SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_RAWINPUT(3)

💖 SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_RAWINPUT(3) 💖

okay bestie, pull up a chair — this is a page from the SDL3 FUNCTIONS manual set, and it's about one tiny little hint that decides a whole vibe for your joysticks. No cap.

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✨ NAME ✨

SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_RAWINPUT — a variable controlling whether the RAWINPUT joystick drivers should be used for better handling XInput-capable devices.

Like, it's literally the switch that says "hey, should we use the RAWINPUT drivers or not?"

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <SDL3/SDL_hints.h>

#define SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_RAWINPUT "SDL_JOYSTICK_RAWINPUT"

So you pull in the header, and the hint has a name — the string "SDL_JOYSTICK_RAWINPUT" — and that's the exact string you hand over when you set it. Copy it character for character, bestie, don't freestyle it. 🎀

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

The variable can be set to the following values:

• "0" — RAWINPUT drivers are not used. This is the default, so if you say nothing at all, this is the energy you get. 🙈
• "1" — RAWINPUT drivers are used. Slay. 💅

🫶 This hint should be set before SDL is initialized. Like, before. If you roll up late to the party and try to set it after SDL is already up and running, that's on you, girlie.

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✨ AVAILABILITY ✨

This hint is available since SDL 3.2.0. So if you're on anything older, it's giving "who is she" and you simply won't find her. 😭

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and that's the whole page, periodt. This lil slice of documentation came to you courtesy of Simple Directmedia Layer, version SDL 3.4.18, and it's the SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_RAWINPUT(3) page itself — the one and only, no understudy. Go forth and configure your joysticks, icon. 👑🦋🌸