Understanding TotalCross for Linux ARM
TotalCross now supports embedded systems!
Introduction
See at this guide:
Discover plugin for VS Code;
Getting your Hello World App cooler;
How to deploy;
After basics;
Requirements
Complete the Getting Started:
Getting StartedThe following electronic components are also required:
Raspberry Pi 3;
7x jumpers male-female;
Protoboard;
LED RGB module (or common 4 pins LED RGB);
Push-button module (or common push-button).
In order to execute Gpiod methods at your embedded device, you will also need to have the libgpiod-dev package installed in your board. You can do that by entering the following command at the device's terminal:
$ sudo apt-get install libgpiod-devGuide
Discover VS Code plugin
A quick way to start using TotalCross is installing the TotalCross extension for VS Code.
Step 1: open VS Code console (CTRL + Shift + P) and type TotalC… autocomplete should help!
Step 2: select TotalCross: Create new Project;
Step 3: create a folder called HelloWorld and select it;
Step 4: GroupId will be com.totalcross;
Step 5: ArtifactId will be HelloWorld;
Step 6: select the latest version of TotalCross SDK and -linux-arm platform;
Step 7: openRunHelloWorldApplication.java and click Run (IDE). The result should be:
Step 8: watch the integrated simulator!
Getting your Hello World App even more Cooler 🥶 😅
The following project deals with the control of an RGB LED with user interface buttons and a pin reset button!
Step 1: follow the schematic:
Step 2: to work with pin logic after public class HelloWorld extends MainWindow { add:
// Integers to store pin numbers
private int R = 4, G = 17, B = 27, pushButton = 18;
// Integers to store state of each LED pin, 0 (LOW) and 1 (HIGH)
private int sttR, sttG, sttB;
// Buttons to control colors
private Button btnR, btnG, btnB;If you need to work with different pinouts check the manufacturer manual!
Step 3: at HelloWorld.java in initUI() code add:
// Label helloWorld made on project creation
Label helloWorld = new Label("Hello World!");
// Change the position of label on the Y axis, with TOP (beginning of Y) + a fill of 20
add(helloWorld, CENTER, TOP + 20);Step 4: then, board setup:
// Board Setup
GpiodChip gpioChip = GpiodChip.open(0);
GpiodLine pinR = gpioChip.line(R);
GpiodLine pinG = gpioChip.line(G);
GpiodLine pinB = gpioChip.line(B);
GpiodLine pinPushButton = gpioChip.line(pushButton);Step 5: pins setup:
// Set LED pins as outputs and default value sttX
pinR.requestOutput("CONSUMER",sttR);
pinG.requestOutput("CONSUMER",sttG);
pinB.requestOutput("CONSUMER",sttB);
// Set Reset pin as input
pinPushButton.requestInput("CONSUMER");Step 6: the red button:
// The TotalCross button:
btnR = new Button("R"); // Button instantiation
// without text
btnR.setBackColor(Color.RED); // Set background color (red)
btnR.addPressListener(new PressListener() { // Press event listener
@Override
public void controlPressed(ControlEvent controlEvent) {
sttR = 1 - sttR; // Invert pin state
pinR.setValue(sttR); // Set value (HIGH or LOW)
}
});
add(btnR, CENTER - 70, AFTER + 40); // To make horizontally aligned
// buttons in the 'RGB' sequence,
// take the center reference and
// decrease 70 to place the
// leftmost R. In the Y axis just
// take the reference of the
// previous component and add 40Step 7: and the other buttons:
btnG = new Button("G");
btnG.setBackColor(Color.GREEN);
btnG.addPressListener(new PressListener() {
@Override
public void controlPressed(ControlEvent controlEvent) {
sttG = 1 - sttG; // Pay attention to change pin!!!
pinG.setValue(sttG);
}
});
add(btnG, CENTER, SAME); // The green button will be
// placed at the center and in
// the same line of previous
// button
btnB = new Button("B");
btnB.setBackColor(Color.BLUE);
btnB.addPressListener(new PressListener() {
@Override
public void controlPressed(ControlEvent controlEvent) {
sttB = 1 - sttB; // Pay attention to change pin!!!
pinB.setValue(sttB);
}
});
add(btnB, CENTER + 70, SAME); // The last button will be placed
// to the right of the center.Step 8: finally we use a thread to check the state of the reset button:
// A thread will be used to check every 20 ms, if the reset button has been pressed: if yes then
// the pin state goes to LOW
new Thread() {
@Override
public void run() {
while(true){
if(pinPushButton.getValue() == 1) {
sttG = 1 - sttG;
sttR = 1 - sttR;
sttB = 1 - sttB;
pinR.setValue(sttR);
pinG.setValue(sttG);
pinB.setValue(sttB);
}
Vm.sleep(100);
}
}
}.start();Step 9: run RunHelloWorldApplication.java again and watch the results!
How to deploy
Step 1: open VS Code console (CTRL + Shift + P) and select TotalCross: Deploy
Step 2: a second dialog box will appear and just fill in the board's information:
Step 3: see the results in screen or VNC
After basics
This was the beginning of application development for TotalCross embedded systems, how about taking a look at TCSample and seeing all that can be done? See dashboard made especially for Web Summit 2019:
See more
Are you interested in development with embedded systems? Contact us via Telegram!
References
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