Velentr.Input

A simple and easy-to-use input library for XNA/Monogame/FNA.

Installation

There are nuget packages available for Monogame and FNA.

• Monogame: Velentr.Input.Monogame
• FNA: Velentr.Input.FNA

Plugins

Additional plugin libraries are available:

• System.Speech Voice Recognition Support:
  • Monogame: Velentr.Input.Monogame.SystemSpeech
  • FNA: Velentr.Input.FNA.SystemSpeech

Basic Usage

Approach 1: Create an input condition and poll for if the condition is met directly.

// This goes in the class
InputCondition condition;
InputManager manager = new InputManager(this);

// This part goes in Setup()
manager.Setup();
condition = new AnyCondition(
    manager,
    new KeyboardButtonPressedCondition(manager, Key.Escape),
    new GamePadButtonPressedCondition(manager, GamePadButton.Back),
    new MouseButtonPressedCondition(manager, MouseButton.MiddleButton)
);

// This part goes in Update()
manager.Update(gameTime);
if (condition.ConditionMet()) {
    // Take action!
}

Approach 2: Event-driven

// This goes in the class
InputManager manager = new InputManager(this);

// This part goes in Setup()
manager.Setup();
var condition = new AnyCondition(
    manager,
    new KeyboardButtonPressedCondition(manager, Key.Escape),
    new GamePadButtonPressedCondition(manager, GamePadButton.Back),
    new MouseButtonPressedCondition(manager, MouseButton.MiddleButton)
);
condition.Event += ExitGame;
manager.AddInputConditionToTracking(condition);

// This part goes in Update()
manager.Update(gameTime);

Plugging into the System

Velentr.Input is flexible and allows you to modify specific behaviors, add support for new platforms, or new input methods entirely easily!

Need a new type of input not already covered by what is built in?

Create a new input system (your new class should inherit from InputService), then call manager.AddInputService(serviceName, newServiceClassInstance) to enable it.

Want to change the behavior of how an existing system works internally?

Want to change how things are handled from a service standpoint (how we mark consumed inputs, etc.)?

Built-in Input System	Abstract Implementation	Default Implementation	Manager Method to call to assign
GamePad	GamePadService	DefaultGamePadService	manager.SetGamePadService(newGamePadServiceObject)
Keyboard	KeyboardService	KeyboardDefaultService	manager.SetKeyboardService(newKeyboardServiceObject)
Mouse	MouseService	MouseDefaultService	manager.SetMouseService(newMouseServiceObject)
Touch	TouchService	DefaultTouchService	manager.SetTouchService(newTouchServiceObject)
Voice	VoiceService	DefaultVoiceService	manager.SetService(newVoiceServiceObject)

Want to change how we read in inputs?

Create a new class that inherits from the InputEngine of the input type that you want to update.

Built-in Input System	Abstract Implementation	Default Implementation
GamePad	GamePadEngine	XnaGamePadEngine
Keyboard	KeyboardEngine	XnaKeyboardEngine
Mouse	MouseEngine	XnaMouseEngine
Touch	TouchEngine	XnaTouchEngine
Voice	VoiceEngine	N/A (see Plugins for the default implementation)

Want to add a new condition?

Create a new condition by inheriting from the InputCondition class (or an existing class that implements InputCondition), then use your new condition as you would any other.

Voice Recognition Notes:

Full support for voice commands is not built-in, although the basic systems to use it are built out. To use voice commands, you must download a Voice Input library compatible with your platform (see Plugins for currently supported speech recognition systems).

We went with this approach because voice support is more of a specialized requirement than the other default supported input methods.

Basic example of setting up/using voice commands (after the plugin has been installed):

// This goes in the class
InputManager manager = new InputManager(this);

// This part goes in Setup()
manager.Setup();
manager.SetVoiceService(new DefaultVoiceService(manager), typeof(SystemSpeechEngine), true);
var condition = new AnyCondition(
    manager,
    new KeyboardButtonPressedCondition(manager, Key.Escape),
    new GamePadButtonPressedCondition(manager, GamePadButton.Back),
    new MouseButtonPressedCondition(manager, MouseButton.MiddleButton),
    new VoiceCommandCondition(manager, "My Phrase or Word Here")
);
condition.Event += ExitGame;
manager.AddInputConditionToTracking(condition);

// This part goes in Update()
manager.Update(gameTime);

Example

Code:

using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;
using Velentr.Input.Conditions;
using Velentr.Input.EventArguments;
using Velentr.Input.GamePad;
using Velentr.Input.Keyboard;
using Velentr.Input.Mouse;

namespace Velentr.Input.Monogame.DevEnv
{
    public class Game1 : Game
    {
        private GraphicsDeviceManager _graphics;
        private SpriteBatch _spriteBatch;

        private InputManager manager;

        public Game1()
        {
            _graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this);
            Content.RootDirectory = "Content";
            IsMouseVisible = true;
        }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            base.Initialize();
        }

        protected override void LoadContent()
        {
            _spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);

            manager = new InputManager(this);
            manager.Setup();
            var condition = new AnyCondition(
                manager,
                new KeyboardButtonPressedCondition(manager, Key.Escape),
                new GamePadButtonPressedCondition(manager, GamePadButton.Back),
                new MouseButtonPressedCondition(manager, MouseButton.MiddleButton)
            );
            condition.Event += ExitGame;
            manager.AddInputConditionToTracking(condition);
        }

        protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
        {
            manager.Update(gameTime);
            base.Update(gameTime);
        }

        public void ExitGame(object sender, ConditionEventArguments args)
        {
            Exit();
        }

        protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
        {
            GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);

            // TODO: Add your drawing code here

            base.Draw(gameTime);
        }
    }
}

Future Plans

See list of issues under the Milestones: https://github.com/vonderborch/Velentr.Input/milestones