node-chatpad

This library provides a driver for reading XBOX 360 Chatpad serial data in NodeJS. It also maps th chatpad key codes to ASCII values where possible.

Installation

npm i chatpad

Example

const Chatpad = require('..');

(async() => {
    const pad = new Chatpad('/dev/ttyUSB0');
    await pad.open();

    pad.on('key', (keys) => {
        console.log('key', keys);
    });

    pad.on('modifier', (keys) => {
        console.log('modifier', keys);
    });

    pad.on('error', (err) => {
        console.log('error', err);
    });
})();

API

Chatpad(port: string)

Constructor, pass the serial port location into here. Should work with Windows serial ports too.

async Chatpad#open()

Used to open the serialport and initialise the regular message the library needs to send to the Chatpad.

async Chatpad#close()

Shuts down the timed tasks and closes the serial port.

on(event, callback)

Sets the event listener for the given event.

Events

key

Sent out whenever a key state changes, excluding modifier keys. Eg:

{
  raw: { key: 52, modifier: 0 },
  pressed: true,
  code: 'f',
  caps: false,
  modifier: undefined
}

The raw object contains the raw key-code and modifier values from the Chatpad. caps is tracked by the driver and automatically toggled when the 'Caps' button is pressed. For possible modifier and code values see map.js.

modifier

Send out whenever the state of a modifier key changes.

{
  raw: 4,
  pressed: true,
  modifier: 'orange'
}

Raw is the raw modifier byte value. For a list of possible modifier values see map.js.

error

Error message that's sent out if an invalid packet is received. For most cases this can be ignored because the Chatpad sends packets multiple times to ward against corruption.

Credits

This work is inspired by Cliffle's:

• http://cliffle.com/project/chatpad/protocol/
• http://cliffle.com/project/chatpad/pinout/