MAMEWorld Forums - Programming - Interfacing a custom controller

Hello, please let me know if this question is not appropriate for this forum.

I've built a custom arcade controller that communicates to the pc over usb (actually serial, using ftdi drivers). The controller is successfuly talking to my software on the PC. Now I'm trying to get that software to talk to MAME.

Any ideas on how to do this?

Generating keyboard events and using DirectInput are global, and I've read it doesn't work anyway.

Is this possible without having to implement my device as a keyboard/joystick and writting custom drivers?

Thanks.