SD card file position overflow

Using Arduino Programming Questions
#1

I have had problems with the arduino SD library on an adafruit feather m0. My project reads a file off of a SD card and uses that information to drive neopixles. The file is just a series of 3 bytes color code for the pixels. The first pass of the animation was fine. However, when the program reaches the end of the file and calls file.seek(0) to get back to the beginning of the file to loop all over again, the program failed. I tried to call Serial.println(file.position()) right after the seek call but get 4294967295 which is 2^32 -1 or the biggest number uint32_t can hold. I could not figure out why this is happening. If you know anything about this problem, please help me.

Thanks
Electronrush
2017/9/14

#2

If you know anything about this problem, please help me.

How could we. You failed to post your code.

#3

Here is the code. I did not post it at first because it is over 100 lines long.

#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
#include <SD.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

#define BAUDRATE 115200
#define NUMLEDS 150
#define FRAME_DURATION 33
#define NEOPIXEL_PIN 13
#define LED_PIN 5
#define V_SENSE_PIN A0
#define LOW_VOLTAGE_TRIP 220
#define LOW_VOLTAGE_TRIP_HYST 10
#define SD_CS 6

const uint8_t PROGMEM gamma8[] = {
    0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,
    0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0,  1,  1,  1,  1,
    1,  1,  1,  1,  1,  1,  1,  1,  1,  2,  2,  2,  2,  2,  2,  2,
    2,  3,  3,  3,  3,  3,  3,  3,  4,  4,  4,  4,  4,  5,  5,  5,
    5,  6,  6,  6,  6,  7,  7,  7,  7,  8,  8,  8,  9,  9,  9, 10,
   10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 12, 12, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16,
   17, 17, 18, 18, 19, 19, 20, 20, 21, 21, 22, 22, 23, 24, 24, 25,
   25, 26, 27, 27, 28, 29, 29, 30, 31, 32, 32, 33, 34, 35, 35, 36,
   37, 38, 39, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 50,
   51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68,
   69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89,
   90, 92, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99,101,102,104,105,107,109,110,112,114,
  115,117,119,120,122,124,126,127,129,131,133,135,137,138,140,142,
  144,146,148,150,152,154,156,158,160,162,164,167,169,171,173,175,
  177,180,182,184,186,189,191,193,196,198,200,203,205,208,210,213,
  215,218,220,223,225,228,231,233,236,239,241,244,247,249,252,255 };

Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(NUMLEDS,NEOPIXEL_PIN,NEO_GRB);
File rootDir;
char* animationFileName;
unsigned int activeLeds = 0;
unsigned int numFrames = 0;
boolean lowVoltageDisable = false;

File findAnimationFile(File dir){
  if(!dir.isDirectory()){
    return File();
  }
  File currentFile;
  while(true){
    currentFile = dir.openNextFile();
    if(!currentFile){
      return File();
    }
    String currentFileName = String(currentFile.name());
    if(currentFileName.endsWith(".LAF")){
      return currentFile;
    }
    currentFile.close();
  }
}

void listDir(File dir){
  unsigned int numFiles = 0;
  if(dir.isDirectory()){
    File currentFile;
    while(true){
      currentFile = dir.openNextFile();
      if(! currentFile){
        break;
      }
      if(!currentFile.isDirectory()){
        Serial.println(currentFile.name());
        numFiles++;
      }
      currentFile.close();
    }
  }
  Serial.print(F("Found "));
  Serial.print(numFiles);
  Serial.println(F(" Files"));
}

void setup(){
  delay(5000);
  Serial.begin(BAUDRATE);
  strip.begin();
  pinMode(LED_PIN,OUTPUT);
  Serial.println(F("Loading SD Card"));
  if(!SD.begin(SD_CS)){
    Serial.println(F("Unable to load SD card, is the SD card pluged in?"));
    Serial.println(F("Program will halt."));
    while(true); //halt
  }
  Serial.println(F("SD card Loaded."));
  rootDir = SD.open("/");
  Serial.println(F("Serching root for animation files..."));
  File animationFile = findAnimationFile(rootDir);
  if(!animationFile){
    Serial.println(F("Unable to find animation file."));
    Serial.println(F("Program will halt."));
    while(true); //halt
  }
  Serial.print(F("Found animation file "));
  Serial.println(animationFile.name());
  unsigned int animationNumLeds = ((unsigned int)animationFile.read())<<8;
  animationNumLeds += animationFile.read();
  unsigned int animationNumFrames = ((unsigned int)animationFile.read())<<8;
  animationNumFrames += animationFile.read();
  Serial.print(F("Animation contains "));
  Serial.print(animationNumFrames);
  Serial.print(F(" frames at "));
  Serial.print(animationNumLeds);
  Serial.println(F(" LEDs"));
  unsigned long expectedSize = animationNumLeds*animationNumFrames*3+4;
  Serial.print(F("Checking file size, Expects "));
  Serial.print(expectedSize);
  Serial.println(F(" bytes."));
  if(expectedSize > animationFile.size()){
    Serial.println(F("Size check failed."));
    Serial.println(F("Program will halt."));
    while(true); //halt
  }
  Serial.println(F("Size check passed"));
  activeLeds = animationNumLeds;
  numFrames = animationNumFrames;
  animationFileName = animationFile.name();
  animationFile.close();
  rootDir.close();
  Serial.println("Setup complete, animation will start.");
}

void loop(){
  File animationFile = SD.open(animationFileName,FILE_READ);
  animationFile.seek(3u);
  Serial.print("Starting at ");
  Serial.println(animationFile.position());
  byte red;
  byte green;
  byte blue;
  for(unsigned int frame = 0; frame < numFrames;frame ++){
    unsigned long timeStarted = millis();

    if(analogRead(V_SENSE_PIN) <= LOW_VOLTAGE_TRIP){
      lowVoltageDisable = true;
    }else if(analogRead(V_SENSE_PIN) > (LOW_VOLTAGE_TRIP + LOW_VOLTAGE_TRIP_HYST)){
      lowVoltageDisable = false;
    }
    digitalWrite(LED_PIN, HIGH);
    for(unsigned int led = 0; led < activeLeds; led++){
      red = animationFile.read();
      green = animationFile.read();
      blue = animationFile.read();

      if(led < NUMLEDS){
        if(lowVoltageDisable){
          strip.setPixelColor(led, 0, 0, 0);
        }else{
          strip.setPixelColor(led, pgm_read_byte(&gamma8[red]),
                                   pgm_read_byte(&gamma8[green]),
                                   pgm_read_byte(&gamma8[blue]));
        }
      }
    }
    strip.show();
    digitalWrite(LED_PIN, LOW);
    while((millis() - timeStarted) < FRAME_DURATION); //wait for fram time to end
  }
  Serial.println("Frame complete.");
}
#4 
  animationFile.seek(3u);

Is an unsigned 3 somehow different from a signed 3?

Why do you open the file at the start of loop() but never close it?

#5

the seek function only accept an unsigned integer. If 3u is replaced by 3 the compiler would report an error. the file is accessed constantly in loop(), it did not make sense to me to close the file at the end of loop() only to reopen it immediately at the beginning of loop().

#6

it did not make sense to me to close the file at the end of loop() only to reopen it immediately at the beginning of loop().

It does not make sense to open an already open file, either.

#7

Oh, thank you for pointing that out. I have made sure that animation file is only opened once and the program seems to work. Thank you so much for the advice.

#8