How do I get an xbox 360 controller to rumble?

Question

I am interfacing with the controller using the windows HID API. It seems that its output report length, as provided by the HID driver, is 0, which means I can't send it anything (e.g. make the rumble work). I've also noticed that the input report doesn't include the state of the big "X" button. Am I wrong about this? Is there a workaround, a better API, a workable filter driver that doesn't involve making .infs, etc...?

As I need to support an arbitrary number of controllers (keyboards, mice, and anything for that matter), xinput isn't an option. Installing drivers is also not an option, unless it can be done silently without breaking the device for every other application.

Answer 1

USB HID driver does not contain any provisions for force feedback, and there is no (not even de facto) standard way for HID-compliant devices to provide it.

The USB PID, physical interface device, interface contains such a mechanism. But this is a different device class so if the device doesn't claim to support it, you'll need a non-compliant USB stack. And even if it does, USB PID drivers are not available for most machines (for example, there is no Windows x64 driver, and there is no Windows 7 / Vista driver).

To do this you'll have to use both XInput and another API of your choice.