EDIT: Issue reported here: https://github.com/signal11/hidapi/issues/276
Inkling is a pen-device from Wacom. (InklingReader) is an open source project that gets real-time data from it.
I'm trying to tidy up InklingReader to use HIDAPI rather than libusb (as it works at higher level: HID rather than raw USB, so is much more compact & suitable. Also libusb fails on recent OSX).
HID API a small lib: one .h, one (per-platform) .c.
My code looks like this:
unsigned short inklingVendorId = 0x056a, inklingProductId = 0x0221;
if (hid_init() == FAIL) return;
handle = hid_open(inklingVendorId, inklingProductId, nullptr);
On Windows hid_open fails. Single stepping reveals the fail-point here:
// path = "\\\\?\\hid#vid_056a&pid_0221&mi_00&col01#8&1ea90857&0&0000#"
// "{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030}"
//
static HANDLE open_device(const char *path, BOOL enumerate)
{
HANDLE handle;
DWORD desired_access = (enumerate)? 0: (GENERIC_WRITE | GENERIC_READ);
DWORD share_mode = FILE_SHARE_READ|FILE_SHARE_WRITE;
// enumerate = 0
handle = CreateFileA(path,
desired_access,
share_mode,
NULL,
OPEN_EXISTING,
FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED,/*FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,*/
0);
int err = GetLastError(); // 5 i.e. ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED
return handle; // returns 0xffffffff i.e. INVALID_HANDLE
}
Now the HIDAPI author says "HIDAPI won't work with keyboards and mice on Windows. Windows as a security measure doesn't allow the opening of Mouse and Keyboard HIDs." (here)
And if I enumerate HID devices:
struct hid_device_info *devs, *cur_dev;
devs = hid_enumerate(inklingVendorId, inklingProductId);
cur_dev = devs;
while (cur_dev) {
DBG2("Device Found\n type: %04hx %04hx\n path: %s\n serial_number: %ls", cur_dev->vendor_id, cur_dev->product_id, cur_dev->path, cur_dev->serial_number);
DBG2("");
DBG2(" Manufacturer: %ls", cur_dev->manufacturer_string);
DBG2(" Product: %ls", cur_dev->product_string);
DBG2(" Release: %hx", cur_dev->release_number);
DBG2(" Interface: %d", cur_dev->interface_number);
DBG2(" Usage Page: %d", cur_dev->usage_page);
DBG2(" Usage: %d", cur_dev->usage);
DBG2("");
cur_dev = cur_dev->next;
}
hid_free_enumeration(devs);
... I get not one but TWO entries:
Device Found
type: 056a 0221
path: \\?\hid#vid_056a&pid_0221&mi_00&col01#8&1ea90857&0&0000#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030}
serial_number: 2B0400001C90C22A0002DD07FE8B022A
Manufacturer: Wacom, Inc.
Product: MSC Device
Release: 1256
Interface: 0
Usage Page: 1
Usage: 2
Device Found
type: 056a 0221
path: \\?\hid#vid_056a&pid_0221&mi_00&col02#8&1ea90857&0&0001#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030}
serial_number: 2B0400001C90C22A0002DD07FE8B022A
Manufacturer: Wacom, Inc.
Product: MSC Device
Release: 1256
Interface: 0
Usage Page: 13
Usage: 2
(Note: OSX only reports the SECOND entry! On OSX there is no problem!)
Comparing path:
path: \?\hid#vid_056a&pid_0221&mi_00&col01#8&1ea90857&0&0000#...
path: \?\hid#vid_056a&pid_0221&mi_00&col02#8&1ea90857&0&0001#...
As per http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/Hut1_12v2.pdf,
UsagePage/Usage = 1/2 = {Generic Desktop Controls}/{Mouse}.
UsagePage/Usage = 13/2 = {Digitizers}/{Pen}.
(EDIT: Sometimes the first path is the 1/2 and the second is the 13/2, other times it's swapped).
And HIDAPI is only taking the first one it finds.
So it looks like this should be the solution. The Inkling was exposing 2 'devices' and hidapi was taking the wrong (mouse) one, and Windows doesn't allow access to Mouse or Keyboard Devices.
So I tweak the code...
while (cur_dev) {
if (cur_dev->vendor_id == vendor_id &&
cur_dev->product_id == product_id &&
cur_dev->usage_page == 13)
{
... to get the correct entry, it should work right?
Nope, CreateFileA just raises a different error:
usage_page== 1 => Error code 5 (ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED)
usage_page==13 => Error code 32 (ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION)
Meh. This is rather upsetting. I seem to be at a dead-end!
I've tried fiddling with CreateFileA's params, e.g. replacing GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE with STANDARD_RIGHTS_READ | STANDARD_RIGHTS_WRITE -- now it happily creates a handle. But subsequent hid_read-s fail to collect any data.
Googling, https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsdesktop/en-US/af869f90-7bda-483d-ba2d-51680073fe9f/createfile-returns-invalid-handle-while-trying-to-access-hid-device-on-windows-8-desktop-app?forum=wdk seems to contain a couple of suggested workarounds:
both toaster and firefly can work in the HID stack. toaster shows how to address the filter through a raw PDO, firefly shows how to access it with WMI. From a C perspective, I think the raw PDO is much simpler to code to, WMI is a bit nasty and complicated.
The author is recommending something in toaster, but it is a big CodeBase and I don't have experience with Windows Driver programming.
It looks as though I'm going to have to dig through a lot of very unfamiliar territory to get anything working, so before a start out I am asking here. If nobody answers and I figure it out, I will answer my own question.
The only other thing I can think of it is that maybe another process is already engaging this path. Maybe if I can terminate this process, the CreateFileA might succeed? Roel's libusb approach involves detaching kernel driver: https://github.com/roelj/inklingreader/blob/master/src/usb/online-mode.c#L98
PS Somewhere I read that if another process has already opened this device, our open has to match the permissions of this previous open. And I also read that Windows automatically opens all HID Devices upon detection.
Find out which process has an exclusive lock on a USB device handle
PPS maybe one idea is to try an alternative HID lib What is the best usb library to communicate with usb HID devices on Windows?
PPPS maybe I need to run my code as admin. But that's not a good solution.
