# Dynamically getting a Component by clicking on it

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dynamically-getting-a-component-by-clicking-on-it/80256>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** vision\
**Created:** [October 10, 2023, 7:39am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dynamically-getting-a-component-by-clicking-on-it/80256 "2023-10-10T07:39:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tjark\_Sterk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Tjark\_Sterk](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Tjark_Sterk)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2023, 7:39am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dynamically-getting-a-component-by-clicking-on-it/80256/1 "2023-10-10T07:39:08Z")

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Hey is there a way to dynamically get a component by clicking on it?  
So for example at runtime when I click on a component I can print out the some property of it in the console.  
Thanks for the help

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**Author:** ![justinedwards.jle](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/justinedwards.jle/32/37854_2.png) [@justinedwards.jle](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/justinedwards.jle)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2023, 9:10am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dynamically-getting-a-component-by-clicking-on-it/80256/2 "2023-10-10T09:10:58Z")

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That is an interesting question. You can't simply use the root container's mouseClicked event because the click event will be consumed by the components when they are clicked on. Therefore, I imagine that you would have to add a listener to each component in the window to get this functionality.

A script like this would probably work for most components:

```auto
# Import MouseAdapter to create a click listener and BasicContainer for recursively finding nested components
from java.awt.event import MouseAdapter
from com.inductiveautomation.factorypmi.application.components import BasicContainer

# Define a class that extends MouseAdapter
class UbiquitousClickListener(MouseAdapter):
    
	# Override of the mouseClicked method in MouseAdapter
	def mouseClicked(self, event):
		# The component clicked on will always be event.source
		# Do whatever needs doing with the component on the mouse click event here	
		print event.source.name

# Sets mouse listeners on all components within a given container.
def setComponentListeners(container):
	# Iterating over each component within the provided container.
	for component in container.getComponents():
		# If another container is found, recursively call the setComponentListeners script
		if isinstance(component, BasicContainer):
			setComponentListeners(component)
		else:
			# Otherwise, add the click listener to the component
			component.addMouseListener(UbiquitousClickListener())
			
# Call the setComponentListeners function, passing in the root container
# Note: the way this is written, it will work from almost anywhere in the window, 
# ...but each time this script runs, it will add a redundant listener to each component
# ...so it should be ran from somewhere like the parent window's internalFrameOpened event hander where it can't run more than once.
# ...However, if this is needed for some designer utility purpose, it could be ran from a temporary button
# ...just don't click it multiple times
setComponentListeners(system.gui.getParentWindow(event).rootContainer)

```

It creates a custom listener that it applies to every component in the window that is in the root container or a nested container. If you need it to crawl through template repeaters or canvases, further development would be required.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tjark\_Sterk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Tjark\_Sterk](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Tjark_Sterk)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2023, 9:57am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dynamically-getting-a-component-by-clicking-on-it/80256/3 "2023-10-10T09:57:26Z")

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Thank you thats a smart solution, I have never thought of modifying the methods themselves. That is a good thing to keep in mind.