Linux: The linux touch system is currently based off event streams, and proc/bus/devices. The active user must be given permissions to read /dev/input/TOUCHDEVICE, where TOUCHDEVICE is the event stream for your device. Currently only Wacom tablets are supported. If you have an unsupported tablet contact me at jim.tla+sdl_touch@gmail.com and I will help you get support for it.
Mac: The Mac and iPhone APIs are pretty. If your touch device supports them then you'll be fine. If it doesn't, then there isn't much we can do.
iPhone: Works out of box.
Windows: Unfortunately there is no windows support as of yet. Support for Windows 7 is planned, but we currently have no way to test. If you have a Windows 7 WM_TOUCH supported device, and are willing to help test please contact me at jim.tla+sdl_touch@gmail.com
SDL_FINGERDOWN: Sent when a finger (or stylus) is placed on a touch device. Fields:
SDL_FINGERMOTION: Sent when a finger (or stylus) is moved on the touch device. Fields: Same as SDL_FINGERDOWN but with additional:
SDL_FINGERUP: Sent when a finger (or stylus) is lifted from the touch device. Fields: Same as SDL_FINGERDOWN.
SDL provides the ability to access the underlying SDL_Finger structures. These structures should never be modified.
The following functions are included from SDL_touch.h
To get a SDL_TouchID call SDL_GetTouchDevice(int index). This returns a SDL_TouchID. IMPORTANT: If the touch has been removed, or there is no touch with the given index, SDL_GetTouchDevice() will return 0. Be sure to check for this!
The number of touch devices can be queried with SDL_GetNumTouchDevices().
A SDL_TouchID may be used to get pointers to SDL_Finger.
SDL_GetNumTouchFingers(touchID) may be used to get the number of fingers currently down on the device.
The most common reason to access SDL_Finger is to query the fingers outside the event. In most cases accessing the fingers is using the event. This would be accomplished by code like the following:
float x = event.tfinger.x;
float y = event.tfinger.y;
To get a SDL_Finger, call SDL_GetTouchFinger(SDL_TouchID touchID, int index), where touchID is a SDL_TouchID, and index is the requested finger. This returns a SDL_Finger *, or NULL if the finger does not exist, or has been removed. A SDL_Finger is guaranteed to be persistent for the duration of a touch, but it will be de-allocated as soon as the finger is removed. This occurs when the SDL_FINGERUP event is added to the event queue, and thus before the SDL_FINGERUP event is polled. As a result, be very careful to check for NULL return values.
A SDL_Finger has the following fields:
For a complete example see test/testgesture.c
Please direct questions/comments to: jim.tla+sdl_touch@gmail.com (original author, API was changed since)