buzz-buzzers - Use the wired or wireless "Playstation Buzz" Buzzers with node.js

Installation

npm install buzz-buzzers

Usage

Before you use this library you need to connect your buzz buzzers:

• for the wired buzzers simply plug them in
• for the wireless Playsation Buzz Buzzers, first plug in the USB dongle of your buzzers. Connect/pair your controllers (see below for hints on that).

Then you can use this library like this:

Examples

var buzzBuzzers = require('buzzBuzzers');
var buzzers = buzzBuzzers(); // initialize buzzers

// Get notified when a button is pressed
buzzers.onPress(function(ev) {
	// ev is an object with two attributes:
	// - controller: Number from 1 to 4
	// - button: Number from 0 to 4. 0 is the big red button.
	console.log('Button ' + ev.button + ' on controller ' + ev.controller + ' pressed');
});

// Get notified when a button is released
buzzers.onRelease(function(ev) {
	console.log('Button ' + ev.button + ' on controller ' + ev.controller + ' released');
});

// Get notified whenever something changes
buzzers.onChange(function(state) {
	// state is an array of booleans with all buttons
	// false means the button is not pressed
	// and true when a button is pressed
	/* An example could look like this, in this case the second color button
	of controller 2 was pressed and the big red button on controller four is pressed
	[
        false, false, false, false, false, // first controller
        false, false, true, false, false, // second controller
        false, false, false, false, false, // third controller
        true, false, false, false, false // fourth controller
    ]
	*/
});

// Get notified when an error happens
buzzers.onError(function(err) {
	console.log('Error: ', err);
});

// Remove event listeners
// To remove a listener just call removeEventListener
// possible first parameter values are: press, release, change, error
buzzers.removeEventListener('press', callback);


// Make a buzzer light up
// this only works on the buzzers with an LED
buzzers.setLeds(true, false, false, false); // light up controller number 1
buzzers.setLeds(true, true, false, true); // light up all controllers except for number 3

API

First you have to initialize the buzzers: var buzzers = require('buzz-buzzers')();

buzzers now has the following API:

onPress(callback)

Register a callback that is called whenever a button is pressed. It will be called with an event object in this format:

{
	controller: 1, // which controller/buzzer was used. Number form 1-4
	button: 0 // Which button was pressed. Number from 0 to 4. 0 is the big red button
}

onRelease(callback)

Register a callback that is called whenever a button is released. It will be called with an event object in this format:

{
	controller: 1, // which controller/buzzer was used. Number form 1-4
	button: 0 // Which button was pressed. Number from 0 to 4. 0 is the big red button
}

onChange(callback)

Register a callback that is called whenever any button changes it's state. Callback will be called with an array in the format

[
    false, false, false, false, false, // buttons 0-4 of the first controller. true means pressed
    false, false, true, false, false, // second controller
    false, false, false, false, false, // third controller
    true, false, false, false, false // fourth controller
]

onError(callback)

Register a callback that is called when an error happens

setLeds(redButton1, redButton2, redButton3, redButton4):

To light up the red LEDs of a buzzer. Pass in true to switch a light on and false to switch it off. Note that this does not work on some older buzz-buzzers since they don't have an LED. For those devices onError will be called when you call setLeds

Hints on pairing the wireless buzz buzzers

First plug in the USB dongle. Next take your first controller and move the switch to the upper position and hold it like that until the blue led at the bottom lights up. Repeat this step for all controllers. When done press the button on your USB dongle and hold it until the blue LED lights up. Then release the button and press it once more. Now you can start your node program to access the buzzer.

Changelog

1.0.3

• Some buzzer devices seem to use a different vendorId/productId and connecting the buzzers failed. Now buzz-buzzers is additionally searching for the name Buzz of connected usb devices if a device with could not be found by vendorId/productId. See: #3

• Update of all dependencies

1.0.2

Update of all dependencies.

1.0.1

Older devices (e.g. the non wireless version for playstation 2) don't allow lighting up the LEDs. Previously calling setLeds lead to a crash - now we catch those cases and call the error callback.