Unable to display consecutive scores on 8 digit 7 segment MAX7219 LED display

[samtylee]

Hi, I am trying to create a game with my Arduino Uno, with an 8 digit 7 segment MAX7219 display that shows the score at the end of the game, followed by the high score. I have created a function called updateShotCounter, and call it twice within the same subroutine. The problem, is that it only updates the display the once, and even after a delay, when function is called again to display the highscore, it doesn't update.

Subroutine where I display game score and high score.

  updateShotCounter(shotcounter);
      delay(5000);
      updateShotCounter(highscore);

This is my function to update scores to 8 digit display

  void updateShotCounter(int shotcounter) {
       
        int dig2 = 1;
        int digCnt2 = 0;
      
        // if number is greater than zero
        if (shotcounter > 0) {
         
          // count # of digits
          while (shotcounter >= dig2) {
            dig2 *= 10;
            digCnt2++;
      
          }  // while
      
      for (int d2 = 0; d2 < digCnt2; d2++) {
            // wite this digit
            lc.setDigit(0, d2+4, byte(shotcounter % 10), false);
      
            // writing from right to left
            shotcounter /= 10;
      
          }  // while
      }
      }

[gcjr]

hard to answer without seeing all of the code

i'll guess that there isn't a delay after the call updateShotCounter(highscore); so it it quickly overwritten with "shotcounter"

[samtylee]

Here's all the code, thanks in advance!

#include <LedControl.h>
#define BUTTON_PIN 3
#define BUTTON_PIN2 10
#define Buzzer 8


int counter = 0;  // initial value for countdown
int shotcounter = 0;
int currentState = 0;
int previousState = 0;
int highscore = 0;

//variables for long button press reset
const int LONG_PRESS_TIME = 1000; // 1000 ms
int lastState = LOW; // the previous state from input pin
int currentState2;   // the current reading from input pin
unsigned long pressedTime = 0;
unsigned long releasedTime = 0;


unsigned long nextTick;  // time to update counter

// Arduino Pins:          DIN, Clk, CS, no.of devices is 1
LedControl lc = LedControl(4, 6, 5, 1);

void setup() {

  Serial.begin(9600);

  // Initialize the MAX7219 device
  lc.shutdown(0, false);  // Enable display
  lc.setIntensity(0, 8);  // Set brightness level (0 is min, 15 is max)
  lc.clearDisplay(0);     // Clear display register


  // first tick will happen right away
  nextTick = millis();

  pinMode(BUTTON_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(BUTTON_PIN2, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(Buzzer, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {

  // read state of the button:
  currentState2 = digitalRead(BUTTON_PIN);

  if(lastState == HIGH && currentState2 == LOW)
    pressedTime = millis();
  else if(lastState == LOW && currentState2 == HIGH) 
    releasedTime = millis();

  long pressDuration = releasedTime - pressedTime;

  if(pressDuration > LONG_PRESS_TIME) {
    Serial.println("A long press is detected");
   // highscore = 0; //reset highscore

}

// save the last state
  lastState = currentState2;
  
  // tick timer
  updateTimer();
  updateShotCounter(shotcounter);
  byte buttonState = digitalRead(BUTTON_PIN);
  byte buttonState2 = digitalRead(BUTTON_PIN2);

//Serial.println(buttonState2);

  if (buttonState == LOW) {
    counter = 60;  //reset counter
    shotcounter = 0; //reset shot counter
  }

  if (buttonState2 == LOW) {
  currentState = 1;
  }
  else {
  currentState = 0;
  }  
  delay(300);
  if(currentState != previousState) {
 if(currentState == 1){
   shotcounter = shotcounter + 1;
   Serial.println(shotcounter);
   
 }
 }   

   if (shotcounter > highscore) {

    highscore = shotcounter;

  }

}

// updateTimer
//
// Call to tick timer
//
void updateShotCounter(int shotcounter) {
 
  int dig2 = 1;
  int digCnt2 = 0;

  // if number is greater than zero
  if (shotcounter > 0) {
   
    // count # of digits
    while (shotcounter >= dig2) {
      dig2 *= 10;
      digCnt2++;

    }  // while

for (int d2 = 0; d2 < digCnt2; d2++) {
      // wite this digit
      lc.setDigit(0, d2+4, byte(shotcounter % 10), false);

      // writing from right to left
      shotcounter /= 10;

    }  // while


}

}


void updateTimer() {
  // if it's time to update counter
  if (millis() >= nextTick) {

    // if there are any seconds left
    if (counter >= 0) { //was >= 0
      // clear display
      lc.clearDisplay(0);

      // write next number
      printNum(counter);

      // decrement counter
      counter--;

    }  // if


    // set next update time
    nextTick = millis() + 1000;

  }  //if
}

// printNum
//
// Print passed number to display (only works with positve numbers)
//
void printNum(int num) {
  int dig = 1;
  int digCnt = 0;

  // if number is greater than zero
  if (num > 0) {

    // count # of digits
    while (num >= dig) {
      dig *= 10;
      digCnt++;

    }  // while

    // while more digits
    for (int d = 0, dig = 10; d < digCnt; d++) {
      // wite this digit
      lc.setDigit(0, d, byte(num % 10), false);

      // writing from right to left
      num /= 10;

    }  // while
    
  } else {

    // just write a zero
    
   
    
  lc.setDigit(0, 0, (byte)0, false);
  updateShotCounter(shotcounter);
  Serial.print("My score is: ");
  Serial.println(shotcounter);
 

  digitalWrite (Buzzer, HIGH);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite (Buzzer, LOW);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite (Buzzer, HIGH);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite (Buzzer, LOW);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite (Buzzer, HIGH);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite (Buzzer, LOW);
  delay(5000);
 
 lc.setDigit(0, 0, (byte)0, false);
 lc.setDigit(0, 1, (byte)6, false);
 

Serial.print("My highscore is: ");
Serial.println(highscore);

updateShotCounter(highscore);


  }  // else
}

[gcjr]

looks like updateTimer() attempts to call printNum() only every second, but it looks like printNum() has several delays and take > 5 seconds to complete so that printNum() is called every time updateTimer() is called

try adding a delay after displaying highScore to see if that is the problem and take another look at the time flow of your code

[samtylee]

Thanks, that did the trick! I went into my void loop(), and added an if statement to only update the score via updateShotCounter() if game hasn't ended.
Cheers!