Java - Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet

This is the description of the Java API bindings for the Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet. General information and technical specifications for the Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet are summarized in its hardware description.

An installation guide for the Java API bindings is part of their general description.

Examples

The example code below is Public Domain (CC0 1.0).

Simple

Download (ExampleSimple.java)

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
import com.tinkerforge.IPConnection;
import com.tinkerforge.BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4;

public class ExampleSimple {
    private static final String HOST = "localhost";
    private static final int PORT = 4223;

    // Change XYZ to the UID of your Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet
    private static final String UID = "XYZ";

    // Note: To make the example code cleaner we do not handle exceptions. Exceptions
    //       you might normally want to catch are described in the documentation
    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
        IPConnection ipcon = new IPConnection(); // Create IP connection
        BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4 ido4 =
          new BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4(UID, ipcon); // Create device object

        ipcon.connect(HOST, PORT); // Connect to brickd
        // Don't use device before ipcon is connected

        // Set pins alternating high/low 10 times with 100ms delay
        for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
            Thread.sleep(100);
            ido4.setValue(1 << 0);
            Thread.sleep(100);
            ido4.setValue(1 << 1);
            Thread.sleep(100);
            ido4.setValue(1 << 2);
            Thread.sleep(100);
            ido4.setValue(1 << 3);
        }

        System.out.println("Press key to exit"); System.in.read();
        ipcon.disconnect();
    }
}

API

Generally, every method of the Java bindings that returns a value can throw a TimeoutException. This exception gets thrown if the device did not respond. If a cable based connection is used, it is unlikely that this exception gets thrown (assuming nobody unplugs the device). However, if a wireless connection is used, timeouts will occur if the distance to the device gets too big.

Beside the TimeoutException there is also a NotConnectedException that is thrown if a method needs to communicate with the device while the IP Connection is not connected.

Since Java does not support multiple return values and return by reference is not possible for primitive types, we use small classes that only consist of member variables. The member variables of the returned objects are described in the corresponding method descriptions.

The package for all Brick/Bricklet bindings and the IP Connection is com.tinkerforge.*

All methods listed below are thread-safe.

Basic Functions

class BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4(String uid, IPConnection ipcon)
Parameters:
  • uid – Type: String
  • ipcon – Type: IPConnection
Returns:
  • industrialDigitalOut4 – Type: BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4

Creates an object with the unique device ID uid:

BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4 industrialDigitalOut4 = new BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon);

This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected.

void BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.setValue(int valueMask)
Parameters:
  • valueMask – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Sets the output value with a bitmask (16bit). A 1 in the bitmask means high and a 0 in the bitmask means low.

For example: The value 3 or 0b0011 will turn pins 0-1 high and the other pins low.

If no groups are used (see setGroup()), the pins correspond to the markings on the Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet.

If groups are used, the pins correspond to the element in the group. Element 1 in the group will get pins 0-3, element 2 pins 4-7, element 3 pins 8-11 and element 4 pins 12-15.

All running monoflop timers will be aborted if this function is called.

int BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.getValue()
Returns:
  • valueMask – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Returns the bitmask as set by setValue().

void BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.setSelectedValues(int selectionMask, int valueMask)
Parameters:
  • selectionMask – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]
  • valueMask – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Sets the output value with a bitmask, according to the selection mask. The bitmask is 16 bit long, true refers to high and false refers to low.

For example: The values (3, 1) or (0b0011, 0b0001) will turn pin 0 high, pin 1 low the other pins remain untouched.

If no groups are used (see setGroup()), the pins correspond to the markings on the Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet.

If groups are used, the pins correspond to the element in the group. Element 1 in the group will get pins 0-3, element 2 pins 4-7, element 3 pins 8-11 and element 4 pins 12-15.

Running monoflop timers for the selected pins will be aborted if this function is called.

Advanced Functions

void BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.setMonoflop(int selectionMask, int valueMask, long time)
Parameters:
  • selectionMask – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]
  • valueMask – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]
  • time – Type: long, Unit: 1 ms, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]

Configures a monoflop of the pins specified by the first parameter bitmask.

The second parameter is a bitmask with the desired value of the specified pins. A 1 in the bitmask means high and a 0 in the bitmask means low.

The third parameter indicates the time that the pins should hold the value.

If this function is called with the parameters (9, 1, 1500) or (0b1001, 0b0001, 1500): Pin 0 will get high and pin 3 will get low. In 1.5s pin 0 will get low and pin 3 will get high again.

A monoflop can be used as a fail-safe mechanism. For example: Lets assume you have a RS485 bus and a Digital Out 4 Bricklet connected to one of the slave stacks. You can now call this function every second, with a time parameter of two seconds and pin 0 high. Pin 0 will be high all the time. If now the RS485 connection is lost, then pin 0 will turn low in at most two seconds.

BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.Monoflop BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.getMonoflop(short pin)
Parameters:
  • pin – Type: short, Range: [0 to 15]
Return Object:
  • value – Type: int, Range: [0 to 1]
  • time – Type: long, Unit: 1 ms, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]
  • timeRemaining – Type: long, Unit: 1 ms, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]

Returns (for the given pin) the current value and the time as set by setMonoflop() as well as the remaining time until the value flips.

If the timer is not running currently, the remaining time will be returned as 0.

void BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.setGroup(char[] group)
Parameters:
  • group – Type: char[], Length: 4, Range: ['a' to 'd', 'n']

Sets a group of Digital Out 4 Bricklets that should work together. You can find Bricklets that can be grouped together with getAvailableForGroup().

The group consists of 4 elements. Element 1 in the group will get pins 0-3, element 2 pins 4-7, element 3 pins 8-11 and element 4 pins 12-15.

Each element can either be one of the ports ('a' to 'd') or 'n' if it should not be used.

For example: If you have two Digital Out 4 Bricklets connected to port A and port B respectively, you could call with ['a', 'b', 'n', 'n'].

Now the pins on the Digital Out 4 on port A are assigned to 0-3 and the pins on the Digital Out 4 on port B are assigned to 4-7. It is now possible to call setValue() and control two Bricklets at the same time.

char[] BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.getGroup()
Returns:
  • group – Type: char[], Length: 4, Range: ['a' to 'd', 'n']

Returns the group as set by setGroup()

short BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.getAvailableForGroup()
Returns:
  • available – Type: short, Range: [0 to 15]

Returns a bitmask of ports that are available for grouping. For example the value 5 or 0b0101 means: Port A and port C are connected to Bricklets that can be grouped together.

BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.Identity BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.getIdentity()
Return Object:
  • uid – Type: String, Length: up to 8
  • connectedUid – Type: String, Length: up to 8
  • position – Type: char, Range: ['a' to 'h', 'z']
  • hardwareVersion – Type: short[], Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]
  • firmwareVersion – Type: short[], Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]
  • deviceIdentifier – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Returns the UID, the UID where the Bricklet is connected to, the position, the hardware and firmware version as well as the device identifier.

The position can be 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g' or 'h' (Bricklet Port). A Bricklet connected to an Isolator Bricklet is always at position 'z'.

The device identifier numbers can be found here. There is also a constant for the device identifier of this Bricklet.

Listeners

Listeners can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done with add*Listener() functions of the device object.

The parameter is a listener class object, for example:

device.addExampleListener(new BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.ExampleListener() {
    public void property(int value) {
        System.out.println("Value: " + value);
    }
});

The available listener classes with inherent methods to be overwritten are described below. It is possible to add several listeners and to remove them with the corresponding remove*Listener() function.

Note

Using listeners for recurring events is always preferred compared to using getters. It will use less USB bandwidth and the latency will be a lot better, since there is no round trip time.

class BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.MonoflopDoneListener()

This listener can be added with the addMonoflopDoneListener() function. An added listener can be removed with the removeMonoflopDoneListener() function.

void monoflopDone(int selectionMask, int valueMask)
Parameters:
  • selectionMask – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]
  • valueMask – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

This listener is triggered whenever a monoflop timer reaches 0. The parameters contain the involved pins and the current value of the pins (the value after the monoflop).

Virtual Functions

Virtual functions don't communicate with the device itself, but operate only on the API bindings device object. They can be called without the corresponding IP Connection object being connected.

short[] BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.getAPIVersion()
Return Object:
  • apiVersion – Type: short[], Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: short, Range: [0 to 255]

Returns the version of the API definition implemented by this API bindings. This is neither the release version of this API bindings nor does it tell you anything about the represented Brick or Bricklet.

boolean BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.getResponseExpected(byte functionId)
Parameters:
  • functionId – Type: byte, Range: See constants
Returns:
  • responseExpected – Type: boolean

Returns the response expected flag for the function specified by the function ID parameter. It is true if the function is expected to send a response, false otherwise.

For getter functions this is enabled by default and cannot be disabled, because those functions will always send a response. For listener configuration functions it is enabled by default too, but can be disabled by setResponseExpected(). For setter functions it is disabled by default and can be enabled.

Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is sent and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.

The following constants are available for this function:

For functionId:

  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_VALUE = 1
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_MONOFLOP = 3
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_GROUP = 5
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_SELECTED_VALUES = 9
void BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.setResponseExpected(byte functionId, boolean responseExpected)
Parameters:
  • functionId – Type: byte, Range: See constants
  • responseExpected – Type: boolean

Changes the response expected flag of the function specified by the function ID parameter. This flag can only be changed for setter (default value: false) and listener configuration functions (default value: true). For getter functions it is always enabled.

Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is sent and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.

The following constants are available for this function:

For functionId:

  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_VALUE = 1
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_MONOFLOP = 3
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_GROUP = 5
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_SELECTED_VALUES = 9
void BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.setResponseExpectedAll(boolean responseExpected)
Parameters:
  • responseExpected – Type: boolean

Changes the response expected flag for all setter and listener configuration functions of this device at once.

Constants

int BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.DEVICE_IDENTIFIER

This constant is used to identify a Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet.

The getIdentity() function and the IPConnection.EnumerateListener listener of the IP Connection have a deviceIdentifier parameter to specify the Brick's or Bricklet's type.

String BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.DEVICE_DISPLAY_NAME

This constant represents the human readable name of a Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet.