I'm unsure about the best practice for obtaining and updating input received from a controller monitored using the GamePad class in UWP.
I've seen a couple of examples of people using Dispatch Timers and async loops inside the GamePadAdded event. In Win32 applications, I would have handled input in the WinMain update/message loop, but in UWP apps I don't know of anything similar.
Is there a loop in UWP apps that input should be collected/handled like in Win32 apps? What is the recommended protocol for polling for input from a input device (nominally a Xbox One controller)?
I'm happy to read more about UWP app development but I'm unsure of any guides that reference something like this.
Edit: It would be productive if, instead of downvoting and moving on, you shared thoughts on why this question deserved a downvote.
I've seen a couple of examples of people using Dispatch Timers and async loops inside the GamePadAdded event
This is the right way in UWP app to read Gamepad data. A little suggestion is, move the loop reading part on UI thread if you need to update UI frequently. See the solution in this blog
Is there a loop in UWP apps that input should be collected/handled like in Win32 apps
You may make a wrapper with custom event, see the open source implementation: XBoxGamepad
public class XBoxGamepad
{
private List<Gamepad> _controllers = new List<Gamepad>();
private bool _running = true;
Task backgroundWorkTask;
public event EventHandler<GamepadButtons> OnXBoxGamepadButtonPressA;
//omitted......
public XBoxGamepad()
{
Gamepad.GamepadAdded += Gamepad_GamepadAdded;
Gamepad.GamepadRemoved += Gamepad_GamepadRemoved;
backgroundWorkTask = Task.Run(() => PollGamepad());
}
//omitted......
private void Start()
{
_running = true;
}
public void Stop()
{
_running = false;
}
public async Task PollGamepad()
{
while (true)
{
if (_running)
{
foreach (Gamepad controller in _controllers)
{
if (controller.GetCurrentReading().Buttons == GamepadButtons.A)
{
OnXBoxGamepadButtonPressA(controller, controller.GetCurrentReading().Buttons);
}
//omitted......
}
}
await Task.Delay(50);
}
}
private void Gamepad_GamepadRemoved(object sender, Gamepad e)
{
_controllers.Remove(e);
}
private void Gamepad_GamepadAdded(object sender, Gamepad e)
{
_controllers.Add(e);
}
}