1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GFDL-1.1-no-invariants-or-later
2.. c:namespace:: V4L
3
4.. _VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS:
5
6******************************************************************
7ioctl VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS, VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS, VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS
8******************************************************************
9
10Name
11====
12
13VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS - VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS - VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS - Get or set the value of several controls, try control values
14
15Synopsis
16========
17
18.. c:macro:: VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS
19
20``int ioctl(int fd, VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS, struct v4l2_ext_controls *argp)``
21
22.. c:macro:: VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS
23
24``int ioctl(int fd, VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS, struct v4l2_ext_controls *argp)``
25
26.. c:macro:: VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS
27
28``int ioctl(int fd, VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS, struct v4l2_ext_controls *argp)``
29
30Arguments
31=========
32
33``fd``
34    File descriptor returned by :c:func:`open()`.
35
36``argp``
37    Pointer to struct :c:type:`v4l2_ext_controls`.
38
39Description
40===========
41
42These ioctls allow the caller to get or set multiple controls
43atomically. Control IDs are grouped into control classes (see
44:ref:`ctrl-class`) and all controls in the control array must belong
45to the same control class.
46
47Applications must always fill in the ``count``, ``which``, ``controls``
48and ``reserved`` fields of struct
49:c:type:`v4l2_ext_controls`, and initialize the
50struct :c:type:`v4l2_ext_control` array pointed to
51by the ``controls`` fields.
52
53To get the current value of a set of controls applications initialize
54the ``id``, ``size`` and ``reserved2`` fields of each struct
55:c:type:`v4l2_ext_control` and call the
56:ref:`VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` ioctl. String controls must also set the
57``string`` field. Controls of compound types
58(``V4L2_CTRL_FLAG_HAS_PAYLOAD`` is set) must set the ``ptr`` field.
59
60If the ``size`` is too small to receive the control result (only
61relevant for pointer-type controls like strings), then the driver will
62set ``size`` to a valid value and return an ``ENOSPC`` error code. You
63should re-allocate the memory to this new size and try again. For the
64string type it is possible that the same issue occurs again if the
65string has grown in the meantime. It is recommended to call
66:ref:`VIDIOC_QUERYCTRL` first and use
67``maximum``\ +1 as the new ``size`` value. It is guaranteed that that is
68sufficient memory.
69
70N-dimensional arrays are set and retrieved row-by-row. You cannot set a
71partial array, all elements have to be set or retrieved. The total size
72is calculated as ``elems`` * ``elem_size``. These values can be obtained
73by calling :ref:`VIDIOC_QUERY_EXT_CTRL <VIDIOC_QUERYCTRL>`.
74
75To change the value of a set of controls applications initialize the
76``id``, ``size``, ``reserved2`` and ``value/value64/string/ptr`` fields
77of each struct :c:type:`v4l2_ext_control` and call
78the :ref:`VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` ioctl. The controls will only be set if *all*
79control values are valid.
80
81To check if a set of controls have correct values applications
82initialize the ``id``, ``size``, ``reserved2`` and
83``value/value64/string/ptr`` fields of each struct
84:c:type:`v4l2_ext_control` and call the
85:ref:`VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` ioctl. It is up to the driver whether wrong
86values are automatically adjusted to a valid value or if an error is
87returned.
88
89When the ``id`` or ``which`` is invalid drivers return an ``EINVAL`` error
90code. When the value is out of bounds drivers can choose to take the
91closest valid value or return an ``ERANGE`` error code, whatever seems more
92appropriate. In the first case the new value is set in struct
93:c:type:`v4l2_ext_control`. If the new control value
94is inappropriate (e.g. the given menu index is not supported by the menu
95control), then this will also result in an ``EINVAL`` error code error.
96
97If ``request_fd`` is set to a not-yet-queued :ref:`request <media-request-api>`
98file descriptor and ``which`` is set to ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_REQUEST_VAL``,
99then the controls are not applied immediately when calling
100:ref:`VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>`, but instead are applied by
101the driver for the buffer associated with the same request.
102If the device does not support requests, then ``EACCES`` will be returned.
103If requests are supported but an invalid request file descriptor is given,
104then ``EINVAL`` will be returned.
105
106An attempt to call :ref:`VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` for a
107request that has already been queued will result in an ``EBUSY`` error.
108
109If ``request_fd`` is specified and ``which`` is set to
110``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_REQUEST_VAL`` during a call to
111:ref:`VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>`, then it will return the
112values of the controls at the time of request completion.
113If the request is not yet completed, then this will result in an
114``EACCES`` error.
115
116The driver will only set/get these controls if all control values are
117correct. This prevents the situation where only some of the controls
118were set/get. Only low-level errors (e. g. a failed i2c command) can
119still cause this situation.
120
121.. tabularcolumns:: |p{1.2cm}|p{3.0cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{11.8cm}|
122
123.. c:type:: v4l2_ext_control
124
125.. cssclass: longtable
126
127.. flat-table:: struct v4l2_ext_control
128    :header-rows:  0
129    :stub-columns: 0
130    :widths:       1 1 2
131
132    * - __u32
133      - ``id``
134      - Identifies the control, set by the application.
135    * - __u32
136      - ``size``
137      - The total size in bytes of the payload of this control. This is
138	normally 0, but for pointer controls this should be set to the
139	size of the memory containing the payload, or that will receive
140	the payload. If :ref:`VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` finds that this value is
141	less than is required to store the payload result, then it is set
142	to a value large enough to store the payload result and ``ENOSPC`` is
143	returned.
144
145	.. note::
146
147	   For string controls, this ``size`` field should
148	   not be confused with the length of the string. This field refers
149	   to the size of the memory that contains the string. The actual
150	   *length* of the string may well be much smaller.
151    * - __u32
152      - ``reserved2``\ [1]
153      - Reserved for future extensions. Drivers and applications must set
154	the array to zero.
155    * - union {
156      - (anonymous)
157    * - __s32
158      - ``value``
159      - New value or current value. Valid if this control is not of type
160	``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_INTEGER64`` and ``V4L2_CTRL_FLAG_HAS_PAYLOAD`` is
161	not set.
162    * - __s64
163      - ``value64``
164      - New value or current value. Valid if this control is of type
165	``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_INTEGER64`` and ``V4L2_CTRL_FLAG_HAS_PAYLOAD`` is
166	not set.
167    * - char *
168      - ``string``
169      - A pointer to a string. Valid if this control is of type
170	``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_STRING``.
171    * - __u8 *
172      - ``p_u8``
173      - A pointer to a matrix control of unsigned 8-bit values. Valid if
174	this control is of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_U8``.
175    * - __u16 *
176      - ``p_u16``
177      - A pointer to a matrix control of unsigned 16-bit values. Valid if
178	this control is of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_U16``.
179    * - __u32 *
180      - ``p_u32``
181      - A pointer to a matrix control of unsigned 32-bit values. Valid if
182	this control is of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_U32``.
183    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_area` *
184      - ``p_area``
185      - A pointer to a struct :c:type:`v4l2_area`. Valid if this control is
186        of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_AREA``.
187    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_sps` *
188      - ``p_h264_sps``
189      - A pointer to a struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_sps`. Valid if this control is
190        of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_H264_SPS``.
191    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_pps` *
192      - ``p_h264_pps``
193      - A pointer to a struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_pps`. Valid if this control is
194        of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_H264_PPS``.
195    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_scaling_matrix` *
196      - ``p_h264_scaling_matrix``
197      - A pointer to a struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_scaling_matrix`. Valid if this control is
198        of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_H264_SCALING_MATRIX``.
199    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_pred_weights` *
200      - ``p_h264_pred_weights``
201      - A pointer to a struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_pred_weights`. Valid if this control is
202        of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_H264_PRED_WEIGHTS``.
203    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_slice_params` *
204      - ``p_h264_slice_params``
205      - A pointer to a struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_slice_params`. Valid if this control is
206        of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_H264_SLICE_PARAMS``.
207    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_decode_params` *
208      - ``p_h264_decode_params``
209      - A pointer to a struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_h264_decode_params`. Valid if this control is
210        of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_H264_DECODE_PARAMS``.
211    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_fwht_params` *
212      - ``p_fwht_params``
213      - A pointer to a struct :c:type:`v4l2_ctrl_fwht_params`. Valid if this control is
214        of type ``V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_FWHT_PARAMS``.
215    * - void *
216      - ``ptr``
217      - A pointer to a compound type which can be an N-dimensional array
218	and/or a compound type (the control's type is >=
219	``V4L2_CTRL_COMPOUND_TYPES``). Valid if
220	``V4L2_CTRL_FLAG_HAS_PAYLOAD`` is set for this control.
221    * - }
222      -
223
224.. tabularcolumns:: |p{4.0cm}|p{2.2cm}|p{2.1cm}|p{8.2cm}|
225
226.. c:type:: v4l2_ext_controls
227
228.. cssclass:: longtable
229
230.. flat-table:: struct v4l2_ext_controls
231    :header-rows:  0
232    :stub-columns: 0
233    :widths:       1 1 2
234
235    * - union {
236      - (anonymous)
237    * - __u32
238      - ``ctrl_class``
239      - The control class to which all controls belong, see
240	:ref:`ctrl-class`. Drivers that use a kernel framework for
241	handling controls will also accept a value of 0 here, meaning that
242	the controls can belong to any control class. Whether drivers
243	support this can be tested by setting ``ctrl_class`` to 0 and
244	calling :ref:`VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` with a ``count`` of 0. If that
245	succeeds, then the driver supports this feature.
246    * - __u32
247      - ``which``
248      - Which value of the control to get/set/try.
249	``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_CUR_VAL`` will return the current value of the
250	control, ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_DEF_VAL`` will return the default
251	value of the control and ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_REQUEST_VAL`` indicates that
252	these controls have to be retrieved from a request or tried/set for
253	a request. In the latter case the ``request_fd`` field contains the
254	file descriptor of the request that should be used. If the device
255	does not support requests, then ``EACCES`` will be returned.
256
257	.. note::
258
259	   When using ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_DEF_VAL`` be aware that you can only
260	   get the default value of the control, you cannot set or try it.
261
262	For backwards compatibility you can also use a control class here
263	(see :ref:`ctrl-class`). In that case all controls have to
264	belong to that control class. This usage is deprecated, instead
265	just use ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_CUR_VAL``. There are some very old
266	drivers that do not yet support ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_CUR_VAL`` and
267	that require a control class here. You can test for such drivers
268	by setting ctrl_class to ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_CUR_VAL`` and calling
269	VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS with a count of 0. If that fails, then the
270	driver does not support ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_CUR_VAL``.
271    * - }
272      -
273    * - __u32
274      - ``count``
275      - The number of controls in the controls array. May also be zero.
276    * - __u32
277      - ``error_idx``
278      - Set by the driver in case of an error. If the error is associated
279	with a particular control, then ``error_idx`` is set to the index
280	of that control. If the error is not related to a specific
281	control, or the validation step failed (see below), then
282	``error_idx`` is set to ``count``. The value is undefined if the
283	ioctl returned 0 (success).
284
285	Before controls are read from/written to hardware a validation
286	step takes place: this checks if all controls in the list are
287	valid controls, if no attempt is made to write to a read-only
288	control or read from a write-only control, and any other up-front
289	checks that can be done without accessing the hardware. The exact
290	validations done during this step are driver dependent since some
291	checks might require hardware access for some devices, thus making
292	it impossible to do those checks up-front. However, drivers should
293	make a best-effort to do as many up-front checks as possible.
294
295	This check is done to avoid leaving the hardware in an
296	inconsistent state due to easy-to-avoid problems. But it leads to
297	another problem: the application needs to know whether an error
298	came from the validation step (meaning that the hardware was not
299	touched) or from an error during the actual reading from/writing
300	to hardware.
301
302	The, in hindsight quite poor, solution for that is to set
303	``error_idx`` to ``count`` if the validation failed. This has the
304	unfortunate side-effect that it is not possible to see which
305	control failed the validation. If the validation was successful
306	and the error happened while accessing the hardware, then
307	``error_idx`` is less than ``count`` and only the controls up to
308	``error_idx-1`` were read or written correctly, and the state of
309	the remaining controls is undefined.
310
311	Since :ref:`VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` does not access hardware there is
312	also no need to handle the validation step in this special way, so
313	``error_idx`` will just be set to the control that failed the
314	validation step instead of to ``count``. This means that if
315	:ref:`VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` fails with ``error_idx`` set to ``count``,
316	then you can call :ref:`VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` to try to discover the
317	actual control that failed the validation step. Unfortunately,
318	there is no ``TRY`` equivalent for :ref:`VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>`.
319    * - __s32
320      - ``request_fd``
321      - File descriptor of the request to be used by this operation. Only
322	valid if ``which`` is set to ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_REQUEST_VAL``.
323	If the device does not support requests, then ``EACCES`` will be returned.
324	If requests are supported but an invalid request file descriptor is
325	given, then ``EINVAL`` will be returned.
326    * - __u32
327      - ``reserved``\ [1]
328      - Reserved for future extensions.
329
330	Drivers and applications must set the array to zero.
331    * - struct :c:type:`v4l2_ext_control` *
332      - ``controls``
333      - Pointer to an array of ``count`` v4l2_ext_control structures.
334
335	Ignored if ``count`` equals zero.
336
337.. tabularcolumns:: |p{6.6cm}|p{2.2cm}|p{8.7cm}|
338
339.. _ctrl-class:
340
341.. flat-table:: Control classes
342    :header-rows:  0
343    :stub-columns: 0
344    :widths:       3 1 4
345
346    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_USER``
347      - 0x980000
348      - The class containing user controls. These controls are described
349	in :ref:`control`. All controls that can be set using the
350	:ref:`VIDIOC_S_CTRL <VIDIOC_G_CTRL>` and
351	:ref:`VIDIOC_G_CTRL <VIDIOC_G_CTRL>` ioctl belong to this
352	class.
353    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_CODEC``
354      - 0x990000
355      - The class containing stateful codec controls. These controls are
356	described in :ref:`codec-controls`.
357    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_CAMERA``
358      - 0x9a0000
359      - The class containing camera controls. These controls are described
360	in :ref:`camera-controls`.
361    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_FM_TX``
362      - 0x9b0000
363      - The class containing FM Transmitter (FM TX) controls. These
364	controls are described in :ref:`fm-tx-controls`.
365    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_FLASH``
366      - 0x9c0000
367      - The class containing flash device controls. These controls are
368	described in :ref:`flash-controls`.
369    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_JPEG``
370      - 0x9d0000
371      - The class containing JPEG compression controls. These controls are
372	described in :ref:`jpeg-controls`.
373    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_IMAGE_SOURCE``
374      - 0x9e0000
375      - The class containing image source controls. These controls are
376	described in :ref:`image-source-controls`.
377    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_IMAGE_PROC``
378      - 0x9f0000
379      - The class containing image processing controls. These controls are
380	described in :ref:`image-process-controls`.
381    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_FM_RX``
382      - 0xa10000
383      - The class containing FM Receiver (FM RX) controls. These controls
384	are described in :ref:`fm-rx-controls`.
385    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_RF_TUNER``
386      - 0xa20000
387      - The class containing RF tuner controls. These controls are
388	described in :ref:`rf-tuner-controls`.
389    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_DETECT``
390      - 0xa30000
391      - The class containing motion or object detection controls. These controls
392        are described in :ref:`detect-controls`.
393    * - ``V4L2_CTRL_CLASS_CODEC_STATELESS``
394      - 0xa40000
395      - The class containing stateless codec controls. These controls are
396	described in :ref:`codec-stateless-controls`.
397
398Return Value
399============
400
401On success 0 is returned, on error -1 and the ``errno`` variable is set
402appropriately. The generic error codes are described at the
403:ref:`Generic Error Codes <gen-errors>` chapter.
404
405EINVAL
406    The struct :c:type:`v4l2_ext_control` ``id`` is
407    invalid, or the struct :c:type:`v4l2_ext_controls`
408    ``which`` is invalid, or the struct
409    :c:type:`v4l2_ext_control` ``value`` was
410    inappropriate (e.g. the given menu index is not supported by the
411    driver), or the ``which`` field was set to ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_REQUEST_VAL``
412    but the given ``request_fd`` was invalid or ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_REQUEST_VAL``
413    is not supported by the kernel.
414    This error code is also returned by the
415    :ref:`VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` and :ref:`VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS <VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS>` ioctls if two or
416    more control values are in conflict.
417
418ERANGE
419    The struct :c:type:`v4l2_ext_control` ``value``
420    is out of bounds.
421
422EBUSY
423    The control is temporarily not changeable, possibly because another
424    applications took over control of the device function this control
425    belongs to, or (if the ``which`` field was set to
426    ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_REQUEST_VAL``) the request was queued but not yet
427    completed.
428
429ENOSPC
430    The space reserved for the control's payload is insufficient. The
431    field ``size`` is set to a value that is enough to store the payload
432    and this error code is returned.
433
434EACCES
435    Attempt to try or set a read-only control, or to get a write-only
436    control, or to get a control from a request that has not yet been
437    completed.
438
439    Or the ``which`` field was set to ``V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_REQUEST_VAL`` but the
440    device does not support requests.
441