In my current spreadsheet, when you enter in a certain value a input message will be displayed. However, the input message should have a link in it which takes you to another tab.
Here's the code I have so far:
if (cellSheet !== sheet && cellColumn === 4) {
if (cellValue === "PT1 - Induction Training") {
Browser.msgBox("PT1 - Induction Training: This is a Theory Based course and does not require you to be on the server. It should take 15-20 minutes.)"); //Add the course name and the message that I want to popup. Course name should be exactly the same as in the list (case sensitive)
}
else if (cellValue === "PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 1") {
Browser.msgBox("PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 1 - Starting a Patrol: This is a Practical Based course and does require you to be on the server. It should take 10-15 minutes. The manual for this course can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EUAtzKHaDXGMJLcGy5usXiHE7QU7B7g98OSUuKd94ss/edit"); //// add as many "else if" conditions as you want"
} else if (cellValue === "PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 2") {
Browser.msgBox("PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 2 - Traffic Stops: This is a Practical Based course and does require you to be on the server. It should take 10-15 minutes. The manual for this course can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EUAtzKHaDXGMJLcGy5usXiHE7QU7B7g98OSUuKd94ss/edit");
} else if (cellValue === "PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 3") {
Browser.msgBox("PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 3 - Checkpoints: This is a Practical Based course and does require you to be on the server. On average, it takes around an HOUR to do, so please bare in mind if you are able to do it. The manual for this course can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EUAtzKHaDXGMJLcGy5usXiHE7QU7B7g98OSUuKd94ss/edit");
} else if (cellValue === "PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 4") {
Browser.msgBox("PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 4 - Basic Communication: This is a Theory Based course and does not require you to be on the server. It should take 10-15 minutes. The manual for this course can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EUAtzKHaDXGMJLcGy5usXiHE7QU7B7g98OSUuKd94ss/edit");
} else if (cellValue === "PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 5") {
Browser.msgBox("PT2 - Traffic & Communications - Part 5 - Communication with Officers: This is a Theory Based course and does not require you to be on the server. It should take 10-15 minutes.The manual for this course can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EUAtzKHaDXGMJLcGy5usXiHE7QU7B7g98OSUuKd94ss/edit");
} else if (cellValue === "PT3 - Officer Advancement - Part 1") {
Browser.msgBox("PT3 - Officer Advancement - Part 1: This is a Theory Based course and does not require you to be on the server. It should take 25-30 minutes.");
} else if (cellValue === "PT3 - Officer Advancement - Part 2") {
Browser.msgBox("PT3 - Officer Advancement - Part 2: This is a Practical Based course and does require you to be on the server. On average, it takes around an HOUR to do, so please bare in mind if you are able to do it.");
} else if (cellValue === "PT4 - Air Support ") {
Browser.msgBox("PT4 - Air Support: This is a Practical Based course and does require you to be on the server. It should take around 30-40 minutes");
} else if (cellValue === "PT5 - Interceptors") {
Browser.msgBox("PT5 - Interceptors: This is a Practical Based course and does require you to be on the server. It should take around 40-50 minutes");
}
else if (cellValue === undefined) { }
else {
Browser.msgBox("You have entered an invalid course, please select a correct course."); //This is in case they put a wrong course name
}
}
}
Where the links are, at the end of the messages, for example: "The manual can be viewed here:", I would like them to form a hyper link, so when clicked on, takes you to that manual.
Here's the link to the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QBVvQkkmLJ3Ro2uHAmQm2yulmJ8Tg38p5Ke3YIe-FwI/edit#gid=1161230471
Many Thanks,
Shaun.
You appear to be using the alert dialogue, which will not allow you to add a link.
Instead, I imagine you're looking to create a custom HTML dialogue which will allow you to create the HTML for the dialogue box, allowing you to use an tag for links.
Note: It's been some time since I checked, but I think Apps script displays a warning to the user when clicking on a link like this.
Related
I'm using Chrome's performance tab to study the performance of a page, and I occasionally get a warning like:
DevTools: CPU profile parser is fixing 4 missing samples.
Does anyone know what this means? Googling for this warning has returned no results so far...
As coming across with and having this situation, possible helpful things to consider are as below.
As Chrome 58 is released in 2017, some changes are done related to the analyzing performance. For example:
Timeline panel is renamed as Performance panel.
Profiles panel is renamed as Memory panel.
Record Javascript CPU Profile menu is moved into Dev Tools → Three dots at right → More tools → Javascript Profiler. (Old version of Javascript Profiler)
In addition of these, the warning message that is seen (DevTools: CPU profile parser is fixing N missing samples.) is being written to the console window when there is single (program) sample between two call stacks sharing the same bottom node. Also, the samples count should be greater than or equal to 3 according to the source code.
Comments written above _fixMissingSamples method in the CPUProfileDataModel.js file explains this situtation as below;
// Sometimes sampler is not able to parse the JS stack and returns
// a (program) sample instead. The issue leads to call frames belong
// to the same function invocation being split apart.
// Here's a workaround for that. When there's a single (program) sample
// between two call stacks sharing the same bottom node, it is replaced
// with the preceeding sample.
In the light of these information, we can trace the code and examine the behavior.
CPUProfileDataModel.js
let prevNodeId = samples[0];
let nodeId = samples[1];
let count = 0;
for (let sampleIndex = 1; sampleIndex < samplesCount - 1; sampleIndex++) {
const nextNodeId = samples[sampleIndex + 1];
if (nodeId === programNodeId && !isSystemNode(prevNodeId) && !isSystemNode(nextNodeId) &&
bottomNode(idToNode.get(prevNodeId)) === bottomNode(idToNode.get(nextNodeId)) {
++count;
samples[sampleIndex] = prevNodeId;
}
prevNodeId = nodeId;
nodeId = nextNodeId;
}
if (count) {
Common.console.warn(ls`DevTools: CPU profile parser is fixing ${count} missing samples.`);
}
It seems that, it simply compares previous and next node related to current node as if they has the same bottom node (actually comparing parent nodes). Also previous and next node shouldn't be a system (program/gc/idle function) node and current node should be the 'program' node. If it is the case, then the current node in samples array is set to previous node.
idle: Waiting to do process
program: Native code execution
garbage collector: Accounts for Garbage Collection
Also, disabling Javascript samples from Performance → Capture Settings result fewer details & call stacks because of omitting all the call stacks. The warning message shouldn't appear in this case.
But, since this warning is about the sampler that says cannot parse the JS stack and call frames being split apart, it doesn't seem very important thing to consider.
Resources:
https://github.com/ChromeDevTools/devtools-frontend/tree/master/front_end/sdk
https://github.com/ChromeDevTools/devtools-frontend/blob/master/front_end/sdk/CPUProfileDataModel.js
https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/blink/+/master/Source/devtools/front_end/sdk/
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/evaluate-performance
https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/12/devtools-javascript-cpu-profile-migration
I seem to be having a hard time with firebase security rules. I've read the guides, but the simulator results aren't descriptive enough (Would be much easier if we could just hover over a node, and a button pops up where we can update the rules).
Here's what my structure looks like:
chats
- randomChatId01
- name: "awesome chat"
- members:
- userId01 : true
- userId02 : true
- randomChatId02
- members:
- userId02 : true
- randomChatId03
- members:
- userId01 : true
- userId02 : true
- ...
I only want a user to be able to read the chat nodes in which the node's child node members contains the authenticated user's auth.uid.
So in this case if userId01 were logged in, she would only have read access to randomChatId01 and randomChatId03.
This is the rule I have:
{
"rules": {
"chats": {
"$chat": {
".read": "data.child('members').val().contains(auth.uid)"
}
}
}
}
However it's returning the following in the simulator:
Attempt to read /chats with auth={"provider":"anonymous","uid":"eF4ztDEXz7"}
/
/chats
No .read rule allowed the operation.
Read was denied.
This is because Firebase Security Rules are evaluated at the location that you read from.
You're trying to read /chats. The user does not have read permission to /chats, so the operations fails straight away.
If you read /chats/randomChatId01 as userId01 it will succeed.
This is covered in the documentation section rules are not filters. Also see Michael Lehenbauer's answer here: Restricting child/field access with security rules
TL;DR
I tried to make this a short question but it's a complicated problem so it ended up being long. If you can answer any part of this or give any suggestions or tips or resources or anything at all, it would be extremely helpful (even if you don't directly solve all my issues). I'm banging my head against the wall right now. :)
Here are the specific issues I am having. Read on below for more information.
I'm looking for guidance on how to process relocation entries and update the unresolved symbols in the section data. I simply don't understand what to do with all the information I've pulled from the relocations and the sections, etc.
I'm also hoping to understand just what is going on when the linker encounters relocations. Trying to correctly implement the relocation equations and use all the correct values in the correct way is incredibly challenging.
When I encounter op codes and addresses and symbols, etc, I need to understand what to do with them. I feel like I am missing some steps.
I feel like I don't have a good grasp on how the symbol table entries interact with the relocations. How should I use the symbol's binding, visibility, value, and size information?
Lastly, when I output my file with the resolved data and new relocation entries used by the executable, the data is all incorrect. I'm not sure how to follow all the relocations and provide all the information necessary. What is the executable expecting from me?
My approach so far
I am trying to create a relocation file in a specific [undocumented] proprietary format that is heavily based on ELF. I have written a tool that takes an ELF file and a partially linked file (PLF) and processes them to output the fully resolved rel file. This rel file is used to load/unload data as needed in order to save memory. The platform is a 32bit PPC. One wrinkle is that tool is written for Windows in c#, but the data is intended for the PPC, so there are fun endian issues and the like to watch out for.
I've been trying to understand how relocations are handled when used to resolve unresolved symbols and so on. What I've done so far is to copy the relevant sections from the PLF and then for each corresponding .rela section, I parse the entries and attempt to fix up the section data and generate new relocation entries as needed. But this is where my difficulty is. I'm way out of my element here and this sort of thing seems to typically be done by linkers and loaders so there's not a lot of good examples to draw upon. But I have found a few that have been of help, including THIS ONE.
So what is happening is:
Copy section data from PLF to be used for rel file. I'm only interested in the .init (no data), .text, .ctors, .dtors, .rodata, .data, .bss (no data), and another custom section we are using.
Iterate over the .rela sections in the PLF and read in the Elf32_Rela entries.
For each entry, I pull out the r_offset, r_info, and r_addend fields and extract the relevant info from r_info (the symbol and the reloc type).
From the PLF's symbol table, I can get the symbolOffset, the symbolSection, and the symbolValue.
From the ELF, I get the symbolSection's load address.
I compute int localAddress = ( .relaSection.Offset + r_offset ).
I get the uint relocValue from the symbolSection's contents at r_offset.
Now I have all the info I need so I do a switch on the reloc type and process the data. These are the types I support:
R_PPC_NONE
R_PPC_ADDR32
R_PPC_ADDR24
R_PPC_ADDR16
R_PPC_ADDR16_LO
R_PPC_ADDR16_HI
R_PPC_ADDR16_HA
R_PPC_ADDR14
R_PPC_ADDR14_BRTAKEN
R_PPC_ADDR14_BRNTAKEN
R_PPC_REL24
R_PPC_REL14
R_PPC_REL14_BRTAKEN
R_PPC_REL14_BRNTAKEN
Now what?? I need to update the section data and build companion relocation entries. But I don't understand what is necessary to do and how to do it.
The whole reason I'm doing this is because there is an old obsolete unsupported tool that does not support using custom sections, which is a key requirement for this project (for memory reasons). We have a custom section that contains a bunch of initialization code (totaling about a meg) that we want to unload after start up. The existing tool just ignores all the data in that section.
So while making our own tool that does support custom sections is ideal, if there are any bright ideas for another way to achieve this goal, I'm all ears! We've floated around an idea of using the .dtor section for our data since it's nearly empty anyway. But this is messy and might not work anyway if it prevents a clean shutdown.
Relocations plus example code
When I process the relocations, I'm working off of the equations and information found in the ABI docs HERE (around section 4.13, page 80ish) as well as a number of other code examples and blog posts I've dug up. But it's all so confusing and not really spelled out and all the code I've found does things a little differently.
For example,
R_PPC_ADDR16_LO --> half16: #lo(S + A)
R_PPC_ADDR14_BRTAKEN --> low14*: (S + A) >> 2
etc
So when I see this kind of code, how do I decipher it?
Here's one example (from this source)
case ELF::R_PPC64_ADDR14 : {
assert(((Value + Addend) & 3) == 0);
// Preserve the AA/LK bits in the branch instruction
uint8_t aalk = *(LocalAddress+3);
writeInt16BE(LocalAddress + 2, (aalk & 3) | ((Value + Addend) & 0xfffc));
} break;
case ELF::R_PPC64_REL24 : {
uint64_t FinalAddress = (Section.LoadAddress + Offset);
int32_t delta = static_cast<int32_t>(Value - FinalAddress + Addend);
if (SignExtend32<24>(delta) != delta)
llvm_unreachable("Relocation R_PPC64_REL24 overflow");
// Generates a 'bl <address>' instruction
writeInt32BE(LocalAddress, 0x48000001 | (delta & 0x03FFFFFC));
} break;
Here's some from another example (here)
case R_PPC_ADDR32: /* word32 S + A */
addr = elf_lookup(lf, symidx, 1);
if (addr == 0)
return -1;
addr += addend;
*where = addr;
break;
case R_PPC_ADDR16_LO: /* #lo(S) */
if (addend != 0) {
addr = relocbase + addend;
} else {
addr = elf_lookup(lf, symidx, 1);
if (addr == 0)
return -1;
}
*hwhere = addr & 0xffff;
break;
case R_PPC_ADDR16_HA: /* #ha(S) */
if (addend != 0) {
addr = relocbase + addend;
} else {
addr = elf_lookup(lf, symidx, 1);
if (addr == 0)
return -1;
}
*hwhere = ((addr >> 16) + ((addr & 0x8000) ? 1 : 0)) & 0xffff;
break;
And one other example (from here)
case R_PPC_ADDR16_HA:
write_be16 (dso, rela->r_offset, (value + 0x8000) >> 16);
break;
case R_PPC_ADDR24:
write_be32 (dso, rela->r_offset, (value & 0x03fffffc) | (read_ube32 (dso, rela->r_offset) & 0xfc000003));
break;
case R_PPC_ADDR14:
write_be32 (dso, rela->r_offset, (value & 0xfffc) | (read_ube32 (dso, rela->r_offset) & 0xffff0003));
break;
case R_PPC_ADDR14_BRTAKEN:
case R_PPC_ADDR14_BRNTAKEN:
write_be32 (dso, rela->r_offset, (value & 0xfffc)
| (read_ube32 (dso, rela->r_offset) & 0xffdf0003)
| ((((GELF_R_TYPE (rela->r_info) == R_PPC_ADDR14_BRTAKEN) << 21)
^ (value >> 10)) & 0x00200000));
break;
case R_PPC_REL24:
write_be32 (dso, rela->r_offset, ((value - rela->r_offset) & 0x03fffffc) | (read_ube32 (dso, rela->r_offset) & 0xfc000003));
break;
case R_PPC_REL32:
write_be32 (dso, rela->r_offset, value - rela->r_offset);
break;
I really want to understand the magic these guys are doing here and why their code doesn't always look the same. I think some of the code is making assumptions that the data was already properly masked (for branches, etc), and some of the code is not. But I don't understand any of this at all.
Following the symbols/data/relocations, etc
When I look at the data in a hexeditor, I see a bunch of "48 00 00 01" all over. I've figured out that this is an opcode and needs to be updated with relocation information (this specifically is for 'bl' branch and link), yet my tool doesn't operate on the vast majority of them and the ones that I do update have the wrong values in them (compared to an example made by an obsolete tool). Clearly I am missing some part of the process.
In addition to the section data, there are additional relocation entries that need to be added to the end of the rel file. These consist of internal and external relocations but I haven't figured out much at all about these yet. (what's the difference between the two and when do you use one or the other?)
If you look near the end of this file at the function RuntimeDyldELF::processRelocationRef, you'll see some Relocation Entries being created. They also make stub functions. I suspect this is the missing link for me, but it's as clear as mud and I'm not following it even a little bit.
When I output the symbols in each relocation entry, they each have a binding/visibility [Global/Weak/Local] [Function/Object] and a value, a size, and a section. I know the section is where the symbol is located, and the value is the offset to the symbol in that section (or is it the virtual address?). The size is the size of the symbol, but is this important? Maybe the global/weak/local is useful for determining if it's an internal or external relocation?
Maybe this relocation table I'm talking about creating is actually a symbol table for my rel file? Maybe this table updates the symbol value from being a virtual address to being a section offset (since that's what the value is in relocatable files and the symbol table in the PLF is basically in an executable)?
Some resources:
blog on relocations: http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2011/08/25/load-time-relocation-of-shared-libraries/
mentions opcodes at the end: http://wiki.netbsd.org/examples/elf_executables_for_powerpc/
my related unanswered question: ELF Relocation reverse engineering
Whew! That's a beast of a question. Congrats if you made it this far. :) Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
I stumbled across this question and thought it deserved an answer.
Have elf.h handy. You can find it on the internet.
Each RELA section contains an array of Elf32_Rela entries as you know, but is also tied to a certain other section. r_offset is an offset into that other section (in this case - it works differently for shared libraries). You will find that section headers have a member called sh_info. This tells you which section that is. (It's an index into the section header table as you would expect.)
The 'symbol', which you got from r_info is in fact an index into a symbol table residing in another section. Look for the member sh_link in your RELA section's header.
The symbol table tells you the name of the symbol you are looking for, in the form of the st_name member of Elf32_Sym. st_name is an offset into a string section. Which section that is, you get from the sh_link member of your symbol table's section header. Sorry if this gets confusing.
Elf32_Shdr *sh_table = elf_image + ((Elf32_Ehdr *)elf_image)->e_shoff;
Elf32_Rela *relocs = elf_image + sh_table[relocation_section_index]->sh_offset;
unsigned section_to_modify_index = sh_table[relocation_section_index].sh_info;
char *to_modify = elf_image + sh_table[section_to_modify_index].sh_offset;
unsigned symbol_table_index = sh_table[relocation_section_index].sh_link;
Elf32_Sym *symbol_table = elf_image + sh_table[symbol_table_index].sh_offset;
unsigned string_table_index = sh_table[symbol_table].sh_link;
char *string_table = elf_image + sh_table[string_table_index].sh_offset;
Let's say we are working with relocation number i.
Elf32_Rela *rel = &relocs[i];
Elf32_Sym *sym = &symbol_table[ELF32_R_SYM(rel->r_info)];
char *symbol_name = string_table + sym->st_name;
Find the address of that symbol (let's say that symbol_name == "printf"). The final value will go in (to_modify + rel->r_offset).
As for the table on pages 79-83 of the pdf you linked, it tells us what to put at that address, and how many bytes to write. Obviously the address we just got (of printf in this case) is part of most of them. It corresponds to the S in the expressions.
r_addend is just A. Sometimes the compiler needs to add a static constant to a reloc i guess.
B is the base address of the shared object, or 0 for executable programs because they are not moved.
So if ELF32_R_TYPE(rel->r_info) == R_PPC_ADDR32 we have S + A, and the word size is word32 so we would get:
*(uint32_t *)(to_modify + rel->r_offset) = address_of_printf + rel->r_addend;
...and we have successfully performed a relocation.
I can't help you when it comes to the #lo, #hi, etc and the word sizes like low14. I know nothing about PPC but the linked pdf seems reasonable enough.
I also don't know about the stub functions. You don't normally need to know about those when linking (dynamically at least).
I'm not sure if I've answered all of your questions but you should be able to see what your example code does now at least.
Just answering the question: What is relocation?
When you write assembly program, if it is position-dependent, the program will be assumed to be loaded in a specific part of memory. And when you load your program to another memory address, then all the memory relative addressing data will have to be updated so that it will load correctly from the new memory area.
For example:
load A, B
Sometimes B can be an address, sometimes it is just pure constant data. So only compiler will know when they generate the assembly. Compiler will construct a table of all entries containing the offset, and its original loading relative address, assuming a fixed global address where it is laded. This is called the relocation table.
It is linked to the symbol table, PLT table, and GOT etc:
http://blog.k3170makan.com/2018/10/introduction-to-elf-format-part-vi_18.html
https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/1992/what-is-plt-got
What does the concept of relocation mean?
How does C++ linking work in practice?
Try to llok into ELF Specification. It takes about 60 pages, and greatly clarifies things. Especially part 2, the one about linking.
I'm using Google Spreadsheet for my tax administration. All financial transactions that I have done in a year are in the spreadsheet. Because the tax rules in my country are quite complex, I've developed a number of JavaScript functions to help me with my calculations. There are many rows in my spreadsheet, about 1000. Each row has multiple references to those JavaScript functions.
This system worked beautifully before, but today I've found that Google installed some kind of runtime limiting system into Google Spreadsheet, causing many of my columns to abort with the following error:
Service invoked too many times in a short time: exec maxSimultaneous.
Try Utilities.sleep(1000) between calls.
After some investigation, it would appear that this time limit is there to protect against scripts that take too long time to run. My case is different: my scripts are all short, O(1) algorithms that do nothing but calculating some numbers. A typical script looks like this:
// Calculates the total amount excluding Value Added Tax, given
// an amount including Value Added Tax, and other sorts of information.
function ex_btw(inc_btw, commentaar, soort, btw_verlegd, btw_pct) {
Utilities.sleep(1000);
var soort = soort.toLowerCase();
if (soort == 'eten en drinken'
|| commentaar.match(/treinkaartje/i)
|| commentaar.match(/treinticket/i)
|| commentaar.match(/taxi/i)
|| commentaar.match(/ boek /i))
{
return inc_btw / 1.06;
} else if (soort == 'priveonttrekking'
|| soort == 'boete'
|| soort == 'belasting'
|| commentaar.match(/postzegel/i)
|| btw_verlegd == 'Ja')
{
return inc_btw;
} else {
return inc_btw / (1 + btw_pct);
}
}
The script is then invoked like this from a cell:
=IF(B6<>""; ex_btw(B6;D6;E6;J6;S6); "")
Maybe my problem is that I have too many script calls. Every single row calls about 6 of such scripts, so with 1000 rows I call 6000 times per spreadsheet.
How do I solve this problem? Is there a way to increase the execution limit, or is there a way to make the scripts run slower so that they don't hit the execution limit? As you can see in the example code I've already tried inserting Utilities.sleep(1000), but that doesn't seem to solve the problem. I don't care whether the scripts run slowly, I just just care that they finish without errors.
Can I pay to have the limit increased? I need to hand in my taxes in a few days.
Other alternatives that I've considered, but that are not feasible.
Using non-JavaScript functions. Not feasible because: they don't support collaboration like Google Spreadsheet does. I regularly go over the spreadsheet with a colleague to check whether we've made any mistakes. It helps that the both of us can immediately see any changes the other makes.
Have one huge-ass JavaScript function that iterates over rows and populates cells. Not feasible because:
Too error prone, it's very easy to make mistakes compared to my current method.
Does not update cells automatically until I re-run the script. I want to see any calculations immediately after I update other cells, just like a spreadsheet is supposed to do.
Using other spreadsheets like Excel and OpenOffice Calc. Not feasible because: they don't appear to offer the same scripting capabilities.
Writing my own financing app. Not feasible because: it takes too much take, it's not my core business, and tax rules change almost every year so I will have to constantly update the app. I can update a spreadsheet very quickly, but writing a financing app takes too much time.
I solved it by making every function sleep for a random period, like this:
Utilities.sleep(Math.random() * 5000);
It is important that the sleeping time is random, not constant. Apparently Google limits the maximum number of functions that may simultaneously be using CPU.
an alternative to the custom function might be to have an onEdit function trigger and then process either just the entered data or the whole column of numbers and place the results of the function in the target cell(s) as a number.
might be quicker
I'm using Chrome (Version 19.0.1084.46). I enabled the Gamepad API in chrome://flags. I plugged in some game pads, but navigator.webkitGamepads is always an array of length 4 containing only undefined.
navigator.webkitGamepads
GamepadList
0: undefined
1: undefined
2: undefined
3: undefined
length: 4
__proto__: GamepadList
What do I need to do to test out using gamepads? I'm on Ubuntu Linux if that matters.
I was having trouble with this as well (on Ubuntu 10.04 with Chrome 21.0.1163.0 dev). I ran across this from a thread on chromium-discussions:
Note that you need to press a face button on the gamepad before data
will be available. This is due to fingerprinting concerns.
I wrote a quick test page that seems to work if you hold a controller button down while refreshing the page. I'm using a Gamestop-branded Xbox 360 wired controller with the xboxdrv driver.
Also, one other important thing to note - Chrome treats these Gamepad objects like snapshots of the controller state. So if you pass around the actual Gamepad object, you'll never get updated information. Chrome seems to only poll the controller when you call the navigator.webkitGamepads[x] getter (see line 23 in my test page).
SPECIAL NOTE: The GamePad API is handled in two completely different ways by Firefox and Google Chrome. Because of this, you need to include code to test for your browser's identity, and handle the cases accordingly.
When the navigator.getGamePads() method is invoked, an array of objects is returned, and those objects contain information about the identity of your gamepads/joysticks, and the state of the axes/buttons thereof.
Here's the issue: on Firefox, the method hands the array to your calling code, and you can then examine that array repeatedly, to look for changes of axis/button state in your own code. Firefox behaves in the expected manner, and updates the objects you've received with new axis/button data, as and when it becomes available.
Google Chrome, on the other hand, treats the array totally differently. Chrome treats the array as a one-time snapshot of the status of your gamepads/joysticks, and if you want to fetch new data, you have to perform another invocation of navigator.getGamePads(), to fetch a new snapshot, discarding the old one.
As a consequence, you need something like this to make your code work on both browsers (assuming that the variable 'gp' is the variable in which you previously stored the return value from your first invocation of navigator.getGamePads() ...)
var ua = navigator.userAgent;
if (ua.toLowerCase().indexOf("chrome") != -1)
gp = navigator.getGamePads();
Why the two browsers behave so differently, is a topic for another thread, but I suspect it has much to do with the fact that the GamePad API is still somewhat experimental, and the fine detail of the standard applicable thereto has not yet been finalised.
In my case, running Chrome on Windows 7 64-bit (but the 32-bit version, for some strange reason best known to my computer's manufacturer, who installed it in this fashion), the array returned by navigator.getGamePads() currently contains only as many entries as there are actual gamepads/joysticks plugged into my computer. If you're experiencing something different on Chrome under Linux, then you need to take this into account also, by testing to see if you have any null values in the array.
Another factor to take into account, is that when selecting a gamepad/joystick, the standard in place calls for the index property of the GamePad object to be referenced, and used thereafter to index into the array. The reason for this is covered in more detail in this document:
W3C page : Editor's Draft on the GamePad interface
However, whilst the implementation of this works as documented above in my incarnation of Google Chrome, you may have to check your version experimentally to see if it behaves the same as mine. If it doesn't, adjust your code accordingly until such time as the standard is finalised, and proper conformity thereto is enforced in all modern browsers and all OS incarnations thereof.
So, when you're selecting a particular gamepad/joystick to work with, the code will look something like this (with the variable 'gid' as your index selector):
var gLen = this.gamePads.length;
done = false;
idx = 0;
while (!done)
{
if (this.gamePads[idx] !== null)
{
if (gid == this.gamePads[idx].index)
{
//Here, choose this GamePad as the selected GamePad, based upon the index number as per the W3C recommendation ...
selectedGamePadIndex = gid;
selectedGamePad = this.gamePads[idx];
done = true;
//End if
}
//End if
}
//Update counter in case we haven't selected one of the available GamePads above ...
idx++;
if (idx >= gLen)
done = true; //Exit loop altogether if we've exhausted the list of available GamePads
//End while
}
I actually implemented the above code (along with some tidying up at the end) as a method for a custom object, but the principle remains the same regardless of the implementation minutiae. (I'll confess at this juncture that I have a habit of writing my own short libraries to handle tasks like this!)
Another issue to watch out for, is the manner in which the gamepad API maps the physical data sources of your gamepad/joystick to the axis/button elements of the GamePad object, and the values contained therein. I have a Microsoft Sidewinder Pro USB joystick, and the mappings for this device on my computer are seriously weird, viz:
Axes 0/1: Joystick handle (as expected)
Axes 2/3: Not assigned
Axes 4/5: 4 not assigned, 5 assigned to twist grip
Axes 6/7: 6 assigned to round slider, 7 not assigned
Axes 8/9: 8 not assigned, 9 assigned to hat switch (er, WHAT???)
Yes, that's right, analogue axis 9 is assigned to the hat switch, and seriously odd values are returned, viz:
Hat switch centred: +1.2
Hat switch up: -1.0
Hat switch down: +0.1
Hat switch left: +0.7
Hat switch right: -0.42
Quirks like this are something you should be alert to as you experiment with the GamePad API. Even worse, a so-called "standard" GamePad (defined in that document I linked to above) may report as standard on some browsers, but not on others, or worse still, report as standard on browser X in Windows, but not on the same browser X in Linux! While this will induce much hair-tearing frustration as you try to fight your way through this software equivalent of bramble thicket, getting badly scratched by some of the thorns along the way, you can at least take comfort in the fact that browser developers are working to try and ameliorate this, but it'll take time, because other things take priority (such as making sure your browser doesn't become an easy target for ransomware to hijack, which will ruin you day immensely if it happens).
This didn't work for me but maybe it helps you? Pulled from here.
function updateStatus() {
window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame(updateStatus);
var gamepads = navigator.webkitGamepads;
var data = '';
for (var padindex = 0; padindex < gamepads.length; ++padindex)
{
var pad = gamepads[padindex];
if (!pad) continue;
data += '<pre>' + pad.index + ": " + pad.id + "<br/>";
for (var i = 0; i < pad.buttons.length; ++i)
data += "button" + i + ": " + pad.buttons[i] + "<br/>";
for (var i = 0; i < pad.axes.length; ++i)
data += "axis" + i + ": " + pad.axes[i] + "<br/>";
}
document.body.innerHTML = data;
}
window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame(updateStatus);
Or as a hard alternative, there's the Javascript Joystick Plug-in (demo here) but I don't think that works in Linux.