XInput-Python provides a few simple methods that can be used to query controller information.

XInput is Windows only

XInput-Python is available from the PyPI using

pip install XInput-Python

It can be inmported like this:

import XInput

XInput-Python provides a few functions:
get_connected() -> (bool, bool, bool, bool) Query which controllers are connected (note: don't query each frame)

get_state(user_index) -> State Gets the State of the controller user_index

get_button_values(state) -> dict Returns a dictionary, showing which buttons are currently being pressed.

get_trigger_values(state) -> (LT, RT) Returns a tuple with the values of the left and right triggers in range 0.0 to 1.0

get_thumb_values(state) -> ((LX, LY), (RX, RY)) Returns the values of the thumb sticks, expressed in X and Y ranging from 0.0 to 1.0

set_vibration(user_index, left_speed, right_speed) -> bool (Success) Sets the vibration of the left and right motors of user_index to values between 0 and 65535 or in range 0.0 to 1.0 respectively.

get_battery_information(user_index) -> (<type>, <level>) Returns the battery information for user_index

set_deadzone(deadzone, value) -> None Sets the deadzone values for left/right thumb stick and triggers.

The following deadzones exist:
XInput.DEADZONE_LEFT_THUMB - (range 0 to 32767) Left thumb stick deadzone (default is 7849)

XInput.DEADZONE_RIGHT_THUMB - (range 0 to 32767) Right thumb stick deadzone (default is 8689)

XInput.DEADZONE_TRIGGER - (range 0 to 255) Trigger deadzone (default is 30)

You can also use the Event-system:

events = get_events()

get_events will return a generator that yields instances of the Event class.

The Event class always has the following members:
Event.user_index (range 0 to 3) - the id of the controller that issued this event
Event.type - which type of event was issued

The following events exist:
XInput.EVENT_CONNECTED == 1 - a controller with this user_index was connected (this event will even occur if the controller was connected before the script was started)

XInput.EVENT_DISCONNECTED == 2 - a controller with this user_index was disconnected

XInput.EVENT_BUTTON_PRESSED == 3 - a button was pressed on the controller user_index

XInput.EVENT_BUTTON_RELEASED == 4 - a button was released on the controller user_index

XInput.EVENT_TRIGGER_MOVED == 5 - a trigger was moved on the controller user_index

XInput.EVENT_STICK_MOVED == 6 - a thumb stick was moved on the controller user_index

Button Events
All button related Events have the following additional members:
Event.button_id - the XInput numerical representation of the button
Event.button - a literal representation of the button

The following buttons exist:

"DPAD_UP" == 1
"DPAD_DOWN" == 2
"DPAD_LEFT" == 4
"DPAD_RIGHT" == 8
"START" == 16
"BACK" == 32
"LEFT_THUMB" == 64
"RIGHT_THUMB" == 128
"LEFT_SHOULDER" == 256
"RIGHT_SHOULDER" == 512
"A" == 4096
"B" == 8192
"X" == 16384
"Y" == 32768

Trigger Events
All trigger related Events have the following additional members:
Event.trigger (either XInput.LEFT == 0 or XInput.RIGHT == 1) - which trigger was moved
Event.value (range 0.0 to 1.0) - by how much the trigger is currently pressed

Stick Events
All thumb stick related Events have the following additional members:
Event.stick (either XInput.LEFT == 0 or XInput.RIGHT == 1) - which stick was moved
Event.x (range -1.0 to 1.0) - the position of the stick on the X axis
Event.y (range -1.0 to 1.0) - the position of the stick on the Y axis
Event.value (range 0.0 to 1.0) - the distance of the stick from it's center position
Event.dir (tuple of X and Y) - the direction the stick is currently pointing

With the GamepadThread class it is possible to handle asynchronous events.
To use this feature, extend the EventHandler to create one or multiple handlers and add them to the thread.
The library will automatically check the status of the gamepad and use the appropriate callback for the triggering event.
It is also possible to filter the inputs for every single handler.
In case of multiple handlers it is possible to use a list of handlers as argument, as well as the add_handler() method and the remove_handler() method to remove them.
Filters can be applied to select events of only certain buttons, trigger or stick. Also a "pressed-only" and "released-only" filter is available for buttons.
The available filters are:

BUTTON_DPAD_UP 
BUTTON_DPAD_DOWN 
BUTTON_DPAD_LEFT 
BUTTON_DPAD_RIGHT 
BUTTON_START 
BUTTON_BACK 
BUTTON_LEFT_THUMB 
BUTTON_RIGHT_THUMB 
BUTTON_LEFT_SHOULDER 
BUTTON_RIGHT_SHOULDER
BUTTON_A 
BUTTON_B 
BUTTON_X 
BUTTON_Y 
STICK_LEFT 
STICK_RIGHT 
TRIGGER_LEFT 
TRIGGER_RIGHT 
FILTER_PRESSED_ONLY 
FILTER_RELEASED_ONLY

The filters can be combined by adding them together:

filter1 = STICK_LEFT + STICK_RIGHT + BUTTON_DPAD_DOWN + BUTTON_DPAD_UP
filter2 = BUTTON_Y + BUTTON_X + FILTER_PRESSED_ONLY

The filter can be applied using add_filter:

handler.add_filter(filter)

Example

class MyHandler(EventHandler):
 def process_button_event(self, event):
 # put here the code to parse every event related only to the buttons
 
 def process_trigger_event(self, event):
 # event reserved for the two triggers
 
 def process_stick_event(self, event):
 # event reserved for the two sticks
 
 def process_connection_event(self, event):
 # event related to the gamepad status
 
filter = STICK_LEFT + STICK_RIGHT
my_handler = MyHandler()
my_handler.add_filter(filter)
my_gamepad_thread = GamepadThread(my_handler)

The thread will start automatically upon creation. It is possible to stop and start it again if necessary with the two methods start() and stop()

Run XInputTest.py to see a visual representation of the controller input.
Run XInputThreadTest.py to test the visual representation using the asynchronous callbacks.