DATA TYPES

In C/C++, data types can be applied to variables and functions (and methods • in C++). The main data types in C/C++ are:

• Integers (int)

• Decimal values (float)

• String (string or char *)

Boolean (bool)

A lot of the methods used in the GameController class have been declared of type bool, which means the method returns a true or false value. Some of the methods in the GameController class have been implemented in this way to identify if anything has failed to initialise that the game program needs to work, for example: bool GameController::getGC_ConnectionState()

{

return isGC_Connected;

}

The above method shown is purely there to return the value of isGC_Connected, which identifies whether the game controller is connected to the PC or not. Whatever the value is, it is a Boolean value that is returned, so the method is prewritten with the data type bool to identify it will be returning a Boolean value. If the method was to be declared as void, no data type would be returned. It is good practice to data-type functions and methods, so if any issues occur, it can help identify where a problem might be coming from, because functions that don’t return a value may mean that you have to debug through the code in that function, even though that may not be where the source of the problem is located. if (glfwJoystickPresent(GLFW_JOYSTICK_1)) { isGC_Connected = true;

} else { isGC_Connected = false; } } return isGC_Connected; }

To initialise the controller, the glfwJoyStickPresent

function is called – this is a function of the GLFW library. This is why an if condition is implemented to see if the GLFW library is initialised first.

In GameController.h, various macros are set up using the #define directive that specify the values of each button press on the game controller. These were manually tested to get the value before implementation into the class (so the implemented values are known values):

#define LEFT_BUTTON_DIRECTION 14 #define RIGHT_BUTTON_DIRECTION 12 #define UP_BUTTON_DIRECTION 11

#define DOWN_BUTTON_DIRECTION 13 #define A_BUTTON 0

#define X_BUTTON 2

There may be a possibility that these values will need to be altered depending on the game controller you are using. Hopefully, however the above values be sufficient for your PC-compatible controller.