MonoTouch.GameController

Supports external game controllers.

Remarks

The Game Controller namespace was added in iOS 7 and adds support for game controllers.

Game controllers come in two forms: "form-fitting" controllers that contain an iOS device and "extended wireless" controllers that wirelessly connect to an iOS device or a Mac.

Game controllers must be optional components: game developers must make their game playable by users who do not have game controllers.

Form-fitting controllers are automatically discovered by the system. Extended wireless controllers are discovered by the system subsequent to the application developer calling MonoTouch.GameController.GCController.StartWirelessControllerDiscovery and will cause the MonoTouch.GameController.GCController.Notifications.ObserveDidConnect notification handler to fire. When wireless controller disconnect, the MonoTouch.GameController.GCController.Notifications.ObserveDidDisconnect notification fires.

There are two supported profiles for Game Controllers: MonoTouch.GameController.GCGamepad and MonoTouch.GameController.CGExtendedGamepad. A MonoTouch.GameController.GCController will have a non-null value for either its MonoTouch.GameController.CGController.Gamepad or its MonoTouch.GameController.CGController.ExtendedGamepad property, the application developer must read those to determine the type.

MonoTouch.GameController.CGGamepads have two shoulder buttons, a D-pad (see MonoTouch.GameController. GCControllerDirectionPad), and 4 face buttons labeled Y-B-A-X.

MonoTouch.GameController.CGExtendedGamepads have the same elements, plus two trigger buttons and two joysticks (see MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerAxisInput). Apple conceptual schematics additionally show an LED array, but there is currently no programmatic access to this element.

There are three ways to read game controller data:

Technique Method(s) Use
Polling Properties such as MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerButtonInput.Pressed or MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerDirectionPad.XAxis Directly read from the game-loop (see MonoTouch.SpriteKit.SKScene.Update).
Event-driven Element's ValueChangedHandler property (such as MonoTouch.GameController.GControllerButtonInput.ValueChangedHandler) Game Controller processes updates on the main thread. The framework ensures that simultaneously-occurring events result in a series of single callbacks.
Coordinated Snapshot MonoTouch.GameController.CGGamepad.SaveSnapshot, MonoTouch.GameController.CGExtendedGamepad.SaveSnapshot Snapshots the controller state. Appropriate for marshalling, serialization, or delayed processing.

Technique	Method(s)	Use
Polling	Properties such as MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerButtonInput.Pressed or MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerDirectionPad.XAxis	Directly read from the game-loop (see MonoTouch.SpriteKit.SKScene.Update).
Event-driven	Element's `ValueChangedHandler` property (such as MonoTouch.GameController.GControllerButtonInput.ValueChangedHandler)	Game Controller processes updates on the main thread. The framework ensures that simultaneously-occurring events result in a series of single callbacks.
Coordinated Snapshot	MonoTouch.GameController.CGGamepad.SaveSnapshot, MonoTouch.GameController.CGExtendedGamepad.SaveSnapshot	Snapshots the controller state. Appropriate for marshalling, serialization, or delayed processing.

The major classes in the Game Controller namespace are shown in the following illustration:

Classes

Type	Reason
GCController	A game controller, either form-fitting or extended wireless.
GCController+Notifications	Notification posted by the MonoTouch.GameController.GCController class.
GCControllerAxisInput	A MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerElement representing a joystick.
GCControllerAxisValueChangedHandler	The delegate used as the value-changed handler for MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerAxisInput.ValueChangedHandler.
GCControllerButtonInput	A MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerElement representing a game-controller button.
GCControllerButtonValueChanged	Handler that can be passed to the MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerButtonInput.SetPressedChangedHandler method to respond to changes to button states.
GCControllerDirectionPad	A MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerElement representing a direction-pad.
GCControllerDirectionPadValueChangedHandler	The delegate used as the value-changed handler for MonoTouch.GameController.GCControllerDirectionPad.ValueChangedHandler.
GCControllerElement	The base class for input elements of a game controller.
GCExtendedGamepad	A gamepad with two shoulder buttons, two triggers, two thumbsticks, a D-Pad, and a directional button array.
GCExtendedGamepadSnapshot	A serializable snapshot of the game controller's state.
GCExtendedGamepadSnapShotDataV100	The state of a MonoTouch.GameController.GCExtendedGamepad. Produced by MonoTouch.GameController.GCExtendedGamepadSnapshot.TryGetSnapshotData.
GCExtendedGamepadValueChangedHandler	The delegate used as the value-changed handler for MonoTouch.GameController.GCExtendedGamepad.ValueChangedHandler.
GCGamepad	A gamepad with two shoulder buttons, a D-Pad, and a directional button array..
GCGamepadSnapshot	A serializable snapshot of the game controller's state.
GCGamepadSnapShotDataV100	The state of a MonoTouch.GameController.GCGamepad. Produced by MonoTouch.GameController.GCGamepadSnapshot.TryGetSnapshotData.
GCGamepadValueChangedHandler	The delegate used as the value-changed handler for MonoTouch.GameController.GCGamepad.ValueChangedHandler.
GCMotion	Holds position data of a game controller.