F310 Controller Axis Mapping

[Levansic]

Went back to check notes, and our problem had to do with a driver station data mismatch during the 2011 build season. Most likely involved using the 2011 driver station with the 2010 libraries, or vice-versa. A new-to-LabView student on our team installed LabView, and missed some things.

Essentially, our joystick data didn't match on each end of sending and receiving, but still partially overlapped. The data cluster gets flattened to a string by the driver station, and then reconstituted at the other end. The location within the string was close enough that the two primary axes matched, but tertiary axes were shifted. Updating all of the libraries and utilities when mid-season updates were released, fixed everything.

We also had differences caused by changing the joystick driver that Windows used for various input devices. The default driver worked, but button or axis mapping changed when we installed the Logitech driver. None of this is a big deal, unless you have to do an emergency driver station swap when a hard drive dies, and the replacement laptop doesn't have the same set of joystick drivers. Ask me how I know this.

Regardless, a joystick diagnostic program is a handy tool. Especially when a driver says "I want to use this button to do X, Instead of this one that I can't find without looking at the joystick."