Input device: Difference between revisions

# Look under Help > Joystick Information and check the name behind "Joystick #0:".  

# Open your joystick's bindings file in a XML editor and add the following code to the file, below the already-present <code><name></code> tags.

# Please report this name [http://forum.flightgear.org/viewforum.php?f=24 at our forum], so it can be added to the official file (and next releases).

=== Multiple devices on Windows ===

In case you have two USB devices (for instance a yoke plus pedals) to a Windows computer, there may be cases, where the same driver name is reported twice. In this case, you can get at least the yoke to work by assigning it number 0 (out of 0 and 1), by adding a line to <tt>[[$FG_ROOT]]/joystick.xml</tt> like:

if you also have pedals (or another joystick), just add more lines, similar to:

To make sure that the first input device is indeed the yoke, rotate the yoke ([[aileron]] control) and observe the Help > Joystick Information dialog. If the aileron value does not change, you have to make the yoke the preferred device first. For doing so, enter the Windows "Control panel", open "Game controllers" and select the "Advanced" button. Here you can select the yoke as the "Preferred" device. Afterwards you can check that assignment by restarting FlightGear. The yoke should now control the aileron.

Reboot your system and immediately enter on the [[command line]]  

which pipes the boot message to grep which then prints every line in the boot message that contains the string “Joystick”. When you do this with a Saitek joystick attached, you will see a line similar to this one:  

This line tells us that a joystick has identified itself as SAITEK CYBORG 3D USB to the operating system. It does not tell us that the joystick driver sees your joystick.  You can verify that the joystick driver sees the joystick by entering:

If your joystick is not recognized by the driver, you may have to manually load the joystick device module with the command:

==== Windows ====

FlightGear ships with a utility called js_demo. It will report the number of joysticks attached to a system, their respective "names" and their capabilities. Under Linux, you can run js_demo from the folder /FlightGear/bin as follows:  

Under Windows, open a command shell (<tt>Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt</tt>), go to the FlightGear binary folder and start the program as follows (given FlightGear is installed under <tt>C:/Program Files/Flightgear</tt>)  

<!--If js_demo.exe is not included in your version, download it [http://fgfs.beggabaur.de/forum/js_demo.exe here].-->

On our system, the first few lines of output are (stop the program with C if it is quickly scrolling past your window!) as follows:  

First note that js demo reports which number is assigned to each joystick recognized by the driver. Also, note that the “name” each joystick reports is also included between quotes. We will need the names for each bindings file when we begin writing the binding xml files for each joystick.

For Linux users, there is another option for identifying the “name” and the numbers assigned to each axis and button. Most Linux distributions include a very handy program, “jstest”. With a CH Product Yoke plugged into the system, the following output lines are displayed by jstest:  

Note the “name” between parentheses. This is the name the system associates with your joystick.  

Before we begin to edit, we need to choose a name for our bindings xml file, create the folder for the QS joysticks, and copy the original xml file into this directory with this name.  

Here, we obviously have supposed a Linux/UNIX system with FlightGear being installed under '''/usr/local/FlightGear'''. For a similar procedure under Windows with FlightGear being installed under C:/Program Files/FlightGear, open a command shell and type  

Next, open QuickStick.xml with your favorite editor. Before we forget to change the joystick name, search for the line containing <name>. You should find the line  

and change it to  

This line illustrates a key feature of xml statements. They begin with a <tag> and end with a </tag>.  

You can now compare your table to the comment table at the top of your file copy. Note that the comments tell us that the Saitek elevator was assigned to axis 1. Search for the string  

and change this to  

Next, note that the Saitek rudder was assigned to axis 2. Search for the string  

and change this to  

Continue comparing your table with the comment table for the Saitek and changing the axis numbers and button numbers accordingly. Since QUICKSTICK USB and the Saitek have the same number of axes but different number of buttons, you must delete the buttons left over. Just remember to double check that you have a closing tag for each opening tag or you will get an error using the file.  

For configuring your joystick using this approach, open a command shell (command prompt under windows, to be found under Start|All programs|Accessories). Change to the directory <tt>[[$FG_ROOT]]/bin</tt> via e.g. (modify to your path)  

and invoke the tool fgjs via  

on a UNIX/Linux machine, or via  

on a Windows machine. The program will tell you which joysticks, if any, were detected. Now follow the commands given on screen, i.eṁove the axis and press the buttons as required. Be careful, a minor touch already “counts” as a movement. Check the reports on screen. If you feel something went wrong, just re-start the program.  

The the axis/button assignment of fgjs should, at least, get the axis assignments right, its output may need some tweaking. There may be axes moving the opposite way they should, the dead zones may be too small etc. For instance, I had to change  

into  

(USB CH Flightsim Yoke under Windows XP). Thus, here is a short introduction into the assignments of joystick properties.  

Basically, all axes settings are specified via lines having the following structure:  

where  

Some particularly useful ideas for programming scripts within joystick XML files:

* getprop and setprop can be used for getting & setting properties from the internal properties tree:

* You can also make your own values on the property tree:

* You can print to terminal using the print function. This is very useful for debugging.

* You can display info in FlightGear via a popup. This is useful for giving the user feedback about changes that may not be obvious via the panel. It can also be useful for debugging. Example:

Arguments for gui.popupTip must be strings, so if you want to display other types of variables they should be formatted with something like sprintf:

Or

But [http://wiki.flightgear.org/index.php/Nasal_scripting_language#Variables for various reasons] it is generally better to declare variables with the "var" statement:

* You can include a section of script that runs on startup to initialize variables, create functions, etc. Example:

* Sample code for firing weapons with the joystick is found on the [[Gun Effects]] page.