node-dev-input-reader

Read input from /dev/input/* on a linux Host.

Dual Stack package ESM + CJS, should work in deno

Feature

• Detect double press / click
• Detect long press / click
• Detect Key combinaison
• Support hardware disconnect / reconnect.
• Can work from /dev/input/by-id/ and /dev/input/by-path/
• Detect device type (event/joystick/mouse)
• Writen in Typescript

Usage

With raw events:

    // use RAW event
    const reader = new DevInputReader('event0');
    reader.on('error', console.error)
      .on("keyup", (data) => console.log('keyup:', data))
      .on("keypress", (data) => console.log('keypress:', data));

With syntetic events (recommanded):

    // use simple events
    const reader = new DevInputReader('event0'm { retryInterval: 10000});
    reader.on('error', console.error)
      .on("key", (data) => console.log('key:', data))
      .on("error", (data) => console.log('an error occure:', data))
    // data contain the durration of the press and the concurently press key
    // in case oh hardware lost, will reconnect every retryInterval 10sec

With syntetic events with double/long click detection (if needed):

    // use simple events
    const reader = new DevInputReader('event0', { retryInterval: 10000, longPress: 5000, doublePress: 300 });
    reader.on('error', console.error)
      .on("simple", (data) => console.log('simple press:', data))
      .on("double", (data) => console.log('double press:', data))
      .on("long", (data) => console.log('long press:', data))
    // long press is trigered if you keep a key pressed for more than 5 seconds
    // double press is trigered if press a key 2 time within 300 ms
    // in case oh hardware lost, will reconnect every retryInterval 10sec

FAQ

Why a new Module ?

There is a lot of existing module that can deal with input:

• dev-input Looks nice in typescript, but no docs, only used by hist owner.
• linux-keyboard-catcher highly Keyboard oriented, simple interface.
• node-keylogger very low level + fork from node-keyboard + contains bug..
• raw-keyboard very low level + use C code.

Relative package:

• linux-key-info Key mapping for keyboard, I may integrate it on day.