Hi, I'm trying to make a dot matrix display that I can control via serial with a GUI made in Processing. this would require syncing lots of variables between the two.
For example, there would be the date, as well as four displays, each with two lines of text, whether its on or off, and how long to display the text. Maybe more.
I was thinking of just storing it as one big array of strings on the Arduino, it seams a bit more complicated to do that in Processing though. I would then just sending it all back and forth using a "for()" loop and commas to separate the values.
this would require syncing lots of variables between the two.
Why, I don't see why you would need to do this.
Break the problem down into small pieces and allocate each one on either end with the minimal communication point being the break between the two systems.
I have a suspicion that what @Grumpy_Mike has said would make sense if I understood it
I think he is saying that you only need to send data whenever something changes, and probably only send the data for the part that has changed.
In any case, how much data are you talking about - can you give us an actual example.
And, in case you are using language loosely, it is OK to use strings (small s) on an Arduino but do NOT be tempted to use Strings (capital S) which don't work well in the small memory of an Arduino.
Grumpy_Mike:
Why, I don't see why you would need to do this.
Break the problem down into small pieces and allocate each one on either end with the minimal communication point being the break between the two systems.
Sorry, should have mentioned,
there will be more then one person/computer able to connect to the display. I figured it would be necessary for the Processing sketch to sync with the Arduino upon starting. I'm just not sure if CSV is the best way to go about that.
"You figured that ,,,,,,,,"
Given that you are asking the questions, with the greatest respect, your figuring skills are probably not the best. This is why we aske questions that might seem to be irrelevant to you.
The information about the extra channels into the computer is a case in point and would tend to throw a spanner in the works.
Strings and even strings are a very poor way of sending data, do you know those two are different.
What sort of data is this? The best way is to send bytes or ints and packaged up with a header and check sum. How much data do you consider is a lot?
