Connecting non-joystick control components

[MrEldritch]

How do we do this? Specifically, the device I wish to connect is a USB device- a Belkin n52te gamepad.

http://www.everythingusb.com/images/list/belkin_n52te_news.jpg

Now, it's a USB device, so connecting it physically to the computer isn't a problem. My question- how do we alter the /program/ to take its data? In other words, how do I interface the robot with it as if it were a device like the stop button or joystick? What action do I have to take in the robot code?

If this is a question that belongs in the programming subforum, please let me know.

[Alan Anderson]

If a device presents itself as an HID game controller, it will work with the FRC Driver Station and its status will be communicated to the robot. A mouse or keyboard won't do anything useful for controlling the robot.

From the brief look I just took at the documentation, the Belkin N52TE actually appears as two joystick-like devices plus a keyboard and a mouse. The special driver software that comes with it lets you configure keyboard/mouse macros to correspond to its buttons, which isn't helpful for our purposes. I think it would take quite a bit of custom Windows driver programming to make it function in a way that would work with the Driver Station in a useful fashion.

[MrEldritch]

Oh, bleep.
Well, is there any way to hook up a non-joystick control component? Could we simply build our own arrangement of buttons and attach it?

[Joe Ross]

You can connect your own buttons and potentiometers to the cypress module included in your kit last year, or to an eStop Robotics CCI (http://www.estoprobotics.com/estore/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=33).

Like Alan said, if it identifies itself as a HID game controller, it will work. We've used joysticks, gamepads, and steering wheels in the past.

[MrEldritch]

As I am /completely/ inexperienced, if it DOES show up as an HID Game Controller, how do we use it? Do we just call it with the Joystick stuff?

[Joe Ross]

As I am /completely/ inexperienced, if it DOES show up as an HID Game Controller, how do we use it? Do we just call it with the Joystick stuff?

Yes.