Visual Basic .NET - Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet

This is the description of the Visual Basic .NET 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 Visual Basic .NET API bindings is part of their general description.

Examples

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

Simple

Download (ExampleSimple.vb)

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Imports System
Imports System.Threading
Imports Tinkerforge

Module ExampleSimple
    Const HOST As String = "localhost"
    Const PORT As Integer = 4223
    Const UID As String = "XYZ" ' Change XYZ to the UID of your Industrial Digital Out 4 Bricklet

    Sub Main()
        Dim ipcon As New IPConnection() ' Create IP connection
        Dim ido4 As 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
        Dim i As Integer
        For i = 0 To 9
            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)
        Next i

        Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit")
        Console.ReadLine()
        ipcon.Disconnect()
    End Sub
End Module

API

Since Visual Basic .NET does not support multiple return values directly, we use the ByRef keyword to return multiple values from a function.

All functions and procedures listed below are thread-safe.

Basic Functions

Class BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4(ByVal uid As String, ByVal ipcon As IPConnection)

Creates an object with the unique device ID uid:

Dim industrialDigitalOut4 As New BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon)

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

Sub BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.SetValue(ByVal valueMask As Integer)
Parameters:
  • valueMask – Type: Integer, 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.

Function BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.GetValue() As Integer
Returns:
  • valueMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

Returns the bitmask as set by SetValue().

Sub BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.SetSelectedValues(ByVal selectionMask As Integer, ByVal valueMask As Integer)
Parameters:
  • selectionMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]
  • valueMask – Type: Integer, 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

Sub BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.SetMonoflop(ByVal selectionMask As Integer, ByVal valueMask As Integer, ByVal time As Long)
Parameters:
  • selectionMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]
  • valueMask – Type: Integer, 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.

Sub BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.GetMonoflop(ByVal pin As Byte, ByRef value As Integer, ByRef time As Long, ByRef timeRemaining As Long)
Parameters:
  • pin – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 15]
Output Parameters:
  • value – Type: Integer, 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.

Sub BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.SetGroup(ByVal group() As Char)
Parameters:
  • group – Type: Char Array, Length: 4, Range: ["a"C to "d"C, "n"C]

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.

Function BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.GetGroup() As Char()
Returns:
  • group – Type: Char Array, Length: 4, Range: ["a"C to "d"C, "n"C]

Returns the group as set by SetGroup()

Function BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.GetAvailableForGroup() As Byte
Returns:
  • available – Type: Byte, 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.

Sub BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.GetIdentity(ByRef uid As String, ByRef connectedUid As String, ByRef position As Char, ByRef hardwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef firmwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef deviceIdentifier As Integer)
Output Parameters:
  • uid – Type: String, Length: up to 8
  • connectedUid – Type: String, Length: up to 8
  • position – Type: Char, Range: ["a"C to "h"C, "z"C]
  • hardwareVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
  • firmwareVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
  • deviceIdentifier – Type: Integer, 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.

Callbacks

Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done by assigning a procedure to an callback property of the device object:

Sub MyCallback(ByVal sender As BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4, ByVal value As Short)
    Console.WriteLine("Value: {0}", value)
End Sub

AddHandler industrialDigitalOut4.ExampleCallback, AddressOf MyCallback

The available callback property and their type of parameters 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.

Event BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.MonoflopDoneCallback(ByVal sender As BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4, ByVal selectionMask As Integer, ByVal valueMask As Integer)
Callback Parameters:
  • sender – Type: BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4
  • selectionMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]
  • valueMask – Type: Integer, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]

This callback 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.

Function BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.GetAPIVersion() As Byte()
Output Parameters:
  • apiVersion – Type: Byte Array, Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: Byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: Byte, 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.

Function BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.GetResponseExpected(ByVal functionId As Byte) As Boolean
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 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:

  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_VALUE = 1
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_MONOFLOP = 3
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_GROUP = 5
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_SELECTED_VALUES = 9
Sub BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.SetResponseExpected(ByVal functionId As Byte, ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)
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 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:

  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_VALUE = 1
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_MONOFLOP = 3
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_GROUP = 5
  • BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.FUNCTION_SET_SELECTED_VALUES = 9
Sub BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.SetResponseExpectedAll(ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)
Parameters:
  • responseExpected – Type: Boolean

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

Constants

Const BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.DEVICE_IDENTIFIER

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

Const BrickletIndustrialDigitalOut4.DEVICE_DISPLAY_NAME

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