====== Compiling the hidapi USB library in an Orx project ======

If you are interested in interfacing custom USB devices (HID) to control games written by Orx (or any other C++ application), this article will show you the easiest way to compile hidapi along with your Windows-based Orx project.

This is not a very wide use case for many projects, but one example of this is the [[https://alienabductionunit.com/pinball | Virtual Pinball tables at the Alien Abduction Unit]]. These use a PIC microcontroller-based USB device as the controller for the pinball launch and paddles.

The hidapi library can be compiled many ways, but getting it set up can be a minefield using their [[https://github.com/libusb/hidapi/blob/master/BUILD.md | github set up page]].

This following method is the easiest, and this article will be covering version 0.12.0.

==== The easiest method =====

  - [[en:tutorials:projects:creating_your_own_project|Create a new blank orx project]].
  - Clone the [[https://github.com/libusb/hidapi | hidapi project]] somewhere on your computer.
  - Copy the ''hidapi/windows/hid.c'' file to your project ''/src'' folder.
  - In your IDE, edit the project's list of include folders and add some direct paths like the following:

  * ''C:\Work\Dev\hidapi\hidapi-0.12.0\hidapi''
  * ''C:\Work\Dev\hidapi\hidapi-0.12.0\windows''
  
Of course, the paths above can be relative rather than absolute if you plan to keep hidapi relative to your orx project.

Ensure ''hidapi.h'' is included in the ''main.cpp'' file:

	#include "orx.h"
	#include "hidapi.h"

There are no special linker libraries or paths required. That should be enough to compile and run.

Code for testing a USB device within the Orx application is beyond the scope of this article but you can learn how to use it looking at [[https://github.com/libusb/hidapi/tree/master/testgui | their test application]], and you can also get usage tips in the [[https://gitlab.com/sausagejohnson/rlb | Reload Bar Pinball source code]].