Gamepad Wrapper 🎮

A Game-Loop-Based, Non-Event-Driven, Lightweight Gamepad and WebXR Gamepad Wrapper

Table of contents

Key features | Installation | Usage | API | License

Key features

• Supports both Gamepad API and the derived WebXR Gamepad API
• Auto detects and applies gamepad mapping type
• Built-in support for standard and xr-standard button mapping, no more remembering button index
• Supports threshold tuning for analog input (specify deadzone by defining min/max input value)
• Has Typescript types!

Installation

To install and set up the library, run:

$ npm install gamepad-wrapper

Or if you prefer using Yarn:

$ yarn add gamepad-wrapper

Usage

To properly import GameWrapper:

// import just the GamepadWrapper class
import { GamepadWrapper } from 'gamepad-wrapper';
// or import button/axes Enums with it
import { GamepadWrapper, BUTTONS, AXES } from 'gamepad-wrapper';

To register and update gamepads with GameWrapper:

let gamepadWrapper;

// get standard gamepad object from gamepadconnected event
window.addEventListener('gamepadconnected', (event) => {
	gamepadWrapper = new GamepadWrapper(event.gamepad);
});

// get xr-standard gamepad object from XRInputSource
// 3D engines like Three.js or Babylon.js usually have
// their higher-level API to get gamepad
for (const source of frame.session.inputSources) {
	gamepadWrapper = new GamepadWrapper(source.gamepad);
}

// make sure to update the gamepadWrapper before other
// interactive game logic to get the latest results
function gameLoop() {
	gamepadWrapper.update();
	// do other stuff
}

To check button states (including linear inputs like triggers):

// the trigger of a WebXR gamdpad is pressed down in current frame
const triggerIsCurrentlyDown = gamepadWrapper.getButton(
	BUTTONS.XR_STANDARD.TRIGGER,
);

// the trigger is down in current frame but not in previous frame
const triggerWasJustPressedDown = gamepadWrapper.getButtonDown(
	BUTTONS.XR_STANDARD.TRIGGER,
);

// the trigger was down in previous frame but not in current frame
const triggerWasJustReleased = gamepadWrapper.getButtonUp(
	BUTTONS.XR_STANDARD.TRIGGER,
);

To check thumbstick states:

// the left thumbstick x-axis value (between 0 to 1.0)
const thumbstickValueX = gamepadWrapper.getAxis(
	AXES.STANDARD.THUMBSTICK_LEFT_X,
);

// 2D vector length from x-axis and y-axis value of the left thumbstick
const thumbstickValue = gamepadWrapper.get2DInputValue(
	BUTTONS.STANDARD.THUMBSTICK_LEFT,
);

API

Constructor

GamepadWrapper( gamepad : Gamepad, options : ConfigOptions | any )

ConfigOptions can be used to tune the deadzone for certain input on the gamepad. For example when an old and dusty gamepad cannot reliably register trigger input as 1.0 when fully pressed down, specifying buttonPressValueMax as 0.98 can help resolve the issue. User can also specify buttonClickThreshold as the threshold to register a click event.

interface ConfigOptions {
	buttonPressValueMin: number | null;
	buttonPressValueMax: number | null;
	buttonClickThreshold: number | null;
}

Properties

.gamepad : Gamepad

The raw gamepad object, data source of the GamepadWrapper instance.

Methods

.getButtonValue

getButtonValue( buttonId : string ) : number

Returns the value of the button identified by buttonId. Value should range from 0.0 to 1.0.

.getButtonValueByIndex

getButtonValueByIndex( buttonIdx : number ) : number

Bypasses the button id mapping and directly query by gamepad button index. Returns the value of the button identified by buttonId. Value should range from 0.0 to 1.0.

.getButton

getButton( buttonId : string ) : boolean

Returns true while the button identified by buttonId is held down.

.getButtonByIndex

getButtonByIndex( buttonIdx : number ) : boolean

Bypasses the button id mapping and directly query by gamepad button index. Returns true while the button identified by buttonId is held down.

.getButtonDown

getButtonDown( buttonId : string ) : boolean

Returns true during the frame the user pressed down the button identified by buttonId.

.getButtonDownByIndex

getButtonDownByIndex( buttonIdx : number ) : boolean

Bypasses the button id mapping and directly query by gamepad button index. Returns true during the frame the user pressed down the button identified by buttonId.

.getButtonUp

getButtonUp( buttonId : string ) : boolean

Returns true the first frame the user releases the button identified by buttonId.

.getButtonUpByIndex

getButtonUpByIndex( buttonIdx : number ) : boolean

Bypasses the button id mapping and directly query by gamepad button index. Returns true the first frame the user releases the button identified by buttonId.

.getButtonClick

getButtonClick( buttonId : string ) : boolean

Returns true the first frame the user pressed the button identified by buttonId down to a point exceeding the buttonClickThreshold.

.getButtonClickByIndex

getButtonClickByIndex( buttonIdx : number ) : boolean

Bypasses the button id mapping and directly query by gamepad button index. Returns true the first frame the user pressed the button identified by buttonId down to a point exceeding the buttonClickThreshold.

.getAxis

getAxis( axisId : string ) : number

Returns the value of the axis identified by axisId. Value should range from -1.0 to 1.0.

.getAxisByIndex

getAxisByIndex( axisIdx : number ) : number

Bypasses the button id mapping and directly query by gamepad button index. Returns the value of the axis identified by axisId. Value should range from -1.0 to 1.0.

.get2DInputAngle

get2DInputAngle( buttonId : string ) : number

Returns the angle between the input 2D vector and 2D vector (0, 1).

.get2DInputValue

get2DInputValue( buttonId : string ) : number

Returns the Euclidean length of the input 2D vector.

.getHapticActuator

getHapticActuator( actuatorIdx : number ) : GamepadHapticActuator | never

Returns the GamepadHapticActuator of actuatorIdx, returns null if actuator is not available.

Input Mapping Enums

• Standard Gamepad Mapping: standard-mapping.ts
• XR Standard Gamepad Mapping: xr-standard-mapping.ts

Standard Gamepad Mapping

Button ID	Description	XBox
BUTTONS.STANDARD.RC_BOTTOM	Bottom button in right cluster	A
BUTTONS.STANDARD.RC_RIGHT	Right button in right cluster	B
BUTTONS.STANDARD.RC_LEFT	Left button in right cluster	X
BUTTONS.STANDARD.RC_TOP	Top button in right cluster	Y
BUTTONS.STANDARD.BUMPER_LEFT	Top left front button	Left Bumper
BUTTONS.STANDARD.BUMPER_RIGHT	Top right front button	Right Bumper
BUTTONS.STANDARD.TRIGGER_LEFT	Bottom left front button	Left Trigger
BUTTONS.STANDARD.TRIGGER_RIGHT	Bottom right front button	Right Trigger
BUTTONS.STANDARD.CC_LEFT	Left button in center cluster	View Button
BUTTONS.STANDARD.CC_RIGHT	Right button in center cluster	Menu Button
BUTTONS.STANDARD.THUMBSTICK_LEFT	Left stick pressed button	Left Stick
BUTTONS.STANDARD.THUMBSTICK_RIGHT	Right stick pressed button	Right Stick
BUTTONS.STANDARD.LC_BOTTOM	Bottom button in left cluster	D-pad Down
BUTTONS.STANDARD.LC_RIGHT	Right button in left cluster	D-pad Right
BUTTONS.STANDARD.LC_LEFT	Left button in left cluster	D-pad Left
BUTTONS.STANDARD.LC_TOP	Top button in left cluster	D-pad Up
BUTTONS.STANDARD.CC_CENTER	Center button in center cluster	Xbox Button

License

MIT License © Felix Zhang