void lcdText(String firstLine, String secondLine){
while (firstLine.length()<16) {
firstLine=firstLine+" "; //add spaces at the end of firstLine until has a length of 16 characters
}
while (secondLine.length()<16) {
secondLine=secondLine+" ";
}
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print(firstLine);
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print(secondLine);
}
Now I’d like to replace it by the one below so my text is always centered in the display.
Somehow this new version makes my sketch stall after running through this function once.
void lcdText(String firstLine, String secondLine){
while (firstLine.length()<15) {
firstLine=" "+firstLine+" "; // as long as firstLine is shorter than 15, add a space in front and a space in the back
}
if (firstLine.length()==15) {
firstLine=firstLine+" "; // if necessary add one more space at the end so the length becomes 16
}
while (secondLine.length()<15) {
secondLine=" "+secondLine+" ";
}
if (secondLine.length()==15) {
secondLine=secondLine+" ";
}
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print(firstLine);
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print(secondLine);
}
You are doing a lot of awkward String manipulation. It is probable that you are running into a memory allocator bug, or simply running out of memory.
Which version of the Arduino IDE are you using? Try building with 1.0.4 and see if that helps.
There will be much less memory=hungry ways to achieve the centring or justification of your strings using plain old char arrays. If your sketch still wedges with 1.0.4, then I would advise asking for help re-designing to use "C strings" instead of String.
You have not posted all the code so we can't see what feeds this.
You are using strings and strings are buggy on the arduino because the memory they use is not recovered correctly. Especailly the way you keep creating new strings from old ones.
You have not posted all the code so we can't see what feeds this.
I don't think anyone on this forum will be foolish enough to read through about 1000 lines of code, even if it is reasonably well structured and commented (I think...)
OK, you're probably right, must be a String problem.
I HATE STRINGS, I HATE STRINGS, I HATE STRINGS.
Ok, now this is off my chest, anyone know of a good (readable) tutorial about strings/text manipulation somewhere on the net?
I wouldn't bother with string manipulation. Just calculate how many spaces you need before the string and print them out, then print the string out. Maybe use a for loop to print the spaces.
e: Although, I don't want to discourage you from coming up with your own way of doing it with string manipulation. Take a look at the String functions Arduino provides here - String() - Arduino Reference. I think the concat method would be helpful for you.
Remember to pass strings around as references where possible, this prevents copies from filling memory with every nested call.
I have a new library which can solve the problem. As it seems the lcd class is already using the Print class, you may benefit from it as well.
Moving away from strings will help your memory situation a lot. cstrings can easily replace your Strings, str.length with strlen( str ) for example. And my library works with both.
I notice you want the spaces after the text, is this to overwrite previous text?
C strings are pretty much just character arrays with a 0 character on the end. You obviously know enough basic programming to do what it would take to mess with spaces. With a little bit of work you could do a simple version that just used character arrays. Here is one implementation of your first function.
// untested code
void lcdText(char *firstLine, char *secondLine){
char outputArray[17]; // Make sure there is space for the null terminator
int i;
for (i = 0; i < 16 && firstLine[i] != 0; ++i) // Copy the string to the outputArray
outputArray[i] = firstLine[i];
for (; i < 16; ++i) // Pad spaces onto the right
outputArray[i] = ' ';
outputArray[16] = 0; // Add the null terminator
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
lcd.print(outputArray);
for (i = 0; i < 16 && secondLine[i] != 0; ++i)
outputArray[i] = secondLine[i];
for (; i < 16; ++i)
outputArray[i] = ' ';
// outputArray[16] = 0; // Should still be null
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
lcd.print(outputArray);
}
There are C string functions like strcpy() and strlen() you could use to do some stuff for you, but it’s pretty easy to understand it when you manipulate the strings yourself.
I don't think anyone on this forum will be foolish enough to read through about 1000 lines of code, even if it is reasonably well structured and commented (I think...)
Yes so what a smart person does is to write a small sketch that will compile that shows the error. The very act of doing this solves over 70% of problems.