Is it even possible to input/output to a USB HID device from qb64?

[doppler]

I got a USB HID dongle I would love to talk and listen from within QB64.  I suspect heavy .DLL calls needed.
Generically if this works, it's the basis for talking to other HID's.  Key FOB's and such.

It would be real nice to use QB64 as the interface to the HID.
I can't talk about the device, it's a company's closed loop product.  The interfacing to it is classic HID.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

@doppler

I'm sure there are some WinAPI libraries you can dig into to interface with USB devices. They could be too advanced for me to implement in QB64. Or, there could be a nice C/C++ library on GitHub somewhere. I'll do some digging tomorrow evening.

[SMcNeill]

See if _DEVICES reads anything for you.

[doppler]

I'll see what I can do with _devices .  Just for reference I ran the wiki example and only saw the standard 2 devices.  Even If I plugged in an FTDI comm USB board.  The FTDI maybe a special class HID device, like usb converters for flash and HDD's.  So I might not see my company fob.
So I will play a bit.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

@doppler
Take a look at this. I'm going to try building the DLL from this tonight and see if we can use this in QB64. If so, this could be a solution to your problem.

https://github.com/signal11/hidapi

[doppler]

Reading the github blurb.  It looks interesting.  That could work.

Secure fobs are very simple.  Get a one time pass code.  Send to key with info, or "the key contains the info (less secure way)".  Key responds with an answer pass code.  Send back to system making the challenge.  The VPN or https connection continues.  You are you and they know it.  You can go to any system and be you.  The key fob is really the key!

The idea to using QB64, the key fob doesn't know sh*t from shine-Nola (sp?).  The key can be use by more that one system.

I really want to get pass the key fob thing.  I am thinking along the lines of very small capacity flash for data storage.  Since the flash drive is not being formatted for use by windows/or any other readable system.  If I lose the flash, unless they have my program.  The flash will only look like an un-formatted device.  Or create a disk and leave it blank.  But store what ever I want to it.  In a very obscure location.

Only two scenario's .  An blank flash  or UN-used flash.  Either one hides the true purpose.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

Example information you will need for interfacing with an HID device is shown below. The VID and PID are the vendor ID and product ID, respectively. Those are the two arguments that will go into that hid_open function. You would just use the information that corresponds to the device you are using. I'll be sure to test it tonight and let you know what my findings are.
I've also found the WinAPI pages for using HID but I'm not sure how simple they are to implement. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/hid/introduction-to-hid-concepts

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[SpriggsySpriggs]

@doppler

So far it is going well! I built the 32 and 64 bit DLL for the hidapi and I've got it to interact at least this far!

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[jack]

@SpriggsySpriggs
there's a more up to-date distribution which includes Windows DLL's  https://github.com/libusb/hidapi/releases

[SpriggsySpriggs]

there's a more up to-date distribution which includes Windows DLL's  https://github.com/libusb/hidapi/releases

@jack

Thanks. I'll look at that tonight.

[doppler]

My god, I just realized I opened a can of worms here.  Being selfish, I then realized the expand-ability of this interface.  With this  and a bit of magic you can! Use game console interfaces on QB64.  Wired or wireless (with BT drivers).  My PC has BT.  And a whole bunch of other stuff.  This could be a new code interface for QB64.  Run 3D maze, Doom, Asteroids and a whole slew of other classics.

To create a game, just declare your controller (put the joystick interface to shame).  And have at it.  If this becomes stable soon enough, it has to go into V1.5

BTW, this is not limited to just gaming.  A lot of industrial controls use some kind of controller interfaced to USB.  There is lot's of money to be had selling into industry.

@SpriggsySpriggs Read my BTW last statement.  Big incentive. (edit1)

[SpriggsySpriggs]

@doppler

I hadn't thought of it being used like that. Interesting! Let's collaborate more on this as it goes!

My PC uses a Bluetooth dongle to interact with Bluetooth devices and I was able to display information about my controller when it was plugged in and when it was wireless. The description changed to reflect being wireless or not. I was able to grab 64 bytes of data from the controller in a loop and display it but I had no way of determining what it all meant. It would be interesting to see where this API takes us.

I'll be checking this out sometime this week as well:
https://github.com/dekuNukem/Nintendo_Switch_Reverse_Engineering/issues/7
https://github.com/dekuNukem/Nintendo_Switch_Reverse_Engineering/blob/master/USB-HID-Notes.md

BTW, this is not limited to just gaming.  A lot of industrial controls use some kind of controller interfaced to USB.  There is lot's of money to be had selling into industry.

True, @doppler ! Making a program that interacts with a device on the HID packet level is quite literally making a custom device driver. You just have to decode the signals coming from the device and know what to send to the device. I wish I had a token USB thing like you have for those secure logins so I can do some testing with one of those.

[luke]

If anyone's willing to buy me a Switch I'll port anything you get working to the Linux version of QB64 :)

More seriously though I'd like to port this, so I'll be watching to see what you learn.

[SpriggsySpriggs]

If anyone's willing to buy me a Switch I'll port anything you get working to the Linux version of QB64 :)

More seriously though I'd like to port this, so I'll be watching to see what you learn.

@luke This library actually is cross platform as well! I've been looking at their stuff but unfortunately, since I use WSL2 and not a regular Linux setup, I don't have access to USB devices in the same manner. I wish they would hurry up and fix USB in WSL2 so I can mess with this on Ubuntu!!!

[FellippeHeitor]

@doppler
 I wish I had a token USB thing like you have for those secure logins so I can do some testing with one of those.

I happen to have one, but it's provided by my employer and I can't really mess with it. I wonder if anyone with one would be able to actually mess with theirs if they use it for actual security purposes.