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Scripting for dummies
Hi all
I love these BlinkM's, bought 1 about a year ago and the other 3 arrived today (no they werent the same order :P)
Anyway
I powered em up, gave em unique addresses, but I'm having some issues writing light scripts. This is something so basic that im probably just missing a step, but some input would be great.
Using the BlinkM examples, i can get each BlinkM talking with each other, i can make them all play a script, stop it on 1 BlinkM etc etc
So i thought, ill try and write my own basic light script and move up from there. But i keep hitting a wall.....
Firstly, is there a page somewhere BlinkM scripting for dummies, ive searched the net and cant find any examples on how to write BlinkM scripts.
So i open a plan Ardunio sketch, and copy the code straight from the datasheet for BlinkM into it
#include “Wire.h”
Wire.begin(); // set up I2C
Wire.beginTransmission(0x09);// join I2C bus, to BlinkM 0x09
Wire.send(‘f’); // ‘f’ == fade to color
Wire.send(0xff); // value for red channel
Wire.send(0x00); // value for blue chan.
Wire.send(0x00); // value for green chan.
Wire.endTransmission(); // leave I2C bus
and i hit upload to board, and it hits an error
error: expected constructor, destructor, or type conversion before '.' token
and highlights this line Wire.begin(); // set up I2C
i tried Begin blinkM with power to no avail.
In this test scenario it is just a single BlinkM plugged straight into the last 4 pins of arduino.
So i guess what im asking is, how do you write a light script and upload it.......
And what does that error mean, because everything i try i keep getting that exact same error
Thanks all
I love these BlinkM's, bought 1 about a year ago and the other 3 arrived today (no they werent the same order :P)
Anyway
I powered em up, gave em unique addresses, but I'm having some issues writing light scripts. This is something so basic that im probably just missing a step, but some input would be great.
Using the BlinkM examples, i can get each BlinkM talking with each other, i can make them all play a script, stop it on 1 BlinkM etc etc
So i thought, ill try and write my own basic light script and move up from there. But i keep hitting a wall.....
Firstly, is there a page somewhere BlinkM scripting for dummies, ive searched the net and cant find any examples on how to write BlinkM scripts.
So i open a plan Ardunio sketch, and copy the code straight from the datasheet for BlinkM into it
#include “Wire.h”
Wire.begin(); // set up I2C
Wire.beginTransmission(0x09);// join I2C bus, to BlinkM 0x09
Wire.send(‘f’); // ‘f’ == fade to color
Wire.send(0xff); // value for red channel
Wire.send(0x00); // value for blue chan.
Wire.send(0x00); // value for green chan.
Wire.endTransmission(); // leave I2C bus
and i hit upload to board, and it hits an error
error: expected constructor, destructor, or type conversion before '.' token
and highlights this line Wire.begin(); // set up I2C
i tried Begin blinkM with power to no avail.
In this test scenario it is just a single BlinkM plugged straight into the last 4 pins of arduino.
So i guess what im asking is, how do you write a light script and upload it.......
And what does that error mean, because everything i try i keep getting that exact same error
Thanks all
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Inappropriate?Hi Alex,
The code snippets in the BlinkM datasheet are just portions of a more complete Arduino sketch. All Arduino sketches must have a "setup()" and "loop()" code blocks, which you'll notice the code snippets lack.
To then the example you list into a full Arduino sketch, it would look something like this:
#include "Wire.h"
void setup() {
Wire.begin(); // set up I2C
Wire.beginTransmission(0x09);// join I2C bus, to BlinkM 0x09
Wire.send('f'); // ‘f’ == fade to color
Wire.send(0xff); // value for red channel
Wire.send(0x00); // value for blue chan.
Wire.send(0x00); // value for green chan.
Wire.endTransmission(); // leave I2C bus
}
void loop() {
}
Notice that the "#include" is outside the "setup()" block. Of course that sketch probably won't do what you want because it doesn't first stop the playback of the startup script a BlinkM normally plays when it's powered on. So a sketch that does that would look like:
#include "Wire.h"
void setup() {
Wire.begin(); // set up I2C
Wire.beginTransmission(0x09);// join I2C bus, to BlinkM 0x09
Wire.send('o'); // 'o' == stop script
Wire.endTransmission(); // leave I2C bus
Wire.beginTransmission(0x09);// join I2C bus, to BlinkM 0x09
Wire.send('f'); // ‘f’ == fade to color
Wire.send(0xff); // value for red channel
Wire.send(0x00); // value for blue chan.
Wire.send(0x00); // value for green chan.
Wire.endTransmission(); // leave I2C bus
}
void loop() {
}
You can see this is starting to get a little ungainly with just using the Wire library. That's why there's the "BlinkM_funcs.h" library you place in your sketch directory. The equivalent sketch using BlinkM_funcs.h would look like:
#include "Wire.h"
#include "BlinkM_funcs.h"
const int blinkm_addr = 0x09;
void setup() {
BlinkM_begin();
BlinkM_stopScript( blinkm_addr );
BlinkM_fadeToRGB( blinkm_addr, 0xff,0x00,0x00 );
}
void loop() {
}
Now if you have your BlinkM plugged in directly to the Arduino (instead of into a breadboard), you will have to change "BlinkM_begin()" to "BlinkM_beginWithPower()" so that the Arduino knows to turn two of its pins into a power source for BlinkM. That sketch would look like:
#include "Wire.h"
#include "BlinkM_funcs.h"
const int blinkm_addr = 0x09;
void setup() {
BlinkM_beginWithPower();
BlinkM_stopScript( blinkm_addr );
BlinkM_fadeToRGB( blinkm_addr, 0xff,0x00,0x00 );
}
void loop() {
}
For another short example, check out the BlinkMColorFader Arduino sketch in the BlinkM Examples bundle.
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