plVirtualThumbStick Class Reference

A Virtual Thumb-stick is an input device that transforms certain types of input (mouse / touch) into input similar to a thumb-stick on a controller. More...

#include <VirtualThumbStick.h>

Inheritance diagram for plVirtualThumbStick:

Classes
struct	CenterMode
	Defines whether the thumb-stick center position is locked or relative to where the user started touching it. More...
struct	Input
	This enum allows to select either some default input mapping or to select 'Custom'. More...
struct	Output
	Specifies which type of output the thumb-stick shall generate. More...

Public Member Functions
	plVirtualThumbStick ()
	Constructor.
	~plVirtualThumbStick ()
	Destructor.
void	SetInputArea (const plVec2 &vLowerLeft, const plVec2 &vUpperRight, float fThumbstickRadius, float fPriority, CenterMode::Enum center=CenterMode::ActivationPoint)
	Defines the area on screen where the thumb-stick is located and accepts input.
void	GetInputArea (plVec2 &out_vLowerLeft, plVec2 &out_vUpperRight)
	Returns the input area of the virtual thumb-stick.
void	SetTriggerInputSlot (Input::Enum input, const plInputActionConfig *pCustomConfig=nullptr)
	Specifies from which input slots the thumb-stick is activated.
void	SetThumbstickOutput (Output::Enum output, plStringView sOutputLeft={}, plStringView sOutputRight={}, plStringView sOutputUp={}, plStringView sOutputDown={})
	Specifies which output the thumb-stick generates.
void	SetAreaFocusMode (plInputActionConfig::OnEnterArea onEnter, plInputActionConfig::OnLeaveArea onLeave)
	Specifies what happens when the input slots that trigger the thumb-stick are active while entering or leaving the input area.
void	SetEnabled (bool bEnabled)
	Allows to enable or disable the entire thumb-stick temporarily.
bool	IsEnabled () const
	Returns whether the thumb-stick is currently enabled.
bool	IsActive () const
	Returns whether the thumb-stick is currently active (ie. triggered) and generates output.
Public Member Functions inherited from plInputDevice
	plInputDevice ()
	Default Constructor.
float	GetInputSlotState (plStringView sSlot) const
	Allows to query current input values for the given slot.
bool	HasDeviceBeenUsedLastFrame () const
	Returns true, if the device was 'used' during the last frame, ie. when it generated input due to some user interaction.
Public Member Functions inherited from plReflectedClass
virtual const plRTTI *	GetDynamicRTTI () const
bool	IsInstanceOf (const plRTTI *pType) const
	Returns whether the type of this instance is of the given type or derived from it.
template<typename T >
PL_ALWAYS_INLINE bool	IsInstanceOf () const
	Returns whether the type of this instance is of the given type or derived from it.

Protected Member Functions
void	UpdateActionMapping ()
Protected Member Functions inherited from plInputDevice
virtual void	ResetInputSlotValues ()
	Override this, if you need to reset certain input slot values to zero, after the plInputManager is finished with the current frame update.
virtual void	UpdateHardwareState (plTime tTimeDifference)
	This function is called once after plInputManager::Update with the same time delta value. It allows to update hardware state, such as the vibration of gamepad motors.

Protected Attributes
plVec2	m_vLowerLeft
plVec2	m_vUpperRight
float	m_fRadius
plInputActionConfig	m_ActionConfig
plStringView	m_sOutputLeft
plStringView	m_sOutputRight
plStringView	m_sOutputUp
plStringView	m_sOutputDown
bool	m_bEnabled
bool	m_bConfigChanged
bool	m_bIsActive
plString	m_sName
plVec2	m_vCenter
CenterMode::Enum	m_CenterMode
Protected Attributes inherited from plInputDevice
plMap< plString, float >	m_InputSlotValues
	Stores all the values for all input slots that this device handles.
plUInt32	m_uiLastCharacter
	If this input device type handles character input, it should write the last typed character into this variable. The plInputManager calls RetrieveLastCharacter() to query what the user typed last.
Protected Attributes inherited from plEnumerable< plInputDevice, plReflectedClass >
plEnumerable *	m_pNextInstance

Static Protected Attributes
static plInt32	s_iThumbsticks = 0

Private Member Functions
virtual void	InitializeDevice () override
	Override this if you need to do device specific initialization before the first use.
virtual void	UpdateInputSlotValues () override
	Override this, if you need to query the state of the hardware to update the input slots.
virtual void	RegisterInputSlots () override
	Override this to register all the input slots that this device exposes.

Additional Inherited Members
Static Public Member Functions inherited from plNoBase
static const plRTTI *	GetStaticRTTI ()
Static Protected Member Functions inherited from plInputDevice
static void	RegisterInputSlot (plStringView sName, plStringView sDefaultDisplayName, plBitflags< plInputSlotFlags > SlotFlags)
	Calls RegisterInputSlot() on the plInputManager and passes the parameters through.

Detailed Description

A Virtual Thumb-stick is an input device that transforms certain types of input (mouse / touch) into input similar to a thumb-stick on a controller.

A virtual thumb-stick can be used to provide an 'input device' on a touch screen, that acts like a controller thumb-stick and thus allows easier control over a game. The virtual thumb-stick takes input inside a certain screen area. It tracks the users finger movements inside this area and translates those into input from a controller thumb-stick, which it then feeds back into the input system. That makes it then possible to be mapped to input actions again. This way a game controller type of input is emulated.

Member Function Documentation

InitializeDevice()

virtual void plVirtualThumbStick::InitializeDevice ( )

inlineoverrideprivatevirtual

Override this if you need to do device specific initialization before the first use.

Implements plInputDevice.

RegisterInputSlots()

void plVirtualThumbStick::RegisterInputSlots ( )

overrideprivatevirtual

Override this to register all the input slots that this device exposes.

This is called once during initialization. It needs to call RegisterInputSlot() once for every input slot that this device exposes to the system.

Implements plInputDevice.

SetInputArea()

void plVirtualThumbStick::SetInputArea	(	const plVec2 &	vLowerLeft,
		const plVec2 &	vUpperRight,
		float	fThumbstickRadius,
		float	fPriority,
		CenterMode::Enum	center = CenterMode::ActivationPoint )

Defines the area on screen where the thumb-stick is located and accepts input.

Parameters

vLowerLeft	The lower left corner of the input area. Coordinates are in [0; 1] range.
vUpperRight	The upper right corner of the input area. Coordinates are in [0; 1] range.
fPriority	The priority of the input area. Defines which thumb-stick or other input action gets priority, if they overlap.
center

See also

CenterMode.

SetThumbstickOutput()

void plVirtualThumbStick::SetThumbstickOutput	(	Output::Enum	output,
		plStringView	sOutputLeft = {},
		plStringView	sOutputRight = {},
		plStringView	sOutputUp = {},
		plStringView	sOutputDown = {} )

Specifies which output the thumb-stick generates.

If Output is 'Custom' the remaining parameters define which input slots the thumb-stick triggers for which direction. Otherwise the remaining parameters are ignored.

SetTriggerInputSlot()

void plVirtualThumbStick::SetTriggerInputSlot	(	Input::Enum	input,
		const plInputActionConfig *	pCustomConfig = nullptr )

Specifies from which input slots the thumb-stick is activated.

If Input is 'Custom' the remaining parameters define the filter axes and up to three input slots that trigger the thumb-stick. Otherwise the remaining parameters are ignored.

UpdateInputSlotValues()

void plVirtualThumbStick::UpdateInputSlotValues ( )

overrideprivatevirtual

Override this, if you need to query the state of the hardware to update the input slots.

Note

This function might be called multiple times before ResetInputSlotValues() is called. This will be the case when plInputManager::PollHardware is used to make more frequent hardware updates than input is actually processed. Just make sure to always accumulate delta values (such as mouse move values) and don't expect ResetInputSlotValues() to be called in tandem with this function and it will be fine.

Implements plInputDevice.

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The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:

• Code/Engine/Core/Input/VirtualThumbStick.h
• Code/Engine/Core/Input/Implementation/VirtualThumbStick.cpp