Changing your device's display name (Windows only) or Hardware ID

Once your BLE sim-wheel/button box is paired and connected to your host computer, It will be available in the "Game Controllers" control panel. However, it will show a generic display name like "4 axis 128 button device with hat switch".

Custom display name by means of the companion app (Windows only)

On Windows computers, the companion app will do the work for you. See the usage notes.

Custom display name by means of the Windows registry editor (Windows only)

1. Open the "registry editor" (regedit.exe) with user privileges (not administrator).

2. Navigate to the following folder (registry key):

   KEY_CURRENT_USER\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\Joystick\OEM

3. Inside that folder, locate the subfolder (registry key) for your device.

   Those keys are named using this pattern: "VID -hex number- &PID -hex number- ", where "VID" means "vendor identifier" and "PID" means "product identifier". Together, they are a (plug-and-play) hardware identifier (ID). If your device uses BLE connectivity and the default hardware ID set in this project, that registry key should be "VID_1D50&PID_FFFF".

4. Double-click (edit) the value "OEMName".

5. Set a custom display name and hit "enter".

This works for a single computer and user account. If you need to propagate your custom display name to another user or computer:

• Right-click on the alluded registry key.
• Select "Export" to create a ".reg" file.
• Move the ".reg" file to another computer or account and double-click.

This works as a backup measure, too.

Custom hardware ID

If you have two or more BLE devices using firmware from this project, all of them will show the same display name, because they share the same hardware ID. However, there are two (non-exclusive) ways to assign a different hardware ID to each device.

When using USB connectivity, the custom VID is ignored to minimize the chance of the host PC loading the wrong drivers, which could be disastrous.

By means of the companion app

A custom VID or PID can be stored by the firmware in flash memory to be used on the subsequent boot. Use the companion app.

In source code

• Locate the following API call (not to be taken literally):

  hid::configure(
        DEVICE_NAME,
        DEVICE_MANUFACTURER,
        ...);
  

• Add two parameters to the right:

  • a non-zero 16 bits number as a custom VID.
  • a non-zero 16 bits number as a custom PID.

  Numbers 0 and FFFF (hexadecimal) are reserved and must not be used.

For example, Setup1.ino shows:

hid::configure(
   DEVICE_NAME,
   DEVICE_MANUFACTURER,
   false);

In order to set the custom VID 16 and the custom PID 32, substitute with:

hid::configure(
   DEVICE_NAME,
   DEVICE_MANUFACTURER,
   false,
   16,
   32);

For convenience, CustomSetup.ino do the work in advance. Uncomment the following lines:

// #define BLE_CUSTOM_VID <here>
// #define BLE_CUSTOM_PID <here>

And replace <here> with your custom numbers. For example (equivalent to the previous example):

#define BLE_CUSTOM_VID 16
#define BLE_CUSTOM_PID 32

USB connectivity

If your device uses USB connectivity, the display name will match your device name, which can be set in your custom firmware using the API call hid::configure().

Why all this mess?

Believe it or not, the HID specification does not include a "display name". Windows figures out what to show in this manner:

• USB: the display name is taken from the "product string", which is a certain USB string descriptor.

• Bluetooth classic: the display name is taken from the value of the SDP attribute called "Service Name". See table 5.3 (section 5.3.3) from the Bluetooth HID specification.

• BLE: according to the HID over GATT specification there is nowhere to get a display name. When a device is advertised, Windows ought to take note of the device name, but it doesn't. The open-source community is still in the dark about how commercial products show a custom display name.