Using variable in array crashes ESP8266

altairish · January 5, 2021, 8:32pm

Hello,

I am trying to do a very simple program, yet I completely and miserably fail. When trying to read a value of an array in a subroutine, the ESP8266 crashes. If i change the variable to a number, the program works. I have googled it, searched it, and so on. I tried to declare the array in a million ways, and I tried using pointers, with no success. Can anybody help me?

The program crashes in the function PrintChar....

//We always have to include the library
#include "LedControl.h"

/*
 Now we need a LedControl to work with.
 ***** These pin numbers will probably not work with your hardware *****
 pin 12 is connected to the DataIn 
 pin 11 is connected to the CLK 
 pin 10 is connected to LOAD 
 ***** Please set the number of devices you have *****
 But the maximum default of 8 MAX72XX wil also work.
 */

byte Buf7219[7]; // "width,height,data[5]" single character buffer.

const unsigned char PROGMEM CH[] = {
3, 8, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // space
1, 8, B1011111, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // !
3, 8, B0000011, B0000000, B0000011, B0000000, B0000000, // "
5, 8, B0010100, B0111110, B0010100, B0111110, B0010100, // #
4, 8, B0100100, B1101010, B0101011, B0010010, B0000000, // $
5, 8, B1100011, B0010011, B0001000, B1100100, B1100011, // %
5, 8, B0110110, B1001001, B1010110, B0100000, B1010000, // &
1, 8, B0000011, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // '
3, 8, B0011100, B0100010, B1000001, B0000000, B0000000, // (
3, 8, B1000001, B0100010, B0011100, B0000000, B0000000, // )

5, 8, B0101000, B0011000, B0001110, B0011000, B0101000, // * 
5, 8, B0001000, B0001000, B0111110, B0001000, B0001000, // +
2, 8, B10110000, B1110000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // ,
4, 8, B0001000, B0001000, B0001000, B0001000, B0000000, // -
2, 8, B1100000, B1100000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // .
4, 8, B1100000, B0011000, B0000110, B0000001, B0000000, // /
4, 8, B0111110, B1000001, B1000001, B0111110, B0000000, // 0
3, 8, B1000010, B1111111, B1000000, B0000000, B0000000, // 1
4, 8, B1100010, B1010001, B1001001, B1000110, B0000000, // 2
4, 8, B0100010, B1000001, B1001001, B0110110, B0000000, // 3

4, 8, B0011000, B0010100, B0010010, B1111111, B0000000, // 4
4, 8, B0100111, B1000101, B1000101, B0111001, B0000000, // 5
4, 8, B0111110, B1001001, B1001001, B0110000, B0000000, // 6
4, 8, B1100001, B0010001, B0001001, B0000111, B0000000, // 7
4, 8, B0110110, B1001001, B1001001, B0110110, B0000000, // 8
4, 8, B0000110, B1001001, B1001001, B0111110, B0000000, // 9
2, 8, B01010000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // :
2, 8, B10000000, B01010000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // ;
3, 8, B0010000, B0101000, B1000100, B0000000, B0000000, // <
3, 8, B0010100, B0010100, B0010100, B0000000, B0000000, // =

3, 8, B1000100, B0101000, B0010000, B0000000, B0000000, // >
4, 8, B0000010, B1011001, B0001001, B0000110, B0000000, // ?
5, 8, B0111110, B1001001, B1010101, B1011101, B0001110, // @
4, 8, B1111110, B0010001, B0010001, B1111110, B0000000, // A
4, 8, B1111111, B1001001, B1001001, B0110110, B0000000, // B
4, 8, B0111110, B1000001, B1000001, B0100010, B0000000, // C
4, 8, B1111111, B1000001, B1000001, B0111110, B0000000, // D
4, 8, B1111111, B1001001, B1001001, B1000001, B0000000, // E
4, 8, B1111111, B0001001, B0001001, B0000001, B0000000, // F
4, 8, B0111110, B1000001, B1001001, B1111010, B0000000, // G

4, 8, B1111111, B0001000, B0001000, B1111111, B0000000, // H
3, 8, B1000001, B1111111, B1000001, B0000000, B0000000, // I
4, 8, B0110000, B1000000, B1000001, B0111111, B0000000, // J
4, 8, B1111111, B0001000, B0010100, B1100011, B0000000, // K
4, 8, B1111111, B1000000, B1000000, B1000000, B0000000, // L
5, 8, B1111111, B0000010, B0001100, B0000010, B1111111, // M
5, 8, B1111111, B0000100, B0001000, B0010000, B1111111, // N
4, 8, B0111110, B1000001, B1000001, B0111110, B0000000, // O
4, 8, B1111111, B0001001, B0001001, B0000110, B0000000, // P
4, 8, B0111110, B1000001, B1000001, B10111110, B0000000, // Q

4, 8, B1111111, B0001001, B0001001, B1110110, B0000000, // R
4, 8, B1000110, B1001001, B1001001, B0110010, B0000000, // S
5, 8, B0000001, B0000001, B1111111, B0000001, B0000001, // T
4, 8, B0111111, B1000000, B1000000, B0111111, B0000000, // U
5, 8, B0001111, B0110000, B1000000, B0110000, B0001111, // V
5, 8, B0111111, B1000000, B0111000, B1000000, B0111111, // W
5, 8, B1100011, B0010100, B0001000, B0010100, B1100011, // X
5, 8, B0000111, B0001000, B1110000, B0001000, B0000111, // Y
4, 8, B1100001, B1010001, B1001001, B1000111, B0000000, // Z
2, 8, B1111111, B1000001, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // [

4, 8, B0000001, B0000110, B0011000, B1100000, B0000000, // backslash
2, 8, B1000001, B1111111, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // ]
3, 8, B0000010, B0000001, B0000010, B0000000, B0000000, // hat
4, 8, B1000000, B1000000, B1000000, B1000000, B0000000, // _
2, 8, B0000001, B0000010, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // `
4, 8, B0100000, B1010100, B1010100, B1111000, B0000000, // a
4, 8, B1111111, B1000100, B1000100, B0111000, B0000000, // b
4, 8, B0111000, B1000100, B1000100, B0000000, B0000000, // c // JFM MOD.
4, 8, B0111000, B1000100, B1000100, B1111111, B0000000, // d
4, 8, B0111000, B1010100, B1010100, B0011000, B0000000, // e

3, 8, B0000100, B1111110, B0000101, B0000000, B0000000, // f
4, 8, B10011000, B10100100, B10100100, B01111000, B0000000, // g
4, 8, B1111111, B0000100, B0000100, B1111000, B0000000, // h
3, 8, B1000100, B1111101, B1000000, B0000000, B0000000, // i
4, 8, B1000000, B10000000, B10000100, B1111101, B0000000, // j
4, 8, B1111111, B0010000, B0101000, B1000100, B0000000, // k
3, 8, B1000001, B1111111, B1000000, B0000000, B0000000, // l
5, 8, B1111100, B0000100, B1111100, B0000100, B1111000, // m
4, 8, B1111100, B0000100, B0000100, B1111000, B0000000, // n
4, 8, B0111000, B1000100, B1000100, B0111000, B0000000, // o

4, 8, B11111100, B0100100, B0100100, B0011000, B0000000, // p
4, 8, B0011000, B0100100, B0100100, B11111100, B0000000, // q
4, 8, B1111100, B0001000, B0000100, B0000100, B0000000, // r
4, 8, B1001000, B1010100, B1010100, B0100100, B0000000, // s
3, 8, B0000100, B0111111, B1000100, B0000000, B0000000, // t
4, 8, B0111100, B1000000, B1000000, B1111100, B0000000, // u
5, 8, B0011100, B0100000, B1000000, B0100000, B0011100, // v
5, 8, B0111100, B1000000, B0111100, B1000000, B0111100, // w
5, 8, B1000100, B0101000, B0010000, B0101000, B1000100, // x
4, 8, B10011100, B10100000, B10100000, B1111100, B0000000, // y

3, 8, B1100100, B1010100, B1001100, B0000000, B0000000, // z
3, 8, B0001000, B0110110, B1000001, B0000000, B0000000, // {
1, 8, B1111111, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, B0000000, // |
3, 8, B1000001, B0110110, B0001000, B0000000, B0000000, // }
4, 8, B0001000, B0000100, B0001000, B0000100, B0000000, // ~
};

LedControl lc=LedControl(D7,D5,D8,4);

/* we always wait a bit between updates of the display */
unsigned long delaytime=500;

/* 
 This time we have more than one device. 
 But all of them have to be initialized 
 individually.
 */
void setup() {
  
  //we have already set the number of devices when we created the LedControl
  int devices=lc.getDeviceCount();
  //we have to init all devices in a loop
  for(int address=0;address<devices;address++) {
    /*The MAX72XX is in power-saving mode on startup*/
    lc.shutdown(address,false);
    /* Set the brightness to a medium values */
    lc.setIntensity(address,8);
    /* and clear the display */
    lc.clearDisplay(address);
  }
}

void loop() { 
  //read the number cascaded devices
  int devices=lc.getDeviceCount();

  PrintChar(7);

  delay(500);
}
void PrintChar(int D){
 
  
  lc.setRow(0,0,CH[(D)+2]);
  lc.setRow(0,1,CH[(D)+3]);
  lc.setRow(0,2,CH[(D)+4]);
  lc.setRow(0,3,CH[(D)+5]);
  lc.setRow(0,4,CH[(D)+6]);
  
}

This function does not crash:

void PrintChar(int C){
 int D=7;
  
  lc.setRow(0,0,CH[(D)+2]);
  lc.setRow(0,1,CH[(D)+3]);
  lc.setRow(0,2,CH[(D)+4]);
  lc.setRow(0,3,CH[(D)+5]);
  lc.setRow(0,4,CH[(D)+6]);
  
}

Perehama · January 5, 2021, 8:44pm

Be sure you are reading in memory where you think you are. Arrays are not protected access... There is nothing that notes the beginning or end of an array, and you can easily index beyond the array to read or write in the wrong location in memory. This is called a buffer overrun. The compiler will not catch this.

PieterP · January 5, 2021, 9:10pm

You have to use pgm_read_byte(&CH[D+2]) to read characters from flash memory. In the function that doesn't crash, the compiler probably optimizes away the memory access to CH because the index is known at compile time.

If ESP8266 or ESP32 code crashes, always decode the exception and include it with your post: GitHub - me-no-dev/EspExceptionDecoder: Exception Stack Trace Decoder for ESP8266 and ESP32

Pieter

Deva_Rishi · January 5, 2021, 9:15pm

const unsigned char PROGMEM CH[] = {

If you declare an Array in 'PROGMEM' on an ESP (as on an AVR) there are some special functions and with the ESP it is even more complex.
I doubt you need the progmem to just store 7 * number of chars in bytes. RAM on an ESP will do just fine.

altairish · January 6, 2021, 11:01am

Thank you PieterP, Deva and Perehama! Removing PROGMEM worked straight away!

Best regards

system · May 6, 2021, 11:01am

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Using variable in array crashes ESP8266

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