3 summary:: A uniform class to access HID devices
4 related:: Classes/HIDDeviceService, Classes/LID, Classes/GeneralHIDDevice, Classes/GeneralHIDSpec
5 categories:: External Control>HID
8 GeneralHID is a cross platform wrapper for accessing HID devices. Currently the MacOSX and Linux HID support has been wrapped. Some of the code is inspired by the GUI wrapper.
11 It is advised to use this class instead of the platform specific classes: link::Classes/HIDDeviceService:: (on MacOSX) and link::Classes/LID:: (on Linux).
14 There are intermediate "bridge" classes link::Classes/MXHID:: (on MacOSX) and link::Classes/GLID:: (on Linux), which should not be used directly, but their names will show up in the output of some of the methods of GeneralHID.
16 subsection::Some outstanding issues
17 This class is not completely finished yet. Common slot numbers across platforms are not yet guaranteed. On Windows there is not yet a proper implementation available, but you can use HID Server from http://ixi-software.net/content/backyard.html , which comes with classes which are compatible with GeneralHID.
19 subsection::Further information
20 See link::Classes/GeneralHIDDevice:: for a documentation of the methods to access an HID device.
21 See link::Classes/GeneralHIDSpec:: for a documentation of how to access slots by name, instead of numbers.
27 method::scheme, current
28 Get the current scheme. With scheme.id and current.id one can get the current scheme ID.
30 method::buildDeviceList
31 Look for all connected devices and build a device list. This returns the devicelist as an link::Classes/Array::.
34 Returns the device list if it has already been built before.
37 Posts a readable list of devices.
39 method::postDevicesAndProperties
40 Posts a readable list of devices and their properties.
42 method::startEventLoop
43 Start the eventloop with a update rate (or rather update time in seconds).
46 this is only really needed on MacOSX, but for crossplatform code you should include it in your code.
52 method::eventLoopIsRunning
53 Check status of eventloop.
56 Opens the device; the device should be an item got from the device list.
59 Find a device by its info properties.
65 product identifier as given by manufacturer
68 identifier for the physical connection to your computer
71 a version of the product, as given by the manufacturer
76 // General structure to access a device
77 // Look for the devices that are attached:
78 GeneralHID.buildDeviceList;
79 // Get the list of devices:
80 d = GeneralHID.deviceList;
81 // Check which devices have been found:
82 GeneralHID.postDevices;
83 // Pick the 6th device and open it and create an instance of it:
84 a = GeneralHID.open( d[5] )
85 // Get info on the device:
87 // if you want to automatically find the device when you restart you can use the GeneralHID.findBy method. To get the arguments you should use for this function, you can use:
89 // this outputs for my Impact gamepad:
90 [ 1973, 786, usb-0000:00:1d.0-1/input0, 272 ]
91 // close the device, as we will reopen it in the next lines
93 // if we know which device we want, we can find it:
94 b = GeneralHID.findBy( 1973, 786, "usb-0000:00:1d.0-1/input0", 272 );
95 // if you do not care about the version or the location, you can also do:
96 b = GeneralHID.findBy( 1973, 786 );
97 // or if you do not even care about the productID
98 b = GeneralHID.findBy( 1973 );
99 // you can then open it by:
100 a = GeneralHID.open( b )
102 GeneralHID.startEventLoop
103 // Get the capabilities of the device in a readable format:
105 // there are different types of slots:
106 // button (type 1), has only on/off (1/0) states
107 // relative (type 2), counts up or down (scrollwheel for example)
108 // absolute (type 3), continuous value between 0 and 1
109 // some other may show up on Linux ( Syn (type 0) and Miscellaneous (type 4), but these are generally not very useful).
110 // See if data is coming in:
114 // Debugging can be turned on for each slot individually, if necessary:
116 a.slots[1].at( 272 ).debug_( true );
117 // (external mouse on macbook pro)
118 a.slots[3][1].debug_(true);
119 (external mouse on ibm thinkpad)
120 a.slots[2][1].debug_(true);
121 // Turn it off again: // (IBM trackpoint)
122 a.slots[1].at( 272 ).debug_( false );
123 //(external mouse on macbook pro)
124 a.slots[3][48].debug_(false);
125 //(external mouse on ibm thinkpad)
126 a.slots[3][1].debug_(false);
128 // You can also create a generic gui to see what is coming in:
131 // The current value of a slot can be checked:
132 a.slots[1].at( 272 ).value;
133 a.slots[2].at( 1 ).value;
135 //If the slot is an LED, you can set the value:
136 a.slots[11][0].value = 1;
137 a.slots[11][0].value = 0;
139 // Actions can be mapped to each slot individually.
140 a.slots[1].at( 272 ).action_( { "hello".postln; } );
141 a.slots[1].at( 273 ).action_( { "hi".postln; } );
142 a.slots[3].at( 1 ).action_( { "hi".postln; } );
143 // with an input to the function
144 a.slots[3].at( 1 ).action_( { |v| "hi, my value is ".post; v.value.postln; } );
145 a.slots[1].at( 272 ).action_( { |v| "hi, my value is ".post; v.value.postln; } );
147 // To stop the action, assign it to an empty function.
148 a.slots[1].at( 272 ).action_( {} );
149 a.slots[1].at( 273 ).action_( {} );
150 a.slots[3].at( 1 ).action_( {} );
152 // you can access slots, by giving them a key:
154 a[\lx].debug_( true );
155 // the last item in the output array, now shows the key
156 a[\lx].debug_( false );
157 // save the spec for future use:
158 a.spec.save( "Impact_help" );
159 // find a spec defined previously for this device:
163 // more info on this in the [GeneralHIDSpec] helpfile
164 // If the server is running you can create a control bus for the HID data to go to, so that a synth can immediately read the data:
165 s = Server.local.boot;
166 // To create the bus:
167 a.slots[1].at( 272 ).createBus( s ); a.slots[2].at( 8 ).createBus( s );
169 SynthDef( \hidbus_help, { |out=0,amp=0|
170 Out.ar( out, SinOsc.ar( 300, 0, 0.01*amp.abs ) );
173 x = Synth.new( \hidbus_help );
174 x.map( \amp, a.slots[2].at( 8 ).bus );
177 ( // a nicer version:
178 SynthDef( \hidbus_help, { |out=0,amp=0,amp2=0|
179 Out.ar( out, SinOsc.ar( 300, 0, 0.01*amp.abs.lag( 0.1 ) * amp2.lag(0.01,0.99) ) );
182 x = Synth.new( \hidbus_help );
183 x.map( \amp, a.slots[2].at( 8 ).bus );
184 x.map( \amp2, a.slots[1].at( 272 ).bus );
187 ( // an even nicer version:
188 SynthDef( \hidbus_help, { |out=0,freqadd=0,amp=0|
189 Out.ar( out, SinOsc.ar( 300 + (freqadd.lag(0.2,1)*40), 0, 0.2*amp.lag(0.01,0.99) ) );
192 x = Synth.new( \hidbus_help );
193 x.map( \freqadd, a.slots[2].at( 8 ).bus );
194 x.map( \amp, a.slots[1].at( 272 ).bus );
198 a.slots[1].at( 272 ).freeBus;
199 a.slots[2].at( 8 ).freeBus;
200 // Close the device after use:
202 GeneralHID.stopEventLoop