This is the description of the C# API bindings for the Compass Bricklet. General information and technical specifications for the Compass Bricklet are summarized in its hardware description.
An installation guide for the C# API bindings is part of their general description.
The example code below is Public Domain (CC0 1.0).
1using System;
2using Tinkerforge;
3
4class Example
5{
6 private static string HOST = "localhost";
7 private static int PORT = 4223;
8 private static string UID = "XYZ"; // Change XYZ to the UID of your Compass Bricklet
9
10 static void Main()
11 {
12 IPConnection ipcon = new IPConnection(); // Create IP connection
13 BrickletCompass c = new BrickletCompass(UID, ipcon); // Create device object
14
15 ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT); // Connect to brickd
16 // Don't use device before ipcon is connected
17
18 // Get current heading
19 short heading = c.GetHeading();
20 Console.WriteLine("Heading: " + heading/10.0 + " °");
21
22 Console.WriteLine("Press enter to exit");
23 Console.ReadLine();
24 ipcon.Disconnect();
25 }
26}
1using System;
2using Tinkerforge;
3
4class Example
5{
6 private static string HOST = "localhost";
7 private static int PORT = 4223;
8 private static string UID = "XYZ"; // Change XYZ to the UID of your Compass Bricklet
9
10 // Callback function for heading callback
11 static void HeadingCB(BrickletCompass sender, short heading)
12 {
13 Console.WriteLine("Heading: " + heading/10.0 + " °");
14 }
15
16 static void Main()
17 {
18 IPConnection ipcon = new IPConnection(); // Create IP connection
19 BrickletCompass c = new BrickletCompass(UID, ipcon); // Create device object
20
21 ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT); // Connect to brickd
22 // Don't use device before ipcon is connected
23
24 // Register heading callback to function HeadingCB
25 c.HeadingCallback += HeadingCB;
26
27 // Set period for heading callback to 0.1s (100ms) without a threshold
28 c.SetHeadingCallbackConfiguration(100, false, 'x', 0, 0);
29
30 Console.WriteLine("Press enter to exit");
31 Console.ReadLine();
32 ipcon.Disconnect();
33 }
34}
Generally, every method of the C# bindings that returns a value can
throw a Tinkerforge.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 plugs the
device out). However, if a wireless connection is used, timeouts will occur
if the distance to the device gets too big.
Since C# does not support multiple return values directly, we use the out
keyword to return multiple values from a method.
The namespace for all Brick/Bricklet bindings and the IPConnection is
Tinkerforge.*.
All methods listed below are thread-safe.
| Parameters: |
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|---|---|
| Returns: |
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Creates an object with the unique device ID uid:
BrickletCompass compass = new BrickletCompass("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon);
This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected.
| Returns: |
|
|---|
Returns the heading (north = 0 degree, east = 90 degree).
Alternatively you can use GetMagneticFluxDensity() and calculate the
heading with heading = atan2(y, x) * 180 / PI.
If you want to get the value periodically, it is recommended to use the
HeadingCallback callback. You can set the callback configuration
with SetHeadingCallbackConfiguration().
| Output Parameters: |
|
|---|
Returns the magnetic flux density (magnetic induction) for all three axis.
If you want to get the value periodically, it is recommended to use the
MagneticFluxDensityCallback callback. You can set the callback configuration
with SetMagneticFluxDensityCallbackConfiguration().
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
Configures the data rate and background calibration.
Data Rate: Sets the data rate that is used by the magnetometer. The lower the data rate, the lower is the noise on the data.
Background Calibration: Set to true to enable the background calibration and false to turn it off. If the background calibration is enabled the sensing polarity is flipped once per second to automatically calculate and remove offset that is caused by temperature changes. This polarity flipping takes about 20ms. This means that once a second you will not get new data for a period of 20ms. We highly recommend that you keep the background calibration enabled and only disable it if the 20ms off-time is a problem in your application.
The following constants are available for this function:
For dataRate:
BrickletCompass.DATA_RATE_100HZ = 0
BrickletCompass.DATA_RATE_200HZ = 1
BrickletCompass.DATA_RATE_400HZ = 2
BrickletCompass.DATA_RATE_600HZ = 3
| Output Parameters: |
|
|---|
Returns the configuration as set by SetConfiguration().
The following constants are available for this function:
For dataRate:
BrickletCompass.DATA_RATE_100HZ = 0
BrickletCompass.DATA_RATE_200HZ = 1
BrickletCompass.DATA_RATE_400HZ = 2
BrickletCompass.DATA_RATE_600HZ = 3
| Parameters: |
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|---|
Sets offset and gain for each of the three axes.
The Bricklet is factory calibrated. If you want to re-calibrate the Bricklet we recommend that you do the calibration through Brick Viewer.
The calibration is saved in non-volatile memory and only has to be done once.
| Output Parameters: |
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|---|
Returns the calibration parameters as set by SetCalibration().
| Output Parameters: |
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Returns the error count for the communication between Brick and Bricklet.
The errors are divided into
ACK checksum errors,
message checksum errors,
framing errors and
overflow errors.
The errors counts are for errors that occur on the Bricklet side. All Bricks have a similar function that returns the errors on the Brick side.
| Parameters: |
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|---|
Sets the status LED configuration. By default the LED shows communication traffic between Brick and Bricklet, it flickers once for every 10 received data packets.
You can also turn the LED permanently on/off or show a heartbeat.
If the Bricklet is in bootloader mode, the LED is will show heartbeat by default.
The following constants are available for this function:
For config:
BrickletCompass.STATUS_LED_CONFIG_OFF = 0
BrickletCompass.STATUS_LED_CONFIG_ON = 1
BrickletCompass.STATUS_LED_CONFIG_SHOW_HEARTBEAT = 2
BrickletCompass.STATUS_LED_CONFIG_SHOW_STATUS = 3
| Returns: |
|
|---|
Returns the configuration as set by SetStatusLEDConfig()
The following constants are available for this function:
For config:
BrickletCompass.STATUS_LED_CONFIG_OFF = 0
BrickletCompass.STATUS_LED_CONFIG_ON = 1
BrickletCompass.STATUS_LED_CONFIG_SHOW_HEARTBEAT = 2
BrickletCompass.STATUS_LED_CONFIG_SHOW_STATUS = 3
| Returns: |
|
|---|
Returns the temperature as measured inside the microcontroller. The value returned is not the ambient temperature!
The temperature is only proportional to the real temperature and it has bad accuracy. Practically it is only useful as an indicator for temperature changes.
Calling this function will reset the Bricklet. All configurations will be lost.
After a reset you have to create new device objects, calling functions on the existing ones will result in undefined behavior!
| Output Parameters: |
|
|---|
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.
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
The period is the period with which the HeadingCallback callback is triggered
periodically. A value of 0 turns the callback off.
If the value has to change-parameter is set to true, the callback is only triggered after the value has changed. If the value didn't change within the period, the callback is triggered immediately on change.
If it is set to false, the callback is continuously triggered with the period, independent of the value.
It is furthermore possible to constrain the callback with thresholds.
The option-parameter together with min/max sets a threshold for the HeadingCallback callback.
The following options are possible:
Option |
Description |
|---|---|
'x' |
Threshold is turned off |
'o' |
Threshold is triggered when the value is outside the min and max values |
'i' |
Threshold is triggered when the value is inside or equal to the min and max values |
'<' |
Threshold is triggered when the value is smaller than the min value (max is ignored) |
'>' |
Threshold is triggered when the value is greater than the min value (max is ignored) |
If the option is set to 'x' (threshold turned off) the callback is triggered with the fixed period.
The following constants are available for this function:
For option:
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_OFF = 'x'
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_OUTSIDE = 'o'
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_INSIDE = 'i'
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_SMALLER = '<'
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_GREATER = '>'
| Output Parameters: |
|
|---|
Returns the callback configuration as set by SetHeadingCallbackConfiguration().
The following constants are available for this function:
For option:
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_OFF = 'x'
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_OUTSIDE = 'o'
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_INSIDE = 'i'
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_SMALLER = '<'
BrickletCompass.THRESHOLD_OPTION_GREATER = '>'
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
The period is the period with which the MagneticFluxDensityCallback callback
is triggered periodically. A value of 0 turns the callback off.
If the value has to change-parameter is set to true, the callback is only triggered after the value has changed. If the value didn't change within the period, the callback is triggered immediately on change.
If it is set to false, the callback is continuously triggered with the period, independent of the value.
| Output Parameters: |
|
|---|
Returns the callback configuration as set by
SetMagneticFluxDensityCallbackConfiguration().
Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done by appending your callback handler to the corresponding event:
void MyCallback(BrickletCompass sender, int value)
{
System.Console.WriteLine("Value: " + value);
}
compass.ExampleCallback += MyCallback;
The available events are described below.
Note
Using callbacks 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.
| Callback Parameters: |
|
|---|
This callback is triggered periodically according to the configuration set by
SetHeadingCallbackConfiguration().
The parameter is the same as GetHeading().
| Callback Parameters: |
|
|---|
This callback is triggered periodically according to the configuration set by
SetMagneticFluxDensityCallbackConfiguration().
The parameters are the same as GetMagneticFluxDensity().
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.
| Output Parameters: |
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|---|
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.
| Parameters: |
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|---|---|
| Returns: |
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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 callback 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:
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_HEADING_CALLBACK_CONFIGURATION = 2
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_MAGNETIC_FLUX_DENSITY_CALLBACK_CONFIGURATION = 6
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_CONFIGURATION = 9
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_CALIBRATION = 11
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_WRITE_FIRMWARE_POINTER = 237
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_STATUS_LED_CONFIG = 239
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_RESET = 243
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_WRITE_UID = 248
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
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 callback 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:
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_HEADING_CALLBACK_CONFIGURATION = 2
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_MAGNETIC_FLUX_DENSITY_CALLBACK_CONFIGURATION = 6
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_CONFIGURATION = 9
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_CALIBRATION = 11
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_WRITE_FIRMWARE_POINTER = 237
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_SET_STATUS_LED_CONFIG = 239
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_RESET = 243
BrickletCompass.FUNCTION_WRITE_UID = 248
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration functions of this device at once.
Internal functions are used for maintenance tasks such as flashing a new firmware of changing the UID of a Bricklet. These task should be performed using Brick Viewer instead of using the internal functions directly.
| Parameters: |
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|---|---|
| Returns: |
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Sets the bootloader mode and returns the status after the requested mode change was instigated.
You can change from bootloader mode to firmware mode and vice versa. A change from bootloader mode to firmware mode will only take place if the entry function, device identifier and CRC are present and correct.
This function is used by Brick Viewer during flashing. It should not be necessary to call it in a normal user program.
The following constants are available for this function:
For mode:
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_BOOTLOADER = 0
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_FIRMWARE = 1
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_BOOTLOADER_WAIT_FOR_REBOOT = 2
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_FIRMWARE_WAIT_FOR_REBOOT = 3
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_FIRMWARE_WAIT_FOR_ERASE_AND_REBOOT = 4
For status:
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_STATUS_OK = 0
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_STATUS_INVALID_MODE = 1
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_STATUS_NO_CHANGE = 2
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_STATUS_ENTRY_FUNCTION_NOT_PRESENT = 3
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_STATUS_DEVICE_IDENTIFIER_INCORRECT = 4
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_STATUS_CRC_MISMATCH = 5
| Returns: |
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|---|
Returns the current bootloader mode, see SetBootloaderMode().
The following constants are available for this function:
For mode:
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_BOOTLOADER = 0
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_FIRMWARE = 1
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_BOOTLOADER_WAIT_FOR_REBOOT = 2
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_FIRMWARE_WAIT_FOR_REBOOT = 3
BrickletCompass.BOOTLOADER_MODE_FIRMWARE_WAIT_FOR_ERASE_AND_REBOOT = 4
| Parameters: |
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Sets the firmware pointer for WriteFirmware(). The pointer has
to be increased by chunks of size 64. The data is written to flash
every 4 chunks (which equals to one page of size 256).
This function is used by Brick Viewer during flashing. It should not be necessary to call it in a normal user program.
| Parameters: |
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|---|---|
| Returns: |
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Writes 64 Bytes of firmware at the position as written by
SetWriteFirmwarePointer() before. The firmware is written
to flash every 4 chunks.
You can only write firmware in bootloader mode.
This function is used by Brick Viewer during flashing. It should not be necessary to call it in a normal user program.
| Parameters: |
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|---|
Writes a new UID into flash. If you want to set a new UID you have to decode the Base58 encoded UID string into an integer first.
We recommend that you use Brick Viewer to change the UID.
| Returns: |
|
|---|
Returns the current UID as an integer. Encode as Base58 to get the usual string version.
This constant is used to identify a Compass Bricklet.
The GetIdentity() function and the
IPConnection.EnumerateCallback
callback of the IP Connection have a deviceIdentifier parameter to specify
the Brick's or Bricklet's type.
This constant represents the human readable name of a Compass Bricklet.