Exercise - Using Analogue Input Devices
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Revision as of 19:37, 24 June 2013 by JohnVerrill (talk | contribs)
The aim of this exercise is to use analogue input devices within a Flowcode flowchart.
Digital inputs are simpler to deal with, as they have a finite range of possible values.
For example, a two bit digital input can have one of only four possible values - 00, 01, 10 or 11.
Flowcode uses an 'Input' icon to deal with digital inputs.
An analogue input, on the other hand can have any of an infinite number of possible values.
As a result, it is more difficult to handle in Flowcode.
A component macro is used to input data from an analogue sensor.
Create the 'input' variable
- In the 'Edit' menu, on the main toolbar, click on 'Variables...' to open the Variable Manager dialogue box.
- Hover just to the left of the 'Variables' label, and click on the down arrow that appears.
- Select 'Add new' and the 'Create a New Variable' dialogue box opens.
- Name the new variable "input".
- Leave the variable type as 'Byte'.
- Click on 'OK'.
- The dialogue box is shown below.
- Click and drag an infinite loop between the 'BEGIN' and 'END' icons.
- Inside the loop:
-
- Double click on it to open the dialogue box, so that you can configure it.
- The program 'knows' which components you have added to the System or Dashboard panel, and modifies the list of available commands accordingly.
- Under 'Components', the ADC dial will be listed, and underneath it the list of commands.
- Scroll down the list and click on the 'GetByte' command.
- This reads the output of the analogue input device - the ADC dial in this case, and stores it in the byte variable 'input'.
- Rename the 'Display name' as "Read the input".
- Click on 'OK'.
- The dialogue box is shown below.