Create Customizable Control Interfaces for Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth, WebSocket, MQTT, TCP, and UDP Protocols with Simple Drag-and-Drop Functionality.

Key Features:

1. Drag-and-Drop Control Pad Creation
   Design your control pads by dragging and dropping components like buttons, sliders, switches, Joystick and D-PAD.

2. Multi-Protocol Support and Seamless Server Connections
   Easily configure your control pad to support network protocols such as Bluetooth LE, WebSocket, MQTT, TCP, and UDP. Once connected, you can interact with the control pad’s components—including buttons, sliders, switches, joysticks, and D-PADs—to send real-time commands directly to the connected server or BLE client, where these commands can be processed.

3. Switch Connection Type Anytime
   You can change the connection type of a control pad at any time without creating a duplicate for a different connection.

4. Update UI From your Script
   You can change the state of SWITCH,SLIDER,LED and GAUGE from your script

Supported Components

1. Switch
2. Button
3. Slider
4. DPAD
5. Joystick
6. Steering Wheel
7. LED
8. GAUGE
9. LOG
10. Accelerometer and Gyroscope (If supported by the device)

How It Works (4 steps)

Step 1: Create a Control Pad

Start by creating a new control pad. Provide a unique name to identify your control pad.

Step 2: Design Your Control Pad

After creating the control pad, click on the Build icon and use the drag-and-drop interface to add components like switches, buttons, and sliders etc.

Assign a unique ID to each component. This ID will be sent to the server during interactions.

Step 3: Configure Connection Settings

Tap 'Settings, choose a connection type (TCP, Bluetooth LE, UDP, WebSocket, or MQTT), enter the server address and port. You can switch between connection types anytime

Step 4: Connect and Interact

a. Click on the Play icon to start interacting with your control pad.
b. Tap the Connect button in the bottom-right corner to establish a connection with the server.

Reading Interactions

When users interact with the control pad, JSON-formatted or CSV messages are generated based on the type of component used. These string messages enable receivers to understand and process interactions sent from the control pad. Below are the formats and details for each interaction:

---

SWITCH

Toggling a switch generates the following JSON:

{
  "id": "the id you specified",
  "type": "SWITCH",
  "state": true
}

For Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE connections, toggling a switch generates a CSV message in the format: <id>,SWITCH,<state>.

• The state field indicates whether the switch is on (true) or off (false).

---

BUTTON

Pressing or releasing a button generates this JSON:

{
  "id": "the id you specified",
  "type": "BUTTON",
  "state": "PRESS"
}

For Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE connections, pressing or releasing a button generates a CSV message in the format: <id>,BUTTON,<state>.

• The state field can have following values:
  • "PRESS": When the button is being pressed (finger on the button).
  • "RELEASE": When the button is released (finger lifted off after pressing).
  • "CLICK": Indicates tap gesture

---

DPAD (Directional Pad)

Pressing or releasing a button on DPAD generates this JSON:

{
  "id": "the id you specified",
  "type": "DPAD",
  "button": "RIGHT",
  "state": "CLICK"
}

For Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE connections, pressing or releasing a button on DPAD generates a CSV message in the format: <id>,DPAD,<button>,<state>.

• The state field can have following values:
  • "PRESS": When the button is being pressed (finger on the button).
  • "RELEASE": When the button is released (finger lifted off after pressing).
  • "CLICK": Indicates tap gesture
• The button field can be "LEFT","RIGHT","UP" or "DOWN"

---

STEERING WHEEL

Rotating a steering wheel generates this JSON:

{
  "id": "your id",
  "type": "STEERING_WHEEL",
  "angle": 45.233445
}

For Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE connections the CSV is <id>,STEERING_WHEEL,<angle>

• where angle is rotation angle of the steering wheel in degrees
  • Positive values indicate clockwise rotation
  • Negative values indicate counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise) rotation

---

JOYSTICK

Moving joystick handle generates this JSON:

{
  "id": "the id you specified",
  "type": "JOYSTICK",
  "x": 0.71150637,
  "y": -0.13367589
}

For Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE : <id>,JOYSTICK,<x>,<y>

Note : Joystick is not rotatable in the Builder Screen

The values of x and y range:

• From -1.0 to 1.0 for both axes.
• Positive x values indicate movement to the right, and negative values indicate movement to the left.
• Positive y values indicate upward movement, and negative values indicate downward movement.

SLIDER

Dragging the slider thumb generates the following JSON:

{
  "id": "the id you specified",
  "type": "SLIDER",
  "value": 1.4
}

For Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE connections, dragging the slider thumb generates a CSV message in the format: <id>,SLIDER,<value>.

• The value field represents the current position of the slider.
• The value is always within the range of the minimum and maximum values specified during the slider's configuration.

---

LED

To update the LED, send the following JSON message to the app:

{
  "id": "the id you specified",
  "type": "LED",
  "state": "ON"
}

• state accepts the following values:

  • "ON" – Turns the LED on
  • "OFF" – Turns the LED off
  • "BLINK" – Makes the LED blink

🎥 Video Demo | Changing LED state in DroidPad

---

GAUGE

To update the Gauge, send the following JSON message to the app::

{
  "id": "the id you specified",
  "type": "GAUGE",
  "value": 120
}

• value is a number input used to update the gauge reading (such as speed, temperature, or progress).

🎥 Video Demo | Updating GAUGE value in DroidPad

---

LOG

Each control pad includes an associated log terminal that displays logs sent from your script.
When you click the list icon on the control pad, a bottom sheet will appear showing these logs.

To send a log message from your script, use the following JSON payload:

{
  "type": "LOG",
  "message": "hello world"
}

---

Sensor Readings

Accelerometer

Accelerometer data is sent in the following JSON format:

{
  "type": "ACCELEROMETER",
  "x": 0.31892395,
  "y": -0.97802734,
  "z": 10.049896
}

For Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE : ACCELEROMTER,<x>,<y>,<z>

Fields

• x: Acceleration force (in m/s²) applied along the x-axis, including the force of gravity.
• y: Acceleration force (in m/s²) applied along the y-axis, including the force of gravity.
• z: Acceleration force (in m/s²) applied along the z-axis, including the force of gravity.

---

Gyroscope

Gyroscope data is sent in the following JSON format:

{
  "type": "GYROSCOPE",
  "x": 0.15387291,
  "y": -0.22954187,
  "z": 0.08163925
}

For Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE : GYROSCOPE,<x>,<y>,<z>

Fields

• x: Rate of rotation around the x-axis in radians per second (rad/s).
• y: Rate of rotation around the y-axis in radians per second (rad/s).
• z: Rate of rotation around the z-axis in radians per second (rad/s).

---

Sending JSON Messages to DroidPad

You can send JSON messages to DroidPad to update the UI. All connection types are supported except for BLE. You can update following component

• SWITCH
• SLIDER
• LED

To update a SWITCH, SLIDER, LED, or GAUGE send a JSON object message similar to the ones specified in the SWITCH, SLIDER, LED, GAUGE sections, with the desired value or state.

For Bluetooth Classic and TCP connections, you must send each JSON message on a new line. This is because DroidPad reads the incoming stream line by line. Each JSON message should be on a single line, and multiple messages should be separated by a line feed (\n).

For example:

{"id":"s1","type":"SLIDER","value":1.4}\n{"id":"s1","type":"SLIDER","value":1.5}\n{"id":"s1","type":"SLIDER","value":1.4}

For MQTT, WebSocket, and UDP connections, you can send formatted JSON without the one-line and line feed restrictions, as these are message-based protocols. For MQTT you have to publish to DroidPad/feed topic

Important Note for Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy

A long Bluetooth device name can cause advertisement failure (In case of BLE). To avoid this issue, use a shorter name. In your device's Bluetooth settings, change the Bluetooth device name to five or fewer characters, such as dev.

For devices running Android 12 or higher, you also need to ensure that your app has the necessary Bluetooth permissions. To do this, go to the app's system settings and grant the required Nearby Devices permission. Without this permission, the app won't be able to advertise Bluetooth LE services or access paired devices when using Bluetooth Classic.

Testing the connection

You can test the connections with Websocket,TCP, UDP servers and BLE client provided in https://github.com/UmerCodez/droidpad-python-examples

Ardunio Template

See Ardunio code template for CSV and JSON parsing UmerCodez/DroidPad-Arduino-template

Projects

1. A Tank controlled by an Arduino Uno R4 WiFi using the DroidPad App https://github.com/Klixxy/ArduTank by Klixxy
2. 3D-printed hexapod with 6-DOF pose control, adaptive gait, and FPV video streaming. Controlled via a Python GUI (TCP/UDP) or the DroidPad Android app. Powered by XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense https://github.com/Ozzi06/ESP_Hexapod by Ozzi06
3. Simple websocket server that allows you to use droidpad as a game controller https://github.com/Tofixrs/droidpad-gamepad by Tofixrs
4. A simple server for DroidPad, that can convert DroidPad messages into actual input events on your PC. It can be used alongside DroidPad, to emulate joysticks/keyboards/mouses, and is scriptable using Janet. https://github.com/agent-kilo/jumper
5. Parse structured data from Sockets Services for Vizzy, written to parse data sended by Droid Pad to control vehicles in Juno:New Origins with a mobile phone or tablet https://github.com/FourthDing/DataProcessingHelper
6. droidpad.py is a Python script that serves as a network bridge between an Android device running DroidPad and the Maqueen robot. It receives commands from DroidPad and translates them into Maqueen’s actions, such as movement, LED control, and buzzer activation.

TODOs

1. TouchPad