SDL_GetJoystickBall(3)

💖 SDL_GetJoystickBall 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the SDL3 FUNCTIONS manual, and today's main character is SDL_GetJoystickBall(3) — the little guy that tells you how much a trackball moved since the last time you asked. 🎀

---

✨ NAME ✨

SDL_GetJoystickBall — get the ball axis change since the last poll. 🎾

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <SDL3/SDL_joystick.h>

bool SDL_GetJoystickBall(SDL_Joystick *joystick, int ball, int *dx, int *dy);

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea ☕ — trackballs can only return relative motion since the last call to SDL_GetJoystickBall(). like, they don't know where they are, they only know how far they just rolled. those motion deltas get dropped right into dx and dy. 💅

and the reality check: most joysticks do not have trackballs. so if you're out here vibe checking your controller and getting nothing back, that's probably why. 🙈

---

👑 FUNCTION PARAMETERS 👑

• joystick — the SDL_Joystick you wanna query. your blorbo. 🫶
• ball — the ball index to query; ball indices start at index 0. yes, zero-indexed, we love that for us. ✨
• dx — stores the difference in the x axis position since the last poll. ➡️
• dy — stores the difference in the y axis position since the last poll. ⬇️

---

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

Returns true on success or false on failure — and if it fails, pls call SDL_GetError() for more information. don't just sit there wondering bestie, the error message is right there. 😭

---

🧚 THREAD SAFETY 🧚

It is safe to call this function from any thread. no cap, any thread. go wild. 🔥

---

🌈 AVAILABILITY 🌈

This function is available since SDL 3.2.0. so if you're on something older… not me being the bearer of bad news but it's giving ✨unsupported✨.

---

🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

• SDL_GetNumJoystickBalls(3) — bc sometimes you gotta count the balls before you query the balls. iykyk. 💀

---

that's the whole page bestie, slay, go forth and read your trackball deltas 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶👑🌈⭐

this iconic little entry came to you from Simple Directmedia Layer, rocking SDL 3.4.18 — mwah, periodt. 💜