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A Java event wrapper around Linux evdev devices.

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			[evdev-java]
			http://github.com/progman32/evdev-java

WHAT IS IT

This is a java API for the Linux evdev system. Evdev (event device) is used
by the kernel to provide "input events" from input com.dgis.input.evdev.devices to userspace. Input
com.dgis.input.evdev.devices include anything from keyboard and mice to joysticks to hardware buttons
(power, hibernate, laptop buttons), even soundcards (some recent ones generate
events upon a jack being plugged).

RATIONALE

One of my free-time projects is creating a full-featured Car PC system. Among
other things, the system needed a solid method of getting input from many
com.dgis.input.evdev.devices. Some were obvious (keyboard, touch-screen), while others not so much
(custom panel buttons, sensors, etc). Since most com.dgis.input.evdev.devices already had an evdev
interface in the kernel, it was obvious that my system better take advantage
of this fact. I could not find any Java interface to evdev, I decided to write
my own, and here is a result.

GENERAL LAYOUT

The system is simple in operation. At the core lies EventDevice, which
binds to a specified evdev device (/dev/input/event*) and provides events
to any InputListener registered with it. The java NIO framework is used for
efficiency. Unfortunately, Java is unable to execute some IOCTL commands 
necessary to use the kernel's evdev incerface, so a small native library was
written to take care of those.

DRIVERS/FILTERS

Raw InputEvents are fine for accomplishing more advanced features or for
supporting a wide range of com.dgis.input.evdev.devices, but oftentimes a simpler interface is
desired (along with a reduced risk of error, yay for compiler error messages!).
Thus, evdev-java provides a driver/filter system. These implementations sit on
top of EventDevice and forward (and generate) device-specific events. At the
moment, only one filter exists: EvdevJoystickFilter. Along with the usual
functions provided by EventDevice, EvdevJoystickFilter services
JoystickListener implementations, which simply take button state changed and
axis moved events.

INSTALLATION

Simply import the java files into your own project - evdev-java is so small a
full-fledged JAR is overkill. The only particular step to take is to build the
native library - simply execute compile.sh under native/. This requires a
working GCC and a correct linux kernel header install (but that's about it).
Make sure to place the libevdev-java.so in a place where the JVM can find it.
Ideally, set java.library.path to wherever the .so is, something like this:
java -Djava.library.path=<path to directory holding .so> <yourprogram>.

MORE DOCUMENTATION

For the moment, documentation is maintained at the GitHub wiki. Examples can/will
be found there, as well as under src-test. The API is also documented in JavaDoc.
 
LICENSE
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

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A Java event wrapper around Linux evdev devices.

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