The information in this topic pertains only to applications written in C++. See DirectInput Visual Basic Tutorials.

This tutorial shows you how to enumerate joysticks on a system and set up two or more joysticks for input. Code samples are based on the Space Donuts sample. The method calls are in the C form.

The preliminary step of setting up the DirectInput system and the final step of closing it down are the same for any application and are covered in Tutorial 1: Using the Keyboard.

The first step in the tutorial is to enumerate devices; that is, to see what joysticks are available. As part of this process you initialize each joystick device and set its desired characteristics. You then use the IDirectInputDevice7 interface methods to retrieve data from each joystick.

The tutorial breaks down the required tasks into the following steps:

• Step 1: Enumerate the Joysticks
• Step 2: Create the DirectInput Joystick Device
• Step 3: Set the Joystick Data Format
• Step 4: Set the Joystick Behavior
• Step 5: Gain Access to the Joystick
• Step 6: Retrieve Data from the Joystick