Print the current finger position on the touchpad

Shows how a device interaction can be implemented, that uses the touchpad of a VR controller. Further information on how a custom interaction can be implemented is shown in the “Implementation of a custom device interaction” example.

This device interaction creates two device actions, which are triggered when the touchpad is touched, or when the touch ends. When the touch starts, the moved signal of the controller is connected to a method that prints the position of the finger on the touchpad. The information about the position is part of the button state and can be queried from the device.

padPosition = device.getButtonState("Touchpad").getPosition()

The moved signal is disconnectd, when the touchpad is not touched anymore, which ends the printing of the position.

vr/printTouchpadPosition.py

# © 2024 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

class pad:
    def __init__(self):
        self.readPadPosition = False
        self.currentController = ""        

        # Create an intreraction
        self.padInteraction = vrDeviceService.createInteraction("PadInteraction")
        # Set an interaction group that is supported, as other groups already use the touchpad
        self.padInteraction.setSupportedInteractionGroups(["PadMode"])

        # Get the actions that will be used
        self.enableAction = self.padInteraction.createControllerAction("any-touchpad-touched")
        self.disableAction = self.padInteraction.createControllerAction("any-touchpad-untouched")        

        # Connect to the methods that will de-/activate the reading of the touchpad position
        # and the actual printing
        self.enableAction.signal().triggered.connect(self.enablePad)
        self.disableAction.signal().triggered.connect(self.disablePad)        

        # Set the interaction group active
        vrDeviceService.setActiveInteractionGroup("PadMode")

    def printPosition(self, device):                
        # Get the position of the finger on the touchpad and print it
        padPosition = device.getButtonState("Touchpad").getPosition()
        print(("Touchpad position: " + str(padPosition.x()) + " " + str(padPosition.y())))

    def enablePad(self, action, device):                
        # If position reading is already active, do not do anything
        if self.readPadPosition:
            return

        # Store which controller is currently used
        self.currentController = device.getName()
        # Activate the reading
        self.readPadPosition = True
        device.signal().moved.connect(self.printPosition)

    def disablePad(self, action, device):
        # If position reading is not active, do not do anything
        if not self.readPadPosition:
            return

        # Check if this is the controller that activated the position printing
        if self.currentController != device.getName():
            return
        
        # Deactivate the position reading and printing
        self.readPadPosition = False
        device.signal().moved.disconnect(self.printPosition)
    
thePad = pad()