Help with expanding motor project. [SOLVED]

Projects General Guidance
1

At the moment, I have programmed a stepper motor (on pins 10-13) to continually spin in a direction determined by wether "dir" is true or false.

I'm trying to get it to do the directions in a certain order, that being:
WAIT 3 SECONDS > TURN CLOCKWISE FOR 4 SECONDS > TURN ANTI-CLOCKWISE FOR 4 SECONDS > TURN OFF AGAIN

I'm pretty sure that using the "delay" function wouldn't be as effective, because using a delay would automatically stop everything, so the clockwise turning would be cancelled. But I have no idea how to use "millis" or if there is some local form of the delay function. Any ideas?

int Pin1 = 10; 
int Pin2 = 11; 
int Pin3 = 12; 
int Pin4 = 13; 
int _step = 0; 
boolean dir = false;// false=clockwise, true=counter clockwise
int count=0;
void setup() 
{ 
 pinMode(Pin1, OUTPUT);  
 pinMode(Pin2, OUTPUT);  
 pinMode(Pin3, OUTPUT);  
 pinMode(Pin4, OUTPUT);  
} 
 void loop() { 
 switch(_step){ 
   case 0: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, HIGH); 
   break;  
   case 1: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, HIGH); 
   break;  
   case 2: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
   case 3: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
   case 4: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
   case 5: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, HIGH);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
     case 6: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, HIGH);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
   case 7: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, HIGH);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, HIGH); 
   break;  
   default: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
 } 
 if(dir){ 
   _step++; 
 }else{ 
   _step--; 
 } 
 if(_step>7){ 
   _step=0; 
 } 
 if(_step<0){ 
   _step=7; 
 } 
 delay(2); 

}
2

Learn to use millis(). Here is a great explanation of the Blink without Delay example.

Also, this would be an opportunity to learn about programming state machines. Machine states could be WAITING, CW, CCW, STOPPED.

3

Thank you SO MUCH. That article was a godsend, and was super easy for a beginner like me to understand. I've got it working perfectly now, and I'm super happy with it. Here's the final code btw:

int Pin1 = 10; 
int Pin2 = 11; 
int Pin3 = 12; 
int Pin4 = 13; 
int _step = 0; 
boolean dir = false;// false=clockwise, true=counter clockwise
int count=0;
unsigned long previousMillis = 0;
unsigned long interval = 4000;

void setup() 
{ 
 boolean dir = false;
 pinMode(Pin1, OUTPUT);  
 pinMode(Pin2, OUTPUT);  
 pinMode(Pin3, OUTPUT);  
 pinMode(Pin4, OUTPUT);  
} 
void loop() { 
 unsigned long currentMillis = millis();
  
 switch(_step){ 
   case 0: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, HIGH); 
   break;  
   case 1: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, HIGH); 
   break;  
   case 2: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
   case 3: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
   case 4: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
   case 5: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, HIGH);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, HIGH); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
     case 6: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, HIGH);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
   case 7: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, HIGH);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, HIGH); 
   break;  
   default: 
     digitalWrite(Pin1, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(Pin2, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin3, LOW); 
     digitalWrite(Pin4, LOW); 
   break;  
 }
 
 if (currentMillis - previousMillis > interval) {
    previousMillis = currentMillis;
    if (dir == false)
      dir = true;
    else
      delay(99999999999999999999999999999999999);
  }

 if(dir){ 
   _step++; 
 }else{ 
   _step--; 
 } 
 if(_step>7){ 
   _step=0; 
 } 
 if(_step<0){ 
   _step=7; 
 } 
 delay(2); 

}

The delay(999999999999); part is the stopping thing, and while I know that it's not a great solution- it's a pretty simple one that works fine for this project.

4

To stop the Arduino from doing anything until it is turned off or reset, use this code...

while(true);

Your long row of nines will have an unpredictable result because that number won't fit in any regular integer type. The compiler will have to guess at what you want.

A better way to do it is to add a "wait" state to your state machine which can wait for a button press or some other event.