Surface-Pen-Input-System

Translates surface pen button clicks to input readable by Python.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Download the pinput1, 2, and 3 .pyw files from /Input-Files

2. Make each file a shortcut

   • Open "File Explorer"
   • Go to the folder where you downloaded the "pinput" (pen input) files
   • Right click on one of the files
   • Click "Create shortcut"
   • Do that for the other two pinput files

3. Open "Settings > Devices > Pen and Windows Ink", and scroll down to "Pen Shortcuts"

4. For each option (Click once, Double click, Press and hold), do the following:

   • Choose the option "Launch a classic app"
   • Click "Browse"
   • Navigate to the folder with the pinput shortcut files
   • Select the respective input file for each click method

5. You're all set up! Write a script to process inputs, or use one from /Examples.

How to write a input processor

Now you have inputs, but how do you actually use them? Here is a basic example of how to read input from the pen.

import zmq
import time

context = zmq.Context()
socket = context.socket(zmq.REP)
socket.bind("tcp://*:5555")

while True:
    message = socket.recv()
    print("[RECEIVED] %s" % message)

    time.sleep(0.1)

    if message == b'input1':
        print("Single-click recieved!")
    if message == b'input2':
        print("Double-click recieved!")
    if message == b'input3':
        print("Hold-click recieved!")

    socket.send(b"World")

WOAH, THAT'S COOL! But what does it do? Lets break this script down:

• import zmq and import time - zmq is required to send messages between scripts (if not already installed, run pip install zmq), and time is required for a short delay in the main loop.

• context = zmq.Context() to socket.bind("tcp://*:5555") - Starts listing for input on port 5555 from the pinput scripts.

• while True: and time.sleep(0.1) - This is the main loop that checks for input. It doesn't work without a short delay. Don't ask me, I don't know why. I copied some of this code from stackoverflow.

• message = socket.recv() - Reads messages sent on port 5555 (pen inputs)

• The if statements - Checks for inputs sent, you can customize these to fit your needs. Replace the print statements with whatever you need.

• socket.send(b"World") - Sends "World" back to the input scripts so they know the input was recieved.

Input Processor Examples

There are example input processors in the /Examples folder.

Additional information

If you have any problems, you can submit an Isuse under the issues tab.