Use the inclinometer

Article
05/06/2023

Learn how to use the inclinometer to determine pitch, roll, and yaw.

Important APIs

Prerequisites

You should be familiar with Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), Microsoft Visual C#, and events.

The device or emulator that you're using must support an inclinometer.

Create a simple inclinometer app

Some 3-D games require an inclinometer as an input device. One common example is the flight simulator, which maps the three axes of the inclinometer (X, Y, and Z) to the elevator, aileron, and rudder inputs of the aircraft.

Note

For a more complete implementation, see the inclinometer sample.

Instructions

Create a new project, choosing a Blank App (Universal Windows) from the Visual C# project templates.
Open your project's MainPage.xaml.cs file and replace the existing code with the following.

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.IO;
    using System.Linq;
    using Windows.Foundation;
    using Windows.Foundation.Collections;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Primitives;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml.Data;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml.Input;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml.Media;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml.Navigation;

    using Windows.UI.Core;
    using Windows.Devices.Sensors;


    namespace App1
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// An empty page that can be used on its own or navigated to within a Frame.
        /// </summary>
        public sealed partial class MainPage : Page
        {
            private Inclinometer _inclinometer;

            // This event handler writes the current inclinometer reading to
            // the three text blocks on the app' s main page.

            private async void ReadingChanged(object sender, InclinometerReadingChangedEventArgs e)
            {
                await Dispatcher.RunAsync(CoreDispatcherPriority.Normal, () =>
                {
                    InclinometerReading reading = e.Reading;
                    txtPitch.Text = String.Format("{0,5:0.00}", reading.PitchDegrees);
                    txtRoll.Text = String.Format("{0,5:0.00}", reading.RollDegrees);
                    txtYaw.Text = String.Format("{0,5:0.00}", reading.YawDegrees);
                });
            }

            public MainPage()
            {
                this.InitializeComponent();
                _inclinometer = Inclinometer.GetDefault();


                if (_inclinometer != null)
                {
                    // Establish the report interval for all scenarios
                    uint minReportInterval = _inclinometer.MinimumReportInterval;
                    uint reportInterval = minReportInterval > 16 ? minReportInterval : 16;
                    _inclinometer.ReportInterval = reportInterval;

                    // Establish the event handler
                    _inclinometer.ReadingChanged += new TypedEventHandler<Inclinometer, InclinometerReadingChangedEventArgs>(ReadingChanged);
                }
            }
        }
    }

You'll need to rename the namespace in the previous snippet with the name you gave your project. For example, if you created a project named InclinometerCS, you'd replace namespace App1 with namespace InclinometerCS.

Open the file MainPage.xaml and replace the original contents with the following XML.

        <Page
        x:Class="App1.MainPage"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:local="using:App1"
        xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
        xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
        mc:Ignorable="d">

        <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="#FF0C0C0C">
            <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="21" Margin="0,8,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Pitch: " VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="45" Foreground="#FFF9F4F4"/>
            <TextBlock x:Name="txtPitch" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="21" Margin="59,8,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBlock" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="71" Foreground="#FFFDF9F9"/>
            <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="0,29,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Roll:" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="55" Foreground="#FFF7F1F1"/>
            <TextBlock x:Name="txtRoll" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="59,29,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBlock" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="50" Foreground="#FFFCF9F9"/>
            <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="19" Margin="0,56,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Yaw:" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="55" Foreground="#FFF7F3F3"/>
            <TextBlock x:Name="txtYaw" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="19" Margin="55,56,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBlock" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="54" Foreground="#FFF6F2F2"/>

        </Grid>
    </Page>

You'll need to replace the first part of the class name in the previous snippet with the namespace of your app. For example, if you created a project named InclinometerCS, you'd replace x:Class="App1.MainPage" with x:Class="InclinometerCS.MainPage". You should also replace xmlns:local="using:App1" with xmlns:local="using:InclinometerCS".

Press F5 or select Debug > Start Debugging to build, deploy, and run the app.

Once the app is running, you can change the inclinometer values by moving the device or using the emulator tools.

Stop the app by returning to Visual Studio and pressing Shift+F5 or select Debug > Stop Debugging to stop the app.

Explanation

The previous example demonstrates how little code you'll need to write in order to integrate inclinometer input in your app.

The app establishes a connection with the default inclinometer in the MainPage method.

_inclinometer = Inclinometer.GetDefault();

The app establishes the report interval within the MainPage method. This code retrieves the minimum interval supported by the device and compares it to a requested interval of 16 milliseconds (which approximates a 60-Hz refresh rate). If the minimum supported interval is greater than the requested interval, the code sets the value to the minimum. Otherwise, it sets the value to the requested interval.

uint minReportInterval = _inclinometer.MinimumReportInterval;
uint reportInterval = minReportInterval > 16 ? minReportInterval : 16;
_inclinometer.ReportInterval = reportInterval;

The new inclinometer data is captured in the ReadingChanged method. Each time the sensor driver receives new data from the sensor, it passes the values to your app using this event handler. The app registers this event handler on the following line.

_inclinometer.ReadingChanged += new TypedEventHandler<Inclinometer,
InclinometerReadingChangedEventArgs>(ReadingChanged);

These new values are written to the TextBlocks found in the project's XAML.

<TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="21" Margin="0,8,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Pitch: " VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="45" Foreground="#FFF9F4F4"/>
 <TextBlock x:Name="txtPitch" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="21" Margin="59,8,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBlock" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="71" Foreground="#FFFDF9F9"/>
 <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="0,29,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Roll:" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="55" Foreground="#FFF7F1F1"/>
 <TextBlock x:Name="txtRoll" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="59,29,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBlock" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="50" Foreground="#FFFCF9F9"/>
 <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="19" Margin="0,56,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Yaw:" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="55" Foreground="#FFF7F3F3"/>
 <TextBlock x:Name="txtYaw" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="19" Margin="55,56,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBlock" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="54" Foreground="#FFF6F2F2"/>

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Use the inclinometer

Prerequisites

Create a simple inclinometer app

Instructions

Explanation

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