Control joystick's force effects via COM-port

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1. What is it that the new feature will do or allow?

Allow writing applications on PC that can control the joystick's force effects 
directly by sending the effects data and commands directly to the virtual 
COM-port instead of using DirectX or the FFB USB-protocols.

2. Who would primarily use or benefit from the new feature?

Developers of the PC software that do not want to face the complexity of 
DirectX, but want to control the joystick directly.

Here's the description from the original source of the request "Joseph":

"My project is called 'Tourist' it's a non-violent fps style exploration VR 
type of game to help the ill to relax basically. A child could play it.
BlitzBasic3D has a really IFFY ff module, so I'd prefer to attack this problem 
via serial com port and/or a slave app. I have other input devices also."

3. How would one use the new feature?

Once the joystick is connected, an application could open the virtual COM-port 
to the joystick and start sending effects data and thus be able to fully 
control the joysticks force effects in a much simpler way.

This feature might also help adapter developer to run unit tests on the adapter 
software without the need of writing complex DirectX code.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by [email protected] on 29 Dec 2013 at 2:03

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Original comment by [email protected] on 7 Jan 2014 at 12:13

• Changed state: Started

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Original comment by [email protected] on 8 Jan 2014 at 12:19

• Changed state: Testing