PiController

This is a project to connect a nintendo pro controller to a raspberry pi. I initially did this with pygame here, but this is better suited for the pi. That project is multiplatform though, whereas this makes use of evdev, which is only available on linux.

Documentation

Overview

The ProController module provides an abstraction for interfacing with a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller via the evdev library in Python. It includes classes and utilities for handling buttons, joysticks, and events, as well as support for vibration feedback.

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Table of Contents

1. Installation
2. Classes
   • ProController
   • RawJoystick
   • Joystick
   • Key
3. Additional Functions
4. Usage
5. Examples
6. Requirements

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Installation

1. Install the python development headers, a dependency for evdev, the one and only dependency of this library.

   sudo apt install python3-dev
   

2. Install pi_controller (inside a virtual environment is recomended)

   pip install pi_controller
   

   or clone from github

   git clone https://github.com/PreciousFood/pi_controller.git
   

Classes

1. ProController

Represents the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. Handles button and joystick inputs, event processing, and vibration feedback.

Initialization:

ProController(index: int, check_controller: bool = True, min_pause_time: float = 0)

• index: Index of the controller in the list of devices. See list_devices to figure out what the correct index is.
• check_controller: If True, validates the controller as a Pro Controller.
• min_pause_time: Minimum time between event loops.

Attributes:

• BUTTONS: Tuple of button names.
• JOYSTICKS: Tuple of joystick names.
• buttons: List of Key objects representing controller buttons.
• raw_joysticks: List of RawJoystick objects for joystick axes.
• joysticks: List of Joystick objects for grouped joystick axes.

Methods:

• run(): Starts the event loop to process input.
• stop(): Stops the event loop.
• button_from_code(code: int) -> Key: Maps a hardware code to a Key.
• raw_joystick_from_code(code: int) -> RawJoystick: Maps a hardware code to a RawJoystick.

Event Handlers:

• on_key_press(func: Callable[[Key], None]): Adds a callback for button press events.
• on_key_release(func: Callable[[Key], None]): Adds a callback for button release events.
• on_v_key_press(key: str): Adds a callback for a specific button press.
• on_v_key_release(key: str): Adds a callback for a specific button release.
• on_every_loop(func: Callable): Adds a callback for every event loop iteration.
• on_abs_event(func: Callable[[RawJoystick, int], None]): Adds a callback for joystick movement events.
• on_v_abs_event(joystick: str): Adds a callback for a specific joystick movement.

Vibration:

Experimental feature, not fully implemented yet

• rumble(duration: int, strong: int, weak: int, repeat: int = 1): Triggers vibration feedback.

Properties:

• Button aliases (a, b, x, etc.).
• Joystick aliases (left_joystick, right_joystick, `dpad).
• D-pad directional properties (dpad_up, dpad_down, etc.).

Note: Because of how evdev handles the dpad, it is technically a joystick with values of -1, 0, or 1. The D-pad directional properties handle this to be a simple bool

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2. RawJoystick

Represents a raw axis of a joystick.

Attributes:

• name (str): Name of the axis.
• code (int): Hardware code for the axis.
• value (int): Current raw value of the axis.
• max_val (int): Maximum possible value for the axis.

Properties:

• p_val (float): Normalized value of the axis (value / max_val).

Methods:

• __str__(): Returns the name of the axis.

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3. Joystick

Represents a joystick with two axes (X and Y).

Attributes:

• name (str): Name of the joystick.
• x (RawJoystick): X-axis of the joystick.
• y (RawJoystick): Y-axis of the joystick.

Properties:

• value (tuple[int, int]): Tuple of raw X and Y values.
• p_val (tuple[float, float]): Tuple of normalized X and Y values.

Methods:

• __str__(): Returns the joystick name.

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1. Key

Represents a single button on the controller.

Attributes:

• name (str): Name of the button.
• code (int): Hardware code for the button.
• pressed (bool): State of the button (True if pressed, False otherwise).

Methods:

• __str__(): Returns the name of the button and whether it is pressed.
• __bool__(): Returns the pressed state.

Additional Functions

1. list_devices

Lists the names of all available devices, the index of the device you want is the index to pass to ProController.

Returns a list of strings.

Usage

1. Initialize the Controller:

   from pro_controller import ProController
   
   pro = ProController(index=0)
   

2. Register Event Handlers:

   @pro.on_key_press
   def on_button_press(key):
       print(f"{key} pressed")
   

3. Start the Event Loop:

   pro.run()
   

4. Stop the Controller:

   pro.stop()
   

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Examples

Button Press Example:

pro = ProController(0)

@pro.on_key_press
def handle_press(button):
    print(f"Button {button.name} was pressed!")

pro.run()

Joystick Movement Example:

pro = ProController(0)

@pro.on_abs_event
def handle_joystick(joystick, value):
    print(f"{joystick.name} moved to {value}")

pro.run()