---
orphan: true
---

# Controller tester

one ControllerDevice per pad

```{raw} html
<a class="example-run-button" href="../demos/features_input_controller.html">▶ Run in browser</a>


```

**Tags:** `input` `controller` `touch` `polling`

Every controller input a pad reports, drawn live: both sticks as a crosshair in a
circle (`pad.stick`), the analogue triggers as fill bars (`pad.axis`), and all
fifteen buttons as labelled dots that light while held (`pad.pressed`). The
pads themselves come from `Input.controllers`, so plugging one in and unplugging
it again are both visible while the demo runs.

A `TouchController` is drawn along the bottom, and it is a pad like any other: it
appears in `Input.controllers` under `ControllerSource.VIRTUAL`, so the readout above
has something to show with no controller in the room. It leaves the screen the
moment a real one is used, and the readout follows whichever pad is there.

## What it demonstrates
- `Input.controllers`: the pads readable this frame, keyed by id. It empties the
  moment a pad is unplugged.
- One `Controller` per pad, so a two-player game reads each pad separately:
  `pad.stick(Controller.LEFT_STICK)`, `pad.axis(Controller.LEFT_TRIGGER)`, `pad.pressed(Controller.A)`.
- What a pad says about itself: `name`, `source` and `family`.
- `TouchController` as a source of exactly that: an on-screen pad reads back
  through the same `Controller` object a controller does.
- The engine's axis convention, identical on every backend: sticks -1..1
  centred at 0, triggers 0..1 resting at 0.
- The radial deadzone `stick()` applies (a small circle marks it).

Controls:
  ControllerDevice     - everything on it, mirrored on screen
  Drawn pad   - the same, from two thumbs
  ESC         - Quit

Run: simvx examples run features_input_controller
Headless self-check: simvx examples run features_input_controller --test

## Source

```{literalinclude} ../../examples/features/input/controller.py
:language: python
:linenos:
```