This is the description of the Delphi/Lazarus API bindings for the LCD 16x2 Bricklet. General information and technical specifications for the LCD 16x2 Bricklet are summarized in its hardware description.
An installation guide for the Delphi/Lazarus API bindings is part of their general description.
The example code below is Public Domain (CC0 1.0).
Download (ExampleHelloWorld.pas)
1program ExampleHelloWorld;
2
3{$ifdef MSWINDOWS}{$apptype CONSOLE}{$endif}
4{$ifdef FPC}{$mode OBJFPC}{$H+}{$endif}
5
6uses
7 SysUtils, IPConnection, BrickletLCD16x2;
8
9type
10 TExample = class
11 private
12 ipcon: TIPConnection;
13 lcd: TBrickletLCD16x2;
14 public
15 procedure Execute;
16 end;
17
18const
19 HOST = 'localhost';
20 PORT = 4223;
21 UID = 'XYZ'; { Change XYZ to the UID of your LCD 16x2 Bricklet }
22
23var
24 e: TExample;
25
26procedure TExample.Execute;
27begin
28 { Create IP connection }
29 ipcon := TIPConnection.Create;
30
31 { Create device object }
32 lcd := TBrickletLCD16x2.Create(UID, ipcon);
33
34 { Connect to brickd }
35 ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT);
36 { Don't use device before ipcon is connected }
37
38 { Turn backlight on }
39 lcd.BacklightOn;
40
41 { Write "Hello World" }
42 lcd.WriteLine(0, 0, 'Hello World');
43
44 WriteLn('Press key to exit');
45 ReadLn;
46 ipcon.Destroy; { Calls ipcon.Disconnect internally }
47end;
48
49begin
50 e := TExample.Create;
51 e.Execute;
52 e.Destroy;
53end.
1program ExampleUnicode;
2
3{$ifdef MSWINDOWS}{$apptype CONSOLE}{$endif}
4{$ifdef FPC}{$mode OBJFPC}{$H+}{$endif}
5
6uses
7 SysUtils, IPConnection, BrickletLCD16x2;
8
9type
10 TExample = class
11 private
12 ipcon: TIPConnection;
13 lcd: TBrickletLCD16x2;
14 public
15 function WideStringToKS0066U(const text: WideString): string;
16 procedure Execute;
17 end;
18
19const
20 HOST = 'localhost';
21 PORT = 4223;
22 UID = 'XYZ'; { Change XYZ to the UID of your LCD 16x2 Bricklet }
23
24var
25 e: TExample;
26
27function TExample.WideStringToKS0066U(const text: WideString): string;
28var i, codePoint: longint; w: word; c: char; ks0066u: string;
29begin
30 i := 1;
31 SetLength(ks0066u, 0);
32 while (i <= Length(text)) do begin
33 { WideString is UTF-16, handle surrogates }
34 w := word(text[i]);
35 if ((w >= $D800) and (w <= $DBFF)) then begin
36 codePoint := $10000 + (w - $D800) * $400 + (w - $DC00);
37 i := i + 2;
38 end
39 else begin
40 codePoint := w;
41 i := i + 1;
42 end;
43 { ASCII subset from JIS X 0201 }
44 if ((codePoint >= $0020) and (codePoint <= $007E)) then begin
45 { The LCD charset doesn't include '\' and '~', use similar characters instead }
46 case codePoint of
47 $005C: c := char($A4); { REVERSE SOLIDUS maps to IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA }
48 $007E: c := char($2D); { TILDE maps to HYPHEN-MINUS }
49 else c := char(codePoint);
50 end;
51 end
52 { Katakana subset from JIS X 0201 }
53 else if ((codePoint >= $FF61) and (codePoint <= $FF9F)) then begin
54 c := char(codePoint - $FEC0);
55 end
56 { Special characters }
57 else begin
58 case codePoint of
59 $00A5: c := char($5C); { YEN SIGN }
60 $2192: c := char($7E); { RIGHTWARDS ARROW }
61 $2190: c := char($7F); { LEFTWARDS ARROW }
62 $00B0: c := char($DF); { DEGREE SIGN maps to KATAKANA SEMI-VOICED SOUND MARK }
63 $03B1: c := char($E0); { GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA }
64 $00C4: c := char($E1); { LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS }
65 $00E4: c := char($E1); { LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS }
66 $00DF: c := char($E2); { LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S }
67 $03B5: c := char($E3); { GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON }
68 $00B5: c := char($E4); { MICRO SIGN }
69 $03BC: c := char($E4); { GREEK SMALL LETTER MU }
70 $03C2: c := char($E5); { GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA }
71 $03C1: c := char($E6); { GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO }
72 $221A: c := char($E8); { SQUARE ROOT }
73 $00B9: c := char($E9); { SUPERSCRIPT ONE maps to SUPERSCRIPT (minus) ONE }
74 $00A4: c := char($EB); { CURRENCY SIGN }
75 $00A2: c := char($EC); { CENT SIGN }
76 $2C60: c := char($ED); { LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L WITH DOUBLE BAR }
77 $00F1: c := char($EE); { LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH TILDE }
78 $00D6: c := char($EF); { LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS }
79 $00F6: c := char($EF); { LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS }
80 $03F4: c := char($F2); { GREEK CAPITAL THETA SYMBOL }
81 $221E: c := char($F3); { INFINITY }
82 $03A9: c := char($F4); { GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA }
83 $00DC: c := char($F5); { LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS }
84 $00FC: c := char($F5); { LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS }
85 $03A3: c := char($F6); { GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA }
86 $03C0: c := char($F7); { GREEK SMALL LETTER PI }
87 $0304: c := char($F8); { COMBINING MACRON }
88 $00F7: c := char($FD); { DIVISION SIGN }
89 $25A0: c := char($FF); { BLACK SQUARE }
90 else c := char($FF); { BLACK SQUARE }
91 end
92 end;
93 { Special handling for 'x' followed by COMBINING MACRON }
94 if (c = char($F8)) then begin
95 if (ks0066u[Length(ks0066u) - 1] <> 'x') then begin
96 c := char($FF); { BLACK SQUARE }
97 end;
98 if (Length(ks0066u) > 0) then begin
99 SetLength(ks0066u, Length(ks0066u) - 1);
100 end;
101 end;
102 ks0066u := ks0066u + c;
103 end;
104 result := ks0066u;
105end;
106
107procedure TExample.Execute;
108begin
109 { Create IP connection }
110 ipcon := TIPConnection.Create;
111
112 { Create device object }
113 lcd := TBrickletLCD16x2.Create(UID, ipcon);
114
115 { Connect to brickd }
116 ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT);
117 { Don't use device before ipcon is connected }
118
119 { Turn backlight on }
120 lcd.BacklightOn;
121
122 { Write a string using the WideStringToKS0066U function to map to the LCD charset }
123 { Note: For the Free Pascal Compiler (and Lazarus) UTF8Decode is used to create a
124 WideString. It assumes that your source file is UTF-8 encoded }
125 lcd.WriteLine(0, 0, WideStringToKS0066U({$ifdef FPC}UTF8Decode{$endif}('Stromstärke: 5µA')));
126
127 { Write a string directly including characters from the LCD charset }
128 lcd.WriteLine(1, 0, 'Drehzahl: 1000s' + char($E9));
129
130 WriteLn('Press key to exit');
131 ReadLn;
132 ipcon.Destroy; { Calls ipcon.Disconnect internally }
133end;
134
135begin
136 e := TExample.Create;
137 e.Execute;
138 e.Destroy;
139end.
Since Delphi does not support multiple return values directly, we use the
out keyword to return multiple values from a function.
All functions and procedures listed below are thread-safe.
| Parameters: |
|
|---|---|
| Returns: |
|
Creates an object with the unique device ID uid:
lcd16x2 := TBrickletLCD16x2.Create('YOUR_DEVICE_UID', ipcon);
This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected.
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
Writes text to a specific line with a specific position. The text can have a maximum of 16 characters.
For example: (0, 5, "Hello") will write Hello in the middle of the first line of the display.
The display uses a special charset that includes all ASCII characters except backslash and tilde. The LCD charset also includes several other non-ASCII characters, see the charset specification for details. The Unicode example above shows how to specify non-ASCII characters and how to translate from Unicode to the LCD charset.
Deletes all characters from the display.
Turns the backlight on.
Turns the backlight off.
| Returns: |
|
|---|
Returns true if the backlight is on and false otherwise.
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
Configures if the cursor (shown as "_") should be visible and if it
should be blinking (shown as a blinking block). The cursor position
is one character behind the the last text written with
WriteLine.
| Output Parameters: |
|
|---|
Returns the configuration as set by SetConfig.
| Parameters: |
|
|---|---|
| Returns: |
|
Returns true if the button is pressed.
If you want to react on button presses and releases it is recommended to use the
OnButtonPressed and OnButtonReleased callbacks.
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
The LCD 16x2 Bricklet can store up to 8 custom characters. The characters consist of 5x8 pixels and can be addressed with the index 0-7. To describe the pixels, the first 5 bits of 8 bytes are used. For example, to make a custom character "H", you should transfer the following:
character[0] = 0b00010001 (decimal value 17)
character[1] = 0b00010001 (decimal value 17)
character[2] = 0b00010001 (decimal value 17)
character[3] = 0b00011111 (decimal value 31)
character[4] = 0b00010001 (decimal value 17)
character[5] = 0b00010001 (decimal value 17)
character[6] = 0b00010001 (decimal value 17)
character[7] = 0b00000000 (decimal value 0)
The characters can later be written with WriteLine by using the
characters with the byte representation 8 ("\x08" or "\u0008") to 15
("\x0F" or "\u000F").
You can play around with the custom characters in Brick Viewer since version 2.0.1.
Custom characters are stored by the LCD in RAM, so they have to be set after each startup.
Added in version 2.0.1$nbsp;(Plugin).
| Parameters: |
|
|---|---|
| Returns: |
|
Returns the custom character for a given index, as set with
SetCustomCharacter.
Added in version 2.0.1$nbsp;(Plugin).
| 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.
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:
procedure TExample.MyCallback(sender: TBrickletLCD16x2; const value: longint); begin WriteLn(Format('Value: %d', [value])); end; lcd16x2.OnExample := {$ifdef FPC}@{$endif}example.MyCallback;
The available callback properties and their parameter types 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.
procedure(sender: TBrickletLCD16x2; const button: byte) of object;
| Callback Parameters: |
|
|---|
This callback is triggered when a button is pressed. The parameter is the number of the button.
procedure(sender: TBrickletLCD16x2; const button: byte) of object;
| Callback Parameters: |
|
|---|
This callback is triggered when a button is released. The parameter is the number of the button.
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: |
|
|---|
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: |
|
|---|---|
| Returns: |
|
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:
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_WRITE_LINE = 1
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_CLEAR_DISPLAY = 2
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_BACKLIGHT_ON = 3
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_BACKLIGHT_OFF = 4
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_SET_CONFIG = 6
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_SET_CUSTOM_CHARACTER = 11
| 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:
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_WRITE_LINE = 1
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_CLEAR_DISPLAY = 2
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_BACKLIGHT_ON = 3
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_BACKLIGHT_OFF = 4
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_SET_CONFIG = 6
BRICKLET_LCD_16X2_FUNCTION_SET_CUSTOM_CHARACTER = 11
| Parameters: |
|
|---|
Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration functions of this device at once.
This constant is used to identify a LCD 16x2 Bricklet.
The GetIdentity function and the
TIPConnection.OnEnumerate
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 LCD 16x2 Bricklet.