I like how the abstraction point is at LCD. It's abstracting a specific hardware type, not a hardware feature.
I'm not aware of a single API that offers a sufficiently device-agnostic view of inputs that you can write the application code once and then let the user bind anything they can connect to their computer somehow.
The USB spec actually comes close since it starts at the actual hardware inputs (toggle switch, button, relative motion, absolute motion, etc.) and their range, and then offers hints about their intended usage or meaning. It's the layers above that suck.
I'm not aware of a single API that offers a sufficiently device-agnostic
The configurator api steam provides actually abstract the `real input device layout` away from the `the action user want to do`, which allows games to support `future` input device.
The game itself longer needs to handle every input device layout one by one. Instead, it will have a general way to handle unknown device.
The Configurator ask the game `which action you can do?` and the game response the actions (like jump, walk, sprint ...etc) to the api, and let the api bind the action to whatever key properly on the device(x on xbox one, square on ps4...etc).
I don't think system level APIs should ask applications anything at all.
Applications should be able to ask for inputs instead. Which is the status quo, with the caveat that there's no unified "input" API, instead there's a bunch of different APIs for keyboard, mouse, joystick, xinput gamepad, text input, midi, other kinds of input (lucky if you can find an existing API for them...). Some of these APIs multiplex a few different types of inputs, but still provide them as distinct types of events that need to be handled separately by each application.
How do your program know there is a controller use [w] as confirm instead of [o] when the controller does not even exist when you are writing the program?
Although the new controller can just send [w] as [o], you will now have another problem that ui always ask you to press [o] when there is only [w] on the controller.
Fix this problem is the sole purpose of that configurator. Don't choose the layout, just let user/system choose them. Although you could still define some preset for known device.