You can use JInput. If there is a lot of interest in this, I may create a library (JInput by itself isn't terribly user friendly). Let me know.

Kristian,

I think making a library from JInput is a great idea.

Casey

Alrighty, I've started on this little project and I wanted to give those of you who might be waiting on it some info:

1) This library will find ALL controllers (including mice and keyboards) so I am working on a method for registering the controllers that will work similar to the Video library's Capture class. i.e. list the controllers then pass a String identifier to the constructor to make a Controller object for that specific controller.

2) Like the JOGL library, this one will not be distributable. This is because there is a hardware-specific plugin that JInput uses to communicate with the OS to find registered controllers. On the plus side, there are plug-ins for Windows, Linux, and MacOSX... they just don't coexist nicely. I may be able to find a way around this eventually, but I will probably not spend time dealing with this at the outset.

3) Installation may be a little strange. The JInput plug-ins have to be placed in the application's root directory (processing-XXXX/) to work. I've been trying to find a way around this so that I can package the plug-ins in the .jar, but the they're being downright cantankerous.

4) Like JOGL, JInput likes to be verbose, especially at startup. Casey and Ben... did you ever find a way to catch the unsolicited output, or are we stuck with it? (here's a sample of what to expect)
Code:

Scanning jar: dxinput.jar
Examining file : META-INF/
Examining file : META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
Examining file : net/
Examining file : net/java/
Examining file : net/java/games/
Examining file : net/java/games/input/
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputAxis.class
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputDevice.class
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputEnvironmentPlugin.class
Found candidate class: net/java/games/input/DirectInputEnvironmentPlugin.class
Adding class to plugins:net.java.games.input.DirectInputEnvironmentPlugin
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputKeyboard.class
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputMouse$BallAxis.class
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputMouse$BallImpl.class
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputMouse$ButtonImpl.class
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputMouse$ButtonsImpl.class
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputMouse.class
Examining file : net/java/games/input/DirectInputRumbler.class
Creating AIRFLO		  polling = false
Mouse Mouse
Keyboard (Keyboard)
AIRFLO		  AIRFLO 

I only asked for the following to be output:

Code:

Mouse Mouse
Keyboard (Keyboard)
AIRFLO		  AIRFLO 

Alright, I'll post more when I've made a bit more progress.

--- EDIT: Afterthought ----------

By the way, I'll take suggestions for the name of the library. Right now "Oz" is the best I've come up with. Can you do better? Right now the only exposed class name is "InputController". Sorry, "Controller" conflicts with the JInput class of the same name.

Njetti,

1) Yes, I mean that it won't work in an applet. You would definitely be able to use it in an installation though.

2) Regarding the name... it was late at night (isn't that a good enough excuse? ) and all I could think about as I was typing up the first few lines was the little man behind the curtain manipulating all the switches and levers... this library will allow you to capture events from all the buttons, switches, levers, etc. that you have plugged into your machine, hence the name. I wanted to avoid a library name like "GameController" because the library will allow you to get ALL controller-based input events, not just GamePad ones.

Hi Kristian

Just wondering how work is going with the Oz library? I am looking forward to try it as I think it would be the last important addition to Processings libs.

Good luck with the last bit of work,

njetti

Dear Kristian!

How's it going now? I know there are quite few of us waiting for the library and this is very exciting. Do you have an alpha version that you could upload somewhere? Are there any problems with the code or is it just summer and sunshine that distracts? : )

Hope all is well
njetti

Hi, rcarneva. I've been looking to find a gamepad interface for p5 this last week or two but hadn't come across this driver. So thanks for the link + handy example.

Cheers,
Samuel