate a user typing at a normal speed, you might want to use the delay option available in TypeOptions to introduce a delay between key presses:

await page.Keyboard.TypeAsync("Hello, World!", new TypeOptions
{
    Delay = 100 // Delay in milliseconds between key presses
});

These capabilities make Puppeteer-Sharp a powerful tool for tasks that require keyboard input simulation, such as automated form filling, executing keyboard shortcuts, and testing keyboard interactions on web applications.