The Zandalar project
The Zandalar Project is a codename for the new Input archtecture and GUI navigation features.
Input Aggregator & events
Use Cases
The use cases are described by steps. For each step there might be some actions done at different levels:
- Raw input = the data that comes directly from the input system the application is using (OIS, glfw, etc.).
- Input Injection = the `InjectedInputReceiver`-ish function called with the right parameters
- For backwards compatibility-ish, we can persist the same interface(InjectedInputReceiver), but provide in it a default implementation that generates the input events for the current interface's functions.
- InputEvent = the `InputEvent` type generated from the injected input. This is the final step, and this is fed to the CEGUI library.
Clicking a button using a mouse
Step description | Raw input | Input Injection | InputEvent fed to CEGUI |
---|---|---|---|
Move the mouse over the button | Mouse movement | injectMouseMove/injectMousePosition | MovementInputEvent |
Press the LMB | Mouse button press | injectMouseButtonDown(LMB) | PressedButtonInputEvent(Mouse_LMB) |
Release the LMB | Mouse button release | injectMouseButtonUp(LMB) | ReleasedButtonInputEvent(Mouse_LMB) |
The button is clicked (Click event is triggered) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Clicking/activating a button using the keyboard (new feature)
Step description | Raw input | Input Injection | InputEvent fed to CEGUI |
---|---|---|---|
Focus the button | Uses the use case "Focus a button using the keyboard/gamepad" | ||
Press the ENTER key (1) | Key Button press | injectKeyDown(Enter) | PressedButtonInputEvent(Keyb_Enter) |
Release the ENTER key | Key Button release | injectKeyUp(Enter) | ReleasedButtonInputEvent(Keyb_Enter) |
The button is clicked (Click event is triggered) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
(1) the key will be defined as per the NavigationStrategy (GUINavigation project part). If there is no such key defined, the event will be ignored.
Clicking/activating a button using a gamepad
The same as previous Clicking/activating a button using the keyboard, but with the difference that it uses a Gamepad button instead of a Keyboard one.
Type text into a textbox
Step description | Raw input | Input Injection | InputEvent fed to CEGUI |
---|---|---|---|
Focus the textbox | Uses the use case "Focus a textbox using the keyboard/gamepad" | ||
Press a character key | Char press | injectChar(chr) | TextInputEvent(chr) |
Press a non-character key | Key Button press | injectKeyDown(key) | PressedButtonInputEvent(Keyb_key) |
Release a non-character key | Key Button release | injectKeyUp(key) | ReleasedButtonInputEvent(Keyb_key |
Focus a button using the keyboard/gamepad
TODO - This should go into the GUI Navigation part.
Proposed design
Events
For start, the following events will cover all existing functions in the 'InjectedInputReceiver' interface:
MovementInputEvent
- Data:
- Position : Vector2
- Delta : Vector2
- Functions:
- injectMouseMove
- injectMousePosition
PressedButtonInputEvent
- Data:
- Button : Buttons Enum/integer or long for maximum flexibility
- Functions:
- injectMouseButtonDown
- injectKeyDown
ReleasedButtonInputEvent
- Data:
- Button : Buttons Enum/integer or long for maximum flexibility
- Functions:
- injectMouseButtonUp
- injectKeyUp
ActivatedInputEvent
- Data:
- Count (1+) : int
- Functions:
- injectMouseButtonClick
- injectMouseButtonDoubleClick
- injectMouseButtonTripleClick
TextInputEvent
- Data:
- Text : string/char
- Functions:
- injectChar
Unmapped (yet) functions:
- injectMouseLeaves
- injectMouseWheelChange
Original proposition
Some examples of input events are:
- MovementInputEvent
- Generated from mouse x/y
- Generated from joystick/thumbstick x/y
- PressedInputEvent
- Generated from mouse button
- Generated from keyboard button
- Generated from a gamepad button
One can see that this solution leads us to allow a variety of input to be mapped to certain input events. Of course, each different input event will have some specific payload (the button pressed, the x/y coordinates of the movement, etc.).
At the end of the day, the samples that exist now should work (from the functionality point of view) the same way after the input system is replaced.