Simple Directmedia Layer
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Sam Lantinga 2be75c6a61 Fixed bug 5028 - Virtual Joysticks (new joystick backend)
David Ludwig

I have created a new driver for SDL's Joystick and Game-Controller subsystem: a Virtual driver.  This driver allows one to create a software-based joystick, which to SDL applications will look and react like a real joystick, but whose state can be set programmatically.  A primary use case for this is to help enable developers to add touch-screen joysticks to their apps.

The driver comes with a set of new, public APIs, with functions to attach and detach joysticks, set virtual-joystick state, and to determine if a joystick is a virtual-one.

Use of virtual joysticks goes as such:

1. Attach one or more virtual joysticks by calling SDL_JoystickAttachVirtual.  If successful, this returns the virtual-device's joystick-index.
2. Open the virtual joysticks (using indicies returned by SDL_JoystickAttachVirtual).
3. Call any of the SDL_JoystickSetVirtual* functions when joystick-state changes.  Please note that virtual-joystick state will only get applied on the next call to SDL_JoystickUpdate, or when pumping or polling for SDL events (via SDL_PumpEvents or SDL_PollEvent).


Here is a listing of the new, public APIs, at present and subject to change:

------------------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Attaches a new virtual joystick.
 * Returns the joystick's device index, or -1 if an error occurred.
 */
extern DECLSPEC int SDLCALL SDL_JoystickAttachVirtual(SDL_JoystickType type, int naxes, int nballs, int nbuttons, int nhats);

/**
 * Detaches a virtual joystick
 * Returns 0 on success, or -1 if an error occurred.
 */
extern DECLSPEC int SDLCALL SDL_JoystickDetachVirtual(int device_index);

/**
 * Indicates whether or not a virtual-joystick is at a given device index.
 */
extern DECLSPEC SDL_bool SDLCALL SDL_JoystickIsVirtual(int device_index);

/**
 * Set values on an opened, virtual-joystick's controls.
 * Returns 0 on success, -1 on error.
 */
extern DECLSPEC int SDLCALL SDL_JoystickSetVirtualAxis(SDL_Joystick * joystick, int axis, Sint16 value);
extern DECLSPEC int SDLCALL SDL_JoystickSetVirtualBall(SDL_Joystick * joystick, int ball, Sint16 xrel, Sint16 yrel);
extern DECLSPEC int SDLCALL SDL_JoystickSetVirtualButton(SDL_Joystick * joystick, int button, Uint8 value);
extern DECLSPEC int SDLCALL SDL_JoystickSetVirtualHat(SDL_Joystick * joystick, int hat, Uint8 value);

------------------------------------------------------------

Miscellaneous notes on the initial patch, which are also subject to change:

1. no test code is present in SDL, yet.  This should, perhaps, change.  Initial development was done with an ImGui-based app, which potentially is too thick for use in SDL-official.  If tests are to be added, what kind of tests?  Automated?  Graphical?

2. virtual game controllers can be created by calling SDL_JoystickAttachVirtual with a joystick-type of SDL_JOYSTICK_TYPE_GAME_CONTROLLER, with naxes (num axes) set to SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_MAX, and with nbuttons (num buttons) set to SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_MAX.  When updating their state, values of type SDL_GameControllerAxis or SDL_GameControllerButton can be casted to an int and used for the control-index (in calls to SDL_JoystickSetVirtual* functions).

3. virtual joysticks' guids are mostly all-zeros with the exception of the last two bytes, the first of which is a 'v', to indicate that the guid is a virtual one, and the second of which is a SDL_JoystickType that has been converted into a Uint8.

4. virtual joysticks are ONLY turned into virtual game-controllers if and when their joystick-type is set to SDL_JOYSTICK_TYPE_GAMECONTROLLER.  This is controlled by having SDL's default list of game-controllers have a single entry for a virtual game controller (of guid, "00000000000000000000000000007601", which is subject to the guid-encoding described above).

5. regarding having to call SDL_JoystickUpdate, either directly or indirectly via SDL_PumpEvents or SDL_PollEvents, before new virtual-joystick state becomes active (as specified via SDL_JoystickSetVirtual* function-calls), this was done to match behavior found in SDL's other joystick drivers, almost all of which will only update SDL-state during SDL_JoystickUpdate.

6. the initial patch is based off of SDL 2.0.12

7. the virtual joystick subsystem is disabled by default.  It should be possible to enable it by building with SDL_JOYSTICK_VIRTUAL=1



Questions, comments, suggestions, or bug reports very welcome!
2020-03-13 19:08:45 -07:00
acinclude Added missing PKG_CONFIG macros 2019-03-16 17:39:15 -07:00
android-project Fixed java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'android.view.WindowManager android.app.Activity.getWindowManager()' on a null object reference 2020-03-05 08:43:16 -08:00
android-project-ant Added the old ant Android build project structure 2017-10-28 12:11:25 -07:00
build-scripts Backed out changeset 51622f74dc85 2020-03-10 18:35:31 -07:00
cmake Fixed bug 4643 - Append EGL CFLAGS in CheckOpenGLESX11 2020-03-02 15:24:10 -08:00
debian Backed out changeset 51622f74dc85 2020-03-10 18:35:31 -07:00
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include Fixed bug 5028 - Virtual Joysticks (new joystick backend) 2020-03-13 19:08:45 -07:00
src Fixed bug 5028 - Virtual Joysticks (new joystick backend) 2020-03-13 19:08:45 -07:00
test Fixed bug 5028 - Virtual Joysticks (new joystick backend) 2020-03-13 19:08:45 -07:00
VisualC Added SDL_hidapi_rumble.c to the Visual Studio project 2020-02-04 15:35:01 -08:00
VisualC-WinRT added SDL_strtokr() as a replacement for POSIX strtok_r (bug #4046.) 2019-11-20 20:40:50 +03:00
visualtest test: unify all the command line usage logging. 2019-05-28 17:39:13 -04:00
wayland-protocols wayland: ask xdg-decoration protocol extension to use server-side decorations if possible. 2018-11-04 21:08:40 +01:00
Xcode Backed out changeset 51622f74dc85 2020-03-10 18:35:31 -07:00
Xcode-iOS Added SDL_hidapi_rumble.c to the macOS, iOS and tvOS builds 2020-02-04 15:42:49 -08:00
.hgignore Fixed bug 4965 - Update the .hgignore file 2020-02-03 16:38:07 -08:00
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BUGS.txt BUGS.txt: Changed mailing list link to discourse.libsdl.org. 2017-04-01 00:05:25 -04:00
cmake_uninstall.cmake.in Fixed bug 3867 - Can't find install_manifest.txt when running 'uninstall' target 2017-10-12 08:44:45 -07:00
CMakeLists.txt Fixed bug 5028 - Virtual Joysticks (new joystick backend) 2020-03-13 19:08:45 -07:00
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CREDITS.txt Fixed crash if initialization of EGL failed but was tried again later. 2015-06-21 17:33:46 +02:00
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Makefile.pandora Added a dummy sensor driver 2018-08-21 13:29:21 -07:00
Makefile.psp added SDL_strtokr() as a replacement for POSIX strtok_r (bug #4046.) 2019-11-20 20:40:50 +03:00
Makefile.wiz Added a dummy sensor driver 2018-08-21 13:29:21 -07:00
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README.txt readme: correct webpage URL to use HTTPS. 2017-02-16 13:30:34 -05:00
sdl2-config-version.cmake.in cmake: Forgot to add this file to revision control. 2020-02-25 14:52:03 -05:00
sdl2-config.cmake.in cmake: more proper sdl2-config.cmake work (thanks, Alexander!) 2020-02-21 15:52:35 -05:00
sdl2-config.in Fixed crash if initialization of EGL failed but was tried again later. 2015-06-21 17:33:46 +02:00
sdl2.m4 Fixed bug 4544 - SDL2.m4 SDL2.framework patch made it impossible to fail detection 2019-03-16 18:45:10 -07:00
sdl2.pc.in Fixed crash if initialization of EGL failed but was tried again later. 2015-06-21 17:33:46 +02:00
SDL2.spec.in Fixed bug 4615 - RPM Build fails due to unpackaged files 2019-06-11 19:58:10 -07:00
SDL2Config.cmake Fixed bug 3651 - CMake build does not install CMake package configuration 2017-08-09 19:03:10 -07:00
TODO.txt Fixed crash if initialization of EGL failed but was tried again later. 2015-06-21 17:33:46 +02:00
VisualC.html Fixed two typos in documentation. 2016-01-12 22:23:53 +01:00
WhatsNew.txt Updated WhatsNew.txt with SDL 2.0.12 release notes 2020-03-02 11:39:44 -08:00

                         Simple DirectMedia Layer

                                  (SDL)

                                Version 2.0

---
https://www.libsdl.org/

Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform development library designed
to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, and graphics
hardware via OpenGL and Direct3D. It is used by video playback software,
emulators, and popular games including Valve's award winning catalog
and many Humble Bundle games.

More extensive documentation is available in the docs directory, starting
with README.md

Enjoy!
	Sam Lantinga				(slouken@libsdl.org)