Controller selection - input

Question

In my title screen, i have a code saying that the first controller using A is the PlayerIndex.one.
Here is the code:
public override void HandleInput(InputState input)
{
for (int anyPlayer = 0; anyPlayer <4; anyPlayer++)
{
if (GamePad.GetState((PlayerIndex)anyPlayer).Buttons.A == ButtonState.Pressed)
{
FirstPlayer = (PlayerIndex)anyPlayer;
this.ExitScreen();
AddScreen(new Background());
}
}
}
My question is: How can i use the "FirstPlayer" in other classes? (without this, there is no interest in this code)
I tried the Get Set thing but i can't make it work. Does i need to put my code in another class? Do you use other code to make this?
Thanks.

Answer 1

You can make a static variable say : SelectedPlayer,
and assign first player to it!
then you can call the first player through this class,
for example
class GameManager
{
public static PlayerIndex SelectedPlayer{get;set;}
..
..
..
}
and right after the loop in your code, you can say:
GameManager.SelectedPlayer = FirstPlayer;
I hope this helps, if your code cold be clearer that would be easier to help :)

Answer 2

Ok, so to do this properly you're going to have to redesign a little.
First off, you should be checking for a new gamepad input (i.e. you should be exiting the screen only when 'A' has been newly pressed). To do this you should be storing previous and current gamepad states:
private GamePadState currentGamePadState;
private GamePadState lastGamePadState;
// in your constructor
currentGamePadState = new GamePadState();
lastGamePadState = new GamePadState();
// in your update
lastGamePadState = currentGamePadState;
currentGamePadState = GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One);
Really what you need to do is modify your class that deals with input. The basic functionality from your HandleInput function should be moved into your input class. Input should have a collection of functions that test for new/current input. For example, for the case you posted:
public Bool IsNewButtonPress(Buttons buton)
{
return (currentGamePadState.IsButtonDown(button) && lastGamePadState.IsButtonUp(button));
}
Then you can write:
public override void HandleInput(InputState input)
{
if (input.IsNewButtonPress(Buttons.A)
{
this.ExitScreen();
AddScreen(new Background());
}
}
Note: this will only work for one controller. To extend the implementation, you'll need to do something like this:
private GamePadState[] currentGamePadStates;
private GamePadState[] lastGamePadStates;
// in your constructor
currentGamePadStates = new GamePadState[4];
currentGamePadStates[0] = new GamePadState(PlayerIndex.One);
currentGamePadStates[1] = new GamePadController(PlayerIndex.Two);
// etc.
lastGamePadStates[0] = new GamePadState(PlayerIndex.One);
// etc.
// in your update
foreach (GamePadState s in currentGamePadStates)
{
// update all of this as before...
}
// etc.
Now, you want to test every controller for input, so you'll need to generalise by writing a function that returns a Bool after checking each GamePadState in the arrays for a button press.
Check out the MSDN Game State Management Sample for a well developed implementation. I can't remember if it supports multiple controllers, but the structure is clear and can easily be adapted if not.