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[on:]

Alright, so I am having some trouble parsing data on an SD card (shocker). So the idea is that you access the a config file on an SD card and assign a few values, then add items in the body of the file to a 2D array. I can handle the 2D array and assigning values (at least I think), but I am having trouble getting past the first field in my config file. By the way, the 2D array is composed of buffers of 12 elements (ie byte example[20][12]). I know using 12 is a pain, but I have to for the given application. The buffers are shifted out to an external IC for translation. So here is my code:

Code:

#include <SD.h>
int chipSelect = 10;
int counter = 0; // Used for count the number of iterations
int currPosition = 0; // Used for keeping track of the current position (the 0 value wont be used)
boolean ignoreFlag = true; // true if you are supposed to ignore

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
 
  pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
  Serial.print("Initializing SD card...");
  if (!SD.begin(chipSelect)) {
    Serial.print("failed!"); // If there is an issue, tell us and quit 
    return;
  }
  Serial.print("card initialized"); // You will only be here on success
  Serial.println();
 
  // Dump the file
  File comboFile = SD.open("egFile.txt"); // Open the combo file
  if (comboFile) { // If the file is availble
    while (comboFile.available()) {
      if (comboFile.peek() == ':') {  // If entering a zone
        ignoreFlag = !ignoreFlag;
        if (ignoreFlag) currPosition++; // When it switches to high
        comboFile.read();
      }
      // If not in an ignore zone write the stuff
      else if (!ignoreFlag)  Serial.write(comboFile.read();
    }
  comboFile.close(); // Close the file
  }
 
  // If the file isnt open produce an error
  else Serial.println("There was an error openeing the file");
}

void loop()
{
}

And here is the file it will be reading:

Code:

:field1: // This is a comment you can throw in
:field2:
// So is this

:field3:
:meter:
:101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,
101010101010,:

So ideally, the output would be

Code:

Initializing bla bla bla
field1
field2

and so on

Instead I get:

Code:

Initializing bla bla bla
field1

And thats it. So to investigate, I added a counter to the while (comboFile.available()) loop. To my surprise, this actually seems to be an infinite loop. I don't know if this is entirely unrelated, but I figured I would give you a heads up on what I have tried.

Thanks for your time, even if it is just to laugh at some egregious error =)

[Reply #1 on:]

All that you are doing with the data read from the SD card is printing it, one character at a time, to the serial port. If that data is interesting, you need to save it in a NULL terminated array of chars. Then, when you read the end of a packet (probably denoted by a carriage return or line feed (or both)), you need to parse the data and reset the array.

Your toggling of ignoreFlag when you see a colon is suspect. Some character to indicate comments and another to indicate data would be more logical.

[Reply #2 on:]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that this is an excerpt to test the issue. But yep, I am pretty sure thats where it is.

[Reply #3 on:]

The code that you posted won't compile because of a missing right parenthesis.

What is currPosition used for ?  It is initialised and incremented but never used.
How does comboFile.peek() know where to look in the file ?
Does it read the next byte and then update its own pointer to the next byte ?
Same questions for comboFile.read()
What is the difference between the two ?
How do you know that you have reached the end of the input file ?

[Reply #4 on:]

Code:

while (comboFile.available()) {
      if (comboFile.peek() == ':') {  // If entering a zone
        ignoreFlag = !ignoreFlag;
        if (ignoreFlag) currPosition++; // When it switches to high
        comboFile.read();
      }
      // If not in an ignore zone write the stuff
      else if (!ignoreFlag)  Serial.write(comboFile.read());
    }

Where in that bit of code does ignoreFlag get cleared? When it comes across a ':', ok, but you missed something important.

What happens if you have this:

:Hi: :Low:

It will first detect the ':' and read it to move on to the next character. 'ignoreFlag' will be clear so it will read and print 'Hi'. Then it sees a ':' and 'ignoreFlag' becomes set. Now what? It will sit there constantly peeking at the ' ' between the colons, but it will never move on. There is nothing to increment the index in the file.

Code:

    while (comboFile.available()) {
      if (comboFile.peek() == ':') {  // If entering a zone
        ignoreFlag = !ignoreFlag;
        if (ignoreFlag) {
          currPosition++; // When it switches to high
        }
        comboFile.read();
      } else if (!ignoreFlag)  {
        Serial.write(comboFile.read()); // If not in an ignore zone write the stuff
      } else {
        comboFile.read(); //work through all characters that are in the ignore region by reading them.
      }
    }

An simpler alternative would be this:

Code:

    while (comboFile.available()) {
      char in = comboFile.read(); //read in the character
      if (in == ':') {  // If entering a zone
        ignoreFlag = !ignoreFlag;
        if (ignoreFlag) {
          currPosition++; // When it switches to high
        }
      } else if (!ignoreFlag)  {
        Serial.write(in); // If not in an ignore zone write the stuff
      }
    }

One last thing. I know it is a valid syntax, but it is best to not do things like:

Code:

if() code;

and stick to the more readable

Code:

if() {
  code
}

It makes it much clearer as to what is going on.

[Reply #5 on:]

Sweet, this works perfectly. Cant believe I forgot about the dual colons. Quick question, when analyzing the body section (the 12 bit buffers), how do I take the result of myFile.peek() and add it to my array as a byte equal to its meaning as a string (ie "1000000000" translates to byte myArray[1][12]= {1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0})?

[Reply #6 on:]

how do I take the result of myFile.peek() and add it to my array as a byte equal to its meaning as a string (ie "1000000000" translates to byte myArray[1][12]= {1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0})?

First, don't. Use the result of myFile.read(), instead.

Second, you are not reading a string. You are reading a bunch of characters. So, 1 = '1' - '0'.

If you read a character and subtract '0' from it, you get its value as a number, if the character is in the range '0' to '9'.

[Reply #7 on:]

Whoa! Sweet, thanks a million!