HidApi

This is a high level, cross platform wrapper of the hidapi library https://github.com/libusb/hidapi for Julia. It comes with batteries included and can be used to communicate with HID devices on Linux, Mac and Windows.

Changelog

1.2.0
- Added doc strings for low level api
- Updated to use hidapi library version 0.13.1
1.x
- Initial release

Under the hood

The compiled hidapi library is provided by Julias binary build provisioning system in the project hidapi_jll. The low-level C-interface to hidapi.h has been created by wrapping the library using Clang.jl. Finally a couple of functions have been added, forming the high-level API.

Prerequisits

None. Although on Linux you might need to create a udev rule if the device can't be enumerated.

Installation

Pkg.add("HidApi.jl")
using HidApi

Usage (high level API)

A high level API allows to enumerate or find devices and offers a simple way to read and write hid messages. Devices have to be opened before reading or writing.

# initalize
init()

# enumerate
dump.(enumerate_devices())

# open and read data
dev = open(find_device(0x04ec, 0x2605)) # or `find_devices()` for multiple devices...
data = read(dev)

# do something with data
...

# close
close(dev)

# exit
shutdown()

Usage (low level API)

All low level hidapi.h functions are available but not exported. They typically are prefixed with hid_xxx.

# initialize
val = HidApi.hid_init()
if val < 0
    error("init failed")
end

# enumerate
devs = HidApi.hid_enumerate(0x0, 0x0)
cur_dev = devs
while cur_dev != C_NULL
    hid_device_info = unsafe_load(cur_dev)
    dump(hid_device_info)
    global cur_dev = hid_device_info.next
end

# free up devices list
HidApi.hid_free_enumeration(devs)

# open the device
handle = HidApi.hid_open(0x04ec, 0x2605, C_NULL)
if handle == C_NULL 
    error("open failed")
end

# create a vector, pass it to hid_read
data = Vector{Cuchar}(undef, 64)
val = HidApi.hid_read_timeout(handle, data, 64, 2000)
if val == -1 
    error("error while reading")
end

# do something with data
...

# close the device
HidApi.hid_close(handle)

# exit at the end
HidApi.hid_exit()

Mixing low-level and high-level

In case you need to do something thats not possible with the high level interface you can mix in the low-level calls by using the handle from a HidDevice.

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