uwp-xbox-controllers

A simple test about how Xbox One controllers can be used in a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) application.

Development blog entry: https://hitbybits.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-magic-of-xbox-one-controllers.html

Controller Readings

Controller contains following kind of buttons and sticks which can be read with the UWP Gamepad API.

Inputs are read as press buttons, pressure detectors or both as seen from the following list.

Input	Type	Value	Description
Left Trigger	Pressure	[0.0, 1.0]	Reading varies from 0.0 (not pressed) to 1.0 (fully pressed).
Right Trigger	Pressure	[0.0, 1.0]	Reading varies from 0.0 (not pressed) to 1.0 (fully pressed).
X	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
Y	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
A	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
X	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
Menu	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
View	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
Left Shoulder	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
Right Shoulder	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
D-Pad Up	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
D-Pad Down	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
D-Pad Left	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
D-Pad Right	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
Left Thumbstick	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
Left Thumbstick	Pressure	[-1.0, 1.0]	Readings include X- and Y-coordinates.
Right Thumbstick	Button	0 / 1	Reading is either 0 (not pressed) or 1 (pressed).
Right Thumbstick	Pressure	[-1.0, 1.0]	Readings include X- and Y-coordinates.

As seen from the table, both thumbsticks can be also pressed which allows them to be as buttons as well.

Features

Here is a small list of the features offered by the UWP Gamepad API.

• Enumerate all currently attached controllers.
• Listen events about gamepads being added or removed.
• Listen events about gamepad user changes.
• Listen events about headset being connected or disconnected.
• Get information about the current user.
  • The (non-roamable) identifier of the user.
  • The authentication status of the user (local/remote/unauthenticated).
  • The type of the user (local-guest/local-user/remote-guest/remote-user).
  • Following values also require "User Account Information" capability.
    • The user's account name.
    • The user's display name.
    • The user's domain name.
    • The user's first name.
    • The user's last name.
    • The user's principal name.
    • The user's provider name.
    • The user's session initiation protocol URI.
    • The user's picture.
• Get information about the current input readings.
  • 4 pressure detectors.
  • 14 buttons.
• Get information about the gamepad battery state.
  • The rate that the battery is charging (warning: see the Notes section).
  • The design capacity of the battery (warning: see the Notes section).
  • The fully charged capacity of the battery.
  • The remaining capacity of the battery.
  • The status of the battery (charging/discharging/idle/not-present).
• Get information about the connected headset.
  • XAudio endpoint ID for audio capture device.
  • XAudio endpoint ID for audio render device.
  • Headset battery state.
• Check whether the gamepad has a wireless connection.
• Control vibration.

Notes

• At application startup Gamepad::Gamepads collection is empty (OS will call Gamepad::GamepadAdded after startup).
• Xbox One controllers have four different vibration motors.
  • Left Motor (strong vibration at lower frequency).
  • Right Motor (gentler vibration at higher frequency).
  • Left impulse trigger.
  • Right impulse trigger.
• Center position thumbstick (0.0) may require small "deadzone" to be correctly detected.
• Applications with multi-user support should add uap:SupportedUsers element with "multiple" into manifest.
• Battery charge rate and design capacity cannot be fully queried from all controllers.