I want to add a Millis timer in place of a for loop

Projects Programming
1

Hello, I am making a state machine in Arduino right now. One of the functions I have currently runs based on number of cycles with a for loop. I want it to run based on time (i.e. instead of running for 300 cycles, run for 30 seconds). I can't seem to get Millis to work. Please help. The specific function is below.

void runStopLongFast ()
{
  enum class simSettings : uint8_t
  {
    IDLE,
    MANUAL,
    CONTINUOUS,
    RUNSTOP,
  };

  static simSettings currMode = simSettings :: RUNSTOP;
    for(int i = 0; i<300; I++)
    {  
    if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == HIGH && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == LOW)
      {
        if (digitalRead(speedSwitch) == LOW && digitalRead(intervalSwitch) == LOW)
        {
          fastCycle();
          Serial.println("In Run-StopLongFast-Cycle");
        }
        else 
        {
          currMode = simSettings :: RUNSTOP;
        }
      }
      else if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == HIGH && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == HIGH)
      {
        currMode = simSettings :: MANUAL;
      }
      else if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == LOW && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == HIGH)
      {
        currMode = simSettings :: CONTINUOUS;
      }
    }      
    for(int i = 0; i<600; I++)
    {  
    if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == HIGH && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == LOW)
      {
        if (digitalRead(speedSwitch) == LOW && digitalRead(intervalSwitch) == LOW)
        {
          digitalWrite(cycleOutput, LOW);    
          delay(50); 
          Serial.println("In Run-StopLongFast-IDLE");
        }
        else 
        {
          currMode = simSettings :: RUNSTOP;
        }
      }
      else if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == HIGH && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == HIGH)
      {
        currMode = simSettings :: MANUAL;
      }
      else if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == LOW && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == HIGH)
      {
        currMode = simSettings :: CONTINUOUS;
      }
    } 
    for(int i = 0; i<1; I++)
    {  
    if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == HIGH && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == LOW)
      {
        if (digitalRead(ad1Switch) == LOW)
        {
          digitalWrite(cycleOutput, HIGH);    
          delay(50); 
          Serial.println("AD1");
        }
        else 
        {
          currMode = simSettings :: RUNSTOP;
        }
      }
      else if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == HIGH && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == HIGH)
      {
        currMode = simSettings :: MANUAL;
      }
      else if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == LOW && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == HIGH)
      {
        currMode = simSettings :: CONTINUOUS;
      }
    }      
    for(int i = 0; i<600; I++)
    {  
    if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == HIGH && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == LOW)
      {
        if (digitalRead(ad1Switch) == LOW)
        {
          digitalWrite(autoDowntime1, HIGH);    
          delay(50); 
          Serial.println("AD1");
        }
        else 
        {
          currMode = simSettings :: RUNSTOP;
        }
      }
      else if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == HIGH && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == HIGH)
      {
        currMode = simSettings :: MANUAL;
      }
      else if (digitalRead(manualSwitchA) == LOW && digitalRead(manualSwitchB) == HIGH)
      {
        currMode = simSettings :: CONTINUOUS;
      }
    }           
}
2

Welcome! Congratulations on properly posting your code first time.
Wrong place in the forum (should be in Programming...), but that can be fixed by a moderator.

However, I can't tell you what's wrong with what you did with millis(), as I don't see it in your code. Please post that version, much easier to help you with it.

3

it would also be worth to explain the circuit and context as the code is quite weird..
the typical structure for a state machine would look like this

void runStopLongFast () {
  enum simSettings : uint8_t {IDLE, MANUAL, CONTINUOUS, RUNSTOP};
  static simSettings currMode = RUNSTOP;
  
  switch (currMode) {
    case IDLE:
      ...
      break;

    case MANUAL:
      ...
      break;

    case CONTINUOUS:
      ...
      break;

    case RUNSTOP:
      ...
      break;
  }
}

void setup() {}
void loop() {}
4

WHY do these loops use "I++" and not "i++"?!?

5

I would bet They were typed likely outside the IDE with a spell checker on which decided that in English you don’t write a small cap i and turned it into I automatically

That happens to me when typing code directly in the forum

For(int I=… damn autocorrect !

6

Given the distinction between i and I in C, it is a different variable. Which would imply that, if this code actually compiled, both i and I have been declared. Lethal.

7

That’s why I think it’s an autocorrect mistake

It happens to me often when I type from my iPhone or iPad

8

The standard blink without delay-example code makes it unnescessary complicated to understand non-blocking timing.

The main reason is that this example and other tutorials do not focus on the fundamental difference how non-blocking timing works.

You should learn the principle prior to looking into the code.
Knowing the basic principle will make it much easier to understand the code

I recommend a version that puts the details about non-blocking timing into a function
that can be used in a single if-condition that says what the function is doing

checking if TimePeriodIsOver()

if( TimePeriodIsOver(myTimingVariable,Period)  ) {
  // do timed action
}

best regards Stefan