mako-taco / boomstick

Cross-browser multiplatform JavaScript joystick Input.

Boomstick [Alpha] enables HTML5 and JavaScript games to access native joysticks.

By using FireBreath to handle cross-browser, multi-platform plugin generation and OIS to handle multi-platform joystick input, Boomstick gives JavaScript applications total access to joysticks and gamepads.

Works on all platforms.

Windows Windows Installer

OS X, Linux Chrome Extension TODO: Firefox Extension

Sample HTML

<object id="plugin" type="application/x-boomstickjavascriptjoysticksupport" width="0" height="0"></object>

<script>
  var joysticks = JSON.parse(plugin.joysticksJSON());
</script>

Calling .joysticksJSON() returns a JSON string containing the current state of all joysticks.

'[
  {"axes":[0,0,0,0,0],"buttons":0,"pov":0},
  {"axes":[0,0],"buttons":0,"pov":0},
  ...
]'

// Read thusly
joysticks = JSON.parse(plugin.joysticksJSON())

The axes property is an array of all the axes. Usually the order is x, y, of primary stick first, but different drivers and gamepads may report them differently.

joysticks[0].axes[0] // Returns x axis position in range [-32768, 32767]
joysticks[0].axes[1] // Returns y axis position in range [-32768, 32767]
joysticks[0].axes[2] // ... likewise for additional axes

The buttons are returned as a bitfield

BUTTON_0 = 1
BUTTON_1 = 2
BUTTON_2 = 4
BUTTON_3 = 8
...

// Check the buttons as follows
joysticks[0].buttons & BUTTON_0 // Button 0 is down
joysticks[0].buttons & BUTTON_2 // Button 2 is down

All joysticks currently return one POV property regardless of how many POV inputs the physical device actually has. Like the buttons is a bitfield.

   UP =    1
 DOWN =   16
RIGHT =  256
 LEFT = 4096