Taking input from a joystick with C# .NET

.net, c#, human-interface, input, joystick

Solution

One: use SlimDX.

Two: it looks something like this (where `GamepadDevice` is my own wrapper, and the code is slimmed down to just the relevant parts).

Find the joystick / pad GUIDs:

    public virtual IList<GamepadDevice> Available()
    {
        IList<GamepadDevice> result = new List<GamepadDevice>();
        DirectInput dinput = new DirectInput();
        foreach (DeviceInstance di in dinput.GetDevices(DeviceClass.GameController, DeviceEnumerationFlags.AttachedOnly))
        {
            GamepadDevice dev = new GamepadDevice();
            dev.Guid = di.InstanceGuid;
            dev.Name = di.InstanceName;
            result.Add(dev);
        }
        return result;
    }

Once the user has selected from the list, acquire the gamepad:

   private void acquire(System.Windows.Forms.Form parent)
    {
        DirectInput dinput = new DirectInput();

        pad = new Joystick(dinput, this.Device.Guid);
        foreach (DeviceObjectInstance doi in pad.GetObjects(ObjectDeviceType.Axis))
        {
            pad.GetObjectPropertiesById((int)doi.ObjectType).SetRange(-5000, 5000);
        }

        pad.Properties.AxisMode = DeviceAxisMode.Absolute;
        pad.SetCooperativeLevel(parent, (CooperativeLevel.Nonexclusive | CooperativeLevel.Background));
        pad.Acquire();
    }

Polling the pad looks like this:

        JoystickState state = new JoystickState();

        if (pad.Poll().IsFailure)
        {
            result.Disconnect = true;
            return result;
        }

        if (pad.GetCurrentState(ref state).IsFailure)
        {
            result.Disconnect = true;
            return result;
        }

        result.X = state.X / 5000.0f;
        result.Y = state.Y / 5000.0f;
        int ispressed = 0;
        bool[] buttons = state.GetButtons();

Problem

Original source