Have you done anything like this before?

It's a couple of decades since I last had anything to do with electronics and the world has moved on a bit since then!

Ensuring you know what you're buying, before you buy it is the only sensible way to approach this sort of thing

Yes - I can see this being problematic...
I have found a review on Amazon that says it is Plug-and-Play and implies that it 'just works'. Although I have it plugged into a Windows 10 laptop which recognises it correctly but doesn't give me any clues other than it is successfully configured using a generic driver utilising input.inf which is a start but not very helpful.

I'm beginning to think that the GPIO route is going to be simpler than USB. At least with GPIO, there is a helpful Amazon review that very clearly shows the set up with a picture.