I'm fairly new to the Arduino and it's programming. I'm interested in programs that will interface with a Windows PC. I know that I could create an application in C# or VB on the PC and communicate using the serial interface. That's probably overkill for what I need.
I see example programs that use functions like writetext, and draw lines on the screen using the draw function. I cannot find these functions listed on the Arduino reference page. Where is the reference documentation for those other functions? I'm guessing there are other functions as well.
Can someone point me to where these functions are documented? I would really appreciate it.
I see example programs that use functions like writetext, and draw lines on the screen using the draw function. I cannot find these functions listed on the Arduino reference page. Where is the reference documentation for those other functions? I'm guessing there are other functions as well.
I think you are looking at Processing sketches. You might try the documentation on their site.
I see example programs that use functions like writetext, and draw lines on the screen using the draw function. I cannot find these functions listed on the Arduino reference page. Where is the reference documentation for those other functions? I'm guessing there are other functions as well.
I think you are looking at Processing sketches. You might try the documentation on their site.
It appears I was. I didn't understand the difference between programming in Processing Sketches and Arduino Sketches. It appears the Processing environment is designed to graph data obtained from sensors. They support adding a library to communicate with the Arduino.
What I was hoping that there were some functions in the Arduino sketches to allow very simple interfaces with a computer such as reacting to a keypress on the computer keyboard or sending a text message to the host computer.
What I was hoping that there were some functions in the Arduino sketches to allow very simple interfaces with a computer
Yes it is called Serial.print and Serial.write and it send data to the serial port. Then any application that can handle the serial port on your computer can read it. This includes processing.
It appears the Processing environment is designed to graph data obtained from sensors
You have the Arduino environment which is based around the AtMega328. You have a limited number of i/o pins, no video display, no keyboard, no a lot of other things.
You have the Processing Environment which is PC based. It has access to a video display, keyboard, disk drives, network and a lot of other capabilities.
Arduino is based on Processing and is a subset of processing that is dedicated to the various ATmel microcontrollers and their capabilities/limitations.
I'm starting to get a little better understanding.
It appears I'll have to learn more about Processing sketches because the Arduino sketches by themselves won't do what I'm looking for. I have more experience with Visual Basic, so I may take that path instead. I think I would use serial I/O functions in VB to send a receive data to the Arduino board. The VB app would get input from the keyboard on the PC and display outputs on the PC. The Arduino board would communicate with sensors and relays to monitor and control things.
I think I'll do some searching on using VB with the Arduino.