WebHID API
Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.
A Human Interface Device (HID) is a type of device that takes input from or provides output to humans. It also refers to the HID protocol, a standard for bi-directional communication between a host and a device that is designed to simplify the installation procedure. The HID protocol was originally developed for USB devices but has since been implemented over many other protocols, including Bluetooth.
Interfaces
HID
-
Provides methods for connecting to HID devices, listing attached HID devices and event handlers for connected HID devices.
HIDDevice
-
Represents an HID device. It's possible for a single physical device to be represented by multiple
HIDDevice
obects.
HIDInputReportEvent
-
Passed to
HIDDevice.oninputreport
when an input report is received from any associated HID device.
HIDConnectionEvent
-
Passed to
HID.onconnect
andHID.ondisconnect
when a device is connected or disconnected.
Examples
You can connect to a device with the requestDevice()
method. In this case, we select from all the available devices.
const device = await navigator.hid.requestDevice({filters: []}) // A popup titled `... wants to connect to a HID Device` with `Cancel` and `Connect` buttons will show up with a device list to select from. // Select one and click on `Connect` button. Then the device will be an array with the selected device in it.
We can retrieve all the connected devices and log the device names to the console.
let devices = await navigator.hid.getDevices(); devices.forEach(device => { console.log(`HID: ${device.productName}`); });
We can register event listeners for disconnection of any HID devices.
navigator.hid.addEventListener('disconnect', (event) => { console.log(`HID disconnected: ${event.device.productName}`); console.dir(event) }); // For example, when my connected keyboard gets disconnected, the log in the console will show: // HID disconnected: USB USB Keyboard // { // bubbles: false // cancelBubble: false // cancelable: false // composed: false // currentTarget: HID {onconnect: null, ondisconnect: null} // defaultPrevented: false // device: HIDDevice {oninputreport: null, opened: false, vendorId: 6700, productId: 11555, productName: "USB USB Keyboard", …} // eventPhase: 0 // isTrusted: true // path: [] // returnValue: true // srcElement: HID {onconnect: null, ondisconnect: null} // target: HID {onconnect: null, ondisconnect: null} // timeStamp: 18176.600000023842 // type: "disconnect" // } // The event above is an instance of the HIDConnectionEvent interface.
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
WebHID API | Draft | Initial definition. |
Browser compatibility
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari | WebView Android | Chrome Android | Firefox for Android | Opera Android | Safari on IOS | Samsung Internet | |
WebHID_API |
89 |
89 |
No |
No |
75 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
getDevices |
89 |
89 |
No |
No |
75 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
onconnect |
89 |
89 |
No |
No |
75 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
ondisconnect |
89 |
89 |
No |
No |
75 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
requestDevice |
89 |
89 |
No |
No |
75 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
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Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebHID_API