Game Controller Battery

DankMaterialShell widget plugin that shows battery levels for connected game controllers using UPower.

Features

• Detects controller batteries from org.freedesktop.UPower
• Supports multiple connected controllers
• Shows charging state and low-battery state
• Updates from D-Bus events, polling, or both
• Optional desktop notification when a controller connects
• Works in horizontal and vertical DankBar layouts

Plugin Manifest

This plugin follows the DMS widget plugin structure documented at:

• type: "widget"
• component: "./GameControllerBatteryWidget.qml"
• settings: "./GameControllerBatterySettings.qml"
• permissions: ["settings_read", "settings_write", "process"]

The process permission is required because the plugin uses notify-send for connection notifications.

Installation

1. Place or symlink this directory at ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugins/gameControllerBattery.
2. Open DMS Settings and scan for plugins.
3. Enable Game Controller Battery.
4. Add it to DankBar from the widget list.

For development reloads, use:

dms ipc call plugins reload gameControllerBattery

Check current status with:

dms ipc call plugins status gameControllerBattery

Settings

The plugin uses PluginSettings and exposes these settings:

Setting	Type	Default	Description
Show Controller Count Only	Toggle	false	Hides controller names and keeps the compact percentage display
Controller Name Length	Slider	16	Maximum displayed controller name length
Connection Notifications	Toggle	true	Sends a desktop notification when a controller connects
Hide When No Controllers Connected	Toggle	false	Hides the widget when no controller battery is detected
Update Method	Selection	event	Chooses D-Bus events, polling, or both
Fallback Refresh Interval	Slider	15 sec	Polling interval used when polling is enabled

Detection Logic

The widget enumerates UPower devices and scores candidates using:

• Device type
• Model, native path, and icon-name keyword matching
• Valid battery percentage availability

Matching devices are de-duplicated by UPower path and sorted by score. The top match drives the overlay battery indicator, and all matched controllers are shown in the widget display.

Requirements

• DankMaterialShell with 3rd party plugin support
• UPower running on the system bus
• Controller battery support exposed through UPower

Screenshot

Troubleshooting

No controller battery appears

busctl --system list | grep org.freedesktop.UPower
upower -e
upower -i <device-path>

Updates are delayed

• Switch Update Method to both or poll
• Lower Fallback Refresh Interval
• Verify your controller emits UPower property changes on your system

Plugin loads but notifications do not appear

• Confirm notify-send is installed
• Keep Connection Notifications enabled
• Ensure the plugin manifest still includes the process permission

Metadata

• Plugin ID: gameControllerBattery
• Name: Game Controller Battery
• Version: 1.0.0
• Author: Mohammad Hujair