Gamepad/Joystick support

[SolidTux]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I would like to emulate not just a keyboard and mouse, but a game pad as well.

Describe the solution you'd like
A virtual game pad

Describe alternatives you've considered
Using a different library or manual implementation

Additional context
I'm running wayland

[pentamassiv]

I think it is at least partially possible already. On Windows you have these buttons:

    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadA,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadB,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadDPadDown,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadDPadLeft,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadDPadRight,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadDPadUp,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadLeftShoulder,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadLeftThumbstickButton,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadLeftThumbstickDown,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadLeftThumbstickLeft,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadLeftThumbstickRight,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadLeftThumbstickUp,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadLeftTrigger,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadMenu,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadRightShoulder,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadRightThumbstickButton,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadRightThumbstickDown,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadRightThumbstickLeft,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadRightThumbstickRight,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadRightThumbstickUp,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadRightTrigger,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadView,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadX,
    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
    GamepadY,

For other platforms I don't know the current state. I won't have time to look into it for the next couple of months probably. It's likely the only thing needed is adding a few keysyms so maybe someone can create a PR to improve the situation

[kitswas]

VirtualGamePad maintainer here.

From prior experience, those keys do nothing when sent as keyboard input via SendInput.
Games do not recognize those, and text editors say 'unknown/unsupported character' if at all.
But two heads are better than one. I'd be glad if we could get them working somehow.

On Linux, you can use the uinput kernel module and/or libevdev for Gamepad input injection.

I partially sidestepped the problem in the VirtualGamePad server using Windows.UI.Input.Preview.Injection:

• Requires Windows 10 or later (compared to Windows 7 or later for Win32 API)
• Requires Admin privileges and "allow running unpackaged apps" (in OS settings) when running unpackaged.
• The API is in preview (read buggy) and sometimes fails to launch/restart.

Reference: https://kitswas.github.io/VirtualGamePad-PC/gamepadSim_8hpp.html

Rust code from an earlier attempt (before I switched to Qt and C++):

//! Input injection using WinRT.
//! See https://github.com/microsoft/windows-rs
//! and https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/api/windows.gaming.input.gamepad

use windows::{
    Gaming::Input::GamepadButtons,
    UI::Input::Preview::Injection::{InjectedInputGamepadInfo, InputInjector},
};

pub(crate) struct GamepadInjector {
    gamepad_state: InjectedInputGamepadInfo,
    injector: InputInjector,
}

impl GamepadInjector {
    pub(crate) fn new() -> Self {
        let injector: InputInjector = InputInjector::TryCreate().unwrap();
        println!("Created input injector.");
        injector.InitializeGamepadInjection().unwrap();
        println!("Initialized gamepad injection.");
        let gamepad_state = InjectedInputGamepadInfo::new().unwrap();
        Self {
            gamepad_state,
            injector,
        }
    }

    pub(crate) fn update(
        &mut self,
        buttons: GamepadButtons,
        left_thumbstick: (f64, f64),
        right_thumbstick: (f64, f64),
    ) {
        let _ = self.gamepad_state.SetButtons(buttons);
        let _ = self.gamepad_state.SetLeftThumbstickX(left_thumbstick.0);
        let _ = self.gamepad_state.SetLeftThumbstickY(left_thumbstick.1);
        let _ = self.gamepad_state.SetRightThumbstickX(right_thumbstick.0);
        let _ = self.gamepad_state.SetRightThumbstickY(right_thumbstick.1);
    }

    pub(crate) fn inject(&mut self) {
        self.injector
            .InjectGamepadInput(&self.gamepad_state)
            .unwrap();
    }
}

impl Drop for GamepadInjector {
    fn drop(&mut self) {
        self.injector.UninitializeGamepadInjection().unwrap();
    }
}

I have no idea about MacOS.