1 Programming input drivers
2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4 1. Creating an input device driver
5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7 1.0 The simplest example
8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10 Here comes a very simple example of an input device driver. The device has
11 just one button and the button is accessible at i/o port BUTTON_PORT. When
12 pressed or released a BUTTON_IRQ happens. The driver could look like:
14 #include <linux/input.h>
15 #include <linux/module.h>
16 #include <linux/init.h>
21 static struct input_dev *button_dev;
23 static void button_interrupt(int irq, void *dummy, struct pt_regs *fp)
25 input_report_key(button_dev, BTN_1, inb(BUTTON_PORT) & 1);
26 input_sync(button_dev);
29 static int __init button_init(void)
33 if (request_irq(BUTTON_IRQ, button_interrupt, 0, "button", NULL)) {
34 printk(KERN_ERR "button.c: Can't allocate irq %d\n", button_irq);
38 button_dev = input_allocate_device();
40 printk(KERN_ERR "button.c: Not enough memory\n");
45 button_dev->evbit[0] = BIT(EV_KEY);
46 button_dev->keybit[LONG(BTN_0)] = BIT(BTN_0);
48 error = input_register_device(button_dev);
50 printk(KERN_ERR "button.c: Failed to register device\n");
57 input_free_device(button_dev);
59 free_irq(BUTTON_IRQ, button_interrupt);
63 static void __exit button_exit(void)
65 input_unregister_device(button_dev);
66 free_irq(BUTTON_IRQ, button_interrupt);
69 module_init(button_init);
70 module_exit(button_exit);
72 1.1 What the example does
73 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
75 First it has to include the <linux/input.h> file, which interfaces to the
76 input subsystem. This provides all the definitions needed.
78 In the _init function, which is called either upon module load or when
79 booting the kernel, it grabs the required resources (it should also check
80 for the presence of the device).
82 Then it allocates a new input device structure with input_aloocate_device()
83 and sets up input bitfields. This way the device driver tells the other
84 parts of the input systems what it is - what events can be generated or
85 accepted by this input device. Our example device can only generate EV_KEY
86 type events, and from those only BTN_0 event code. Thus we only set these
87 two bits. We could have used
89 set_bit(EV_KEY, button_dev.evbit);
90 set_bit(BTN_0, button_dev.keybit);
92 as well, but with more than single bits the first approach tends to be
95 Then the example driver registers the input device structure by calling
97 input_register_device(&button_dev);
99 This adds the button_dev structure to linked lists of the input driver and
100 calls device handler modules _connect functions to tell them a new input
101 device has appeared. input_register_device() may sleep and therefore must
102 not be called from an interrupt or with a spinlock held.
104 While in use, the only used function of the driver is
108 which upon every interrupt from the button checks its state and reports it
113 call to the input system. There is no need to check whether the interrupt
114 routine isn't reporting two same value events (press, press for example) to
115 the input system, because the input_report_* functions check that
122 call to tell those who receive the events that we've sent a complete report.
123 This doesn't seem important in the one button case, but is quite important
124 for for example mouse movement, where you don't want the X and Y values
125 to be interpreted separately, because that'd result in a different movement.
127 1.2 dev->open() and dev->close()
128 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
130 In case the driver has to repeatedly poll the device, because it doesn't
131 have an interrupt coming from it and the polling is too expensive to be done
132 all the time, or if the device uses a valuable resource (eg. interrupt), it
133 can use the open and close callback to know when it can stop polling or
134 release the interrupt and when it must resume polling or grab the interrupt
135 again. To do that, we would add this to our example driver:
137 static int button_open(struct input_dev *dev)
139 if (request_irq(BUTTON_IRQ, button_interrupt, 0, "button", NULL)) {
140 printk(KERN_ERR "button.c: Can't allocate irq %d\n", button_irq);
147 static void button_close(struct input_dev *dev)
149 free_irq(IRQ_AMIGA_VERTB, button_interrupt);
152 static int __init button_init(void)
155 button_dev->open = button_open;
156 button_dev->close = button_close;
160 Note that input core keeps track of number of users for the device and
161 makes sure that dev->open() is called only when the first user connects
162 to the device and that dev->close() is called when the very last user
163 disconnects. Calls to both callbacks are serialized.
165 The open() callback should return a 0 in case of success or any nonzero value
166 in case of failure. The close() callback (which is void) must always succeed.
168 1.3 Basic event types
169 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
171 The most simple event type is EV_KEY, which is used for keys and buttons.
172 It's reported to the input system via:
174 input_report_key(struct input_dev *dev, int code, int value)
176 See linux/input.h for the allowable values of code (from 0 to KEY_MAX).
177 Value is interpreted as a truth value, ie any nonzero value means key
178 pressed, zero value means key released. The input code generates events only
179 in case the value is different from before.
181 In addition to EV_KEY, there are two more basic event types: EV_REL and
182 EV_ABS. They are used for relative and absolute values supplied by the
183 device. A relative value may be for example a mouse movement in the X axis.
184 The mouse reports it as a relative difference from the last position,
185 because it doesn't have any absolute coordinate system to work in. Absolute
186 events are namely for joysticks and digitizers - devices that do work in an
187 absolute coordinate systems.
189 Having the device report EV_REL buttons is as simple as with EV_KEY, simply
190 set the corresponding bits and call the
192 input_report_rel(struct input_dev *dev, int code, int value)
194 function. Events are generated only for nonzero value.
196 However EV_ABS requires a little special care. Before calling
197 input_register_device, you have to fill additional fields in the input_dev
198 struct for each absolute axis your device has. If our button device had also
201 button_dev.absmin[ABS_X] = 0;
202 button_dev.absmax[ABS_X] = 255;
203 button_dev.absfuzz[ABS_X] = 4;
204 button_dev.absflat[ABS_X] = 8;
206 Or, you can just say:
208 input_set_abs_params(button_dev, ABS_X, 0, 255, 4, 8);
210 This setting would be appropriate for a joystick X axis, with the minimum of
211 0, maximum of 255 (which the joystick *must* be able to reach, no problem if
212 it sometimes reports more, but it must be able to always reach the min and
213 max values), with noise in the data up to +- 4, and with a center flat
216 If you don't need absfuzz and absflat, you can set them to zero, which mean
217 that the thing is precise and always returns to exactly the center position
220 1.4 NBITS(), LONG(), BIT()
221 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
223 These three macros from input.h help some bitfield computations:
225 NBITS(x) - returns the length of a bitfield array in longs for x bits
226 LONG(x) - returns the index in the array in longs for bit x
227 BIT(x) - returns the index in a long for bit x
229 1.5 The id* and name fields
230 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
232 The dev->name should be set before registering the input device by the input
233 device driver. It's a string like 'Generic button device' containing a
234 user friendly name of the device.
236 The id* fields contain the bus ID (PCI, USB, ...), vendor ID and device ID
237 of the device. The bus IDs are defined in input.h. The vendor and device ids
238 are defined in pci_ids.h, usb_ids.h and similar include files. These fields
239 should be set by the input device driver before registering it.
241 The idtype field can be used for specific information for the input device
244 The id and name fields can be passed to userland via the evdev interface.
246 1.6 The keycode, keycodemax, keycodesize fields
247 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
249 These three fields should be used by input devices that have dense keymaps.
250 The keycode is an array used to map from scancodes to input system keycodes.
251 The keycode max should contain the size of the array and keycodesize the
252 size of each entry in it (in bytes).
254 Userspace can query and alter current scancode to keycode mappings using
255 EVIOCGKEYCODE and EVIOCSKEYCODE ioctls on corresponding evdev interface.
256 When a device has all 3 aforementioned fields filled in, the driver may
257 rely on kernel's default implementation of setting and querying keycode
260 1.7 dev->getkeycode() and dev->setkeycode()
261 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
262 getkeycode() and setkeycode() callbacks allow drivers to override default
263 keycode/keycodesize/keycodemax mapping mechanism provided by input core
264 and implement sparse keycode maps.
269 ... is simple. It is handled by the input.c module. Hardware autorepeat is
270 not used, because it's not present in many devices and even where it is
271 present, it is broken sometimes (at keyboards: Toshiba notebooks). To enable
272 autorepeat for your device, just set EV_REP in dev->evbit. All will be
273 handled by the input system.
275 1.9 Other event types, handling output events
276 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
278 The other event types up to now are:
280 EV_LED - used for the keyboard LEDs.
281 EV_SND - used for keyboard beeps.
283 They are very similar to for example key events, but they go in the other
284 direction - from the system to the input device driver. If your input device
285 driver can handle these events, it has to set the respective bits in evbit,
286 *and* also the callback routine:
288 button_dev->event = button_event;
290 int button_event(struct input_dev *dev, unsigned int type, unsigned int code, int value);
292 if (type == EV_SND && code == SND_BELL) {
293 outb(value, BUTTON_BELL);
299 This callback routine can be called from an interrupt or a BH (although that
300 isn't a rule), and thus must not sleep, and must not take too long to finish.