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[on:]

Hi,

I bought the following product from SeeedStudio: http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Grove_-_4-Digit_Display
I have some problems with the following code. I don't get why something like tm1637.display(0,0); ends up displaying a 0 at the first digit of the 4-Digit_Display, but something like tm1637.display(1,x1); or tm1637.display(2,inputString[2]); displays only rubbish at the second and third digit.

Please help!!
Thank you for your input!
ygreq

Code:

/*
I started from the example from the link

http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/SerialEvent

Set to newline.

In this example you have to open the serial window and type 4 digits.
Ex: 1234 and press Enter.
See what happens on the serial monitor and on the 4-digit display 

*/

String inputString = "";         // a string to hold incoming data
char x1 = 0; // char to attribute to 2nd digit of the display

#include "TM1637.h"
#define CLK 2//pins definitions for TM1637 and can be changed to other ports       
#define DIO 3
TM1637 tm1637(CLK,DIO);




void setup() {
  // initialize serial:
  Serial.begin(9600);

  tm1637.init();
  tm1637.set(BRIGHT_TYPICAL);//BRIGHT_TYPICAL = 2,BRIGHT_DARKEST = 0,BRIGHTEST = 7;
}


void loop() {

  if (Serial.available() > 0) {
    // get the new byte:
    char inChar = (char)Serial.read();
   
    // add it to the inputString:
    inputString += inChar;
   
 
    // if the incoming character is a newline,
     if (inChar == '\n') {
     
       Serial.print("string ");
       Serial.println(inputString); //print string
 
      tm1637.display(0,0); // display 0 on the first digit
     
      x1 = inputString[1]; // attach x1 to the second char in the string created
      Serial.print("2nd digit ");
      Serial.println(x1);  // print that second char to check if everything is ok
     
      tm1637.display(1,x1);// display the char attached to x1 on the second digit
                           // which does not work. Why??
      Serial.print("3rd digit ");
      Serial.println(inputString[2]);
      tm1637.display(2,inputString[2]);// display the char attached to 3rd char on
                              // the 3rd digit
                              // which does not work. Why??
       inputString = "";  // delete string
     
    }
  }
}

[Reply #1 on:]

Are you sure you are sending enough chars before \n ?

[Reply #2 on:]

Hi tuxduino,

Yes! I am very sure! Actually everything works (send to serial via Serial.print, send to an LCD following the same logic) except sending to that 7-segment module.

I am pretty sure that the answer is somewhat related to tm1637.display(0,inputString[0]); and how it is created in the first place.

Here is a sketch created by the makers of the module. Look at the end of the sketch how tm1637.display (0,ListDisp[0]); is used in that case.
It refers to int8_t ListDisp[4]; from the beginning.

What would be the difference between int8_t ListDisp[4]; and something like String ListDisp[4]; or char ListDisp[4]?

Thank you for looking into this!

Code:

//  Author:Frankie.Chu
//  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
//  modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
//  License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
//  version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
//
//  This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
//  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
//  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
//  Lesser General Public License for more details.
//
//  You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
//  License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
//  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
#include "TM1637.h"
#define CLK 2//pins definitions for TM1637 and can be changed to other ports       
#define DIO 3
TM1637 tm1637(CLK,DIO);
void setup()
{
  tm1637.init();
  tm1637.set(BRIGHT_TYPICAL);//BRIGHT_TYPICAL = 2,BRIGHT_DARKEST = 0,BRIGHTEST = 7;
}
void loop()
{
  int8_t NumTab[] = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15};//0~9,A,b,C,d,E,F
  int8_t ListDisp[4];
  unsigned char i = 0;
  unsigned char count = 0;
  delay(150);
  while(1)
  {
    i = count;
    count ++;
    if(count == sizeof(NumTab)) count = 0;
    for(unsigned char BitSelect = 0;BitSelect < 4;BitSelect ++)
    {
      ListDisp[BitSelect] = NumTab[i];
      i ++;
      if(i == sizeof(NumTab)) i = 0;
    }
    tm1637.display(0,ListDisp[0]);
    tm1637.display(1,ListDisp[1]);
    tm1637.display(2,ListDisp[2]);
    tm1637.display(3,ListDisp[3]);
    delay(300);
  }
}

[Reply #3 on:]

Hi tuxduino,

Yes! I am very sure! Actually everything works (send to serial via Serial.print, send to an LCD following the same logic) except sending to that 7-segment module.

I am pretty sure that the answer is somewhat related to tm1637.display(0,inputString[0]); and how it is created in the first place.

I don't think the second parameter of  tm1637.display() is an ASCII char.

[Reply #4 on:]

Hi fungus,

You mean to say that it needs something else? Do you maybe know what that is?

 From what is shown in the loop in the second sketch

Code:

int8_t NumTab[] = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15};//0~9,A,b,C,d,E,F
int8_t ListDisp[4];

it seems it is a char.

Thank you!
ygreq

[Reply #5 on:]

Hi fungus,

You mean to say that it needs something else? Do you maybe know what that is?

 From what is shown in the loop in the second sketch

Code:

int8_t NumTab[] = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15};//0~9,A,b,C,d,E,F
int8_t ListDisp[4];

it seems it is a char.

I didn't say it wasn't a char, I said it wasn't ASCII. Looks like they use
the value 0 to display a '0'.

[Reply #6 on:]

Look carefully at the second sketch you posted. This line is the key one IMHO:

Code:

int8_t NumTab[] = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15};//0~9,A,b,C,d,E,F

[Reply #7 on:]

Hi there,

Yeap. It seems it used 0 to 15 as hex as it ends up printing from 0 to F.

But the key to understanding both:

Code:

int8_t NumTab[] = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15};//0~9,A,b,C,d,E,F
int8_t ListDisp[4];

is really understanding what int8_t stand for. Which I don't have a clue about. I am guessing it is not arduino lingo per se, but C.

[Reply #8 on:]

int8_t means 8 bit integer

I don't want to sound rude, but how difficult is to google for int8_t ?

[Reply #9 on:]

No problem. Actually I did google it like this "int8_t arduino". I only found examples that were not that great (I didn't understand anything). At least in the first 20 searches. I googled "int8_t" just now and there are a few info concerning int8_t in C/C++.

I will see if I understand what int8_t means.

Thank you!

PS: What I know of C/C++ comes from learning arduino. So I am trying to avoid as much as possible info that is for c/c++ and stick to proper libraries. (In this case I would say it is a crappy library.) I am not a C/C++ programmer unfortunately.

[Reply #10 on:]

I will see if I understand what int8_t means.

As I said, It means 8 bit integer. The _t at the end stands for "type". The reason why sometimes you find int8_t, int16_t, uint32_t instead of char, int, unsigned long, etc. is C data types can be of different size if the code is compiled on different architectures. An "int" might be 16 bit wide on a 8 bit cpu, 32 bit on a 32 one and 32 or 64 bit on a 64 bit cpu. Likewise, "long" might be 128 bit on a core i7 and just 32 bit on a 486. Types like uint8_t, instead, are the same everywhere: 8 bit wide unsigned integer. It helps code portability.
There's a reason C has sizeof()

[Reply #11 on:]

Thank you, tuxduino!

Your information explains a lot! I will try to get something out of that LED module soon.

In the meantime I chose to use an LCD screen

All the best to you!
ygreq