MQTT - Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet 2.0

This is the description of the MQTT API bindings for the Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet 2.0. General information and technical specifications for the Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet 2.0 are summarized in its hardware description.

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

Examples

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

Numeric Value

Download (example-numeric-value.txt)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
# Change XYZ to the UID of your Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet 2.0

setup:
    publish '{"brightness": 7}' to tinkerforge/request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/XYZ/set_brightness # Set to full brightness

    # Show "- 42" on the Display
    publish '{"value": [-2,-1,4,2]}' to tinkerforge/request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/XYZ/set_numeric_value

Set Segments

Download (example-set-segments.txt)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
# Change XYZ to the UID of your Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet 2.0

setup:
    publish '{"brightness": 7}' to tinkerforge/request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/XYZ/set_brightness # Set to full brightness

    # Activate all segments
    publish '{"digit0": [true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true], "digit1": [true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true], "digit2": [true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true], "digit3": [true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true], "colon": [true,true], "tick": true}' to tinkerforge/request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/XYZ/set_segments

API

All published payloads to and from the MQTT bindings are in JSON format.

If an error occures, the bindings publish a JSON object containing the error message as member _ERROR. It is published on the corresponding response topic: .../response/... for .../request/... and .../callback/... for .../register/....

Basic Functions

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_segments
Request:
  • digit0 – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 8
  • digit1 – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 8
  • digit2 – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 8
  • digit3 – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 8
  • colon – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 2
  • tick – Type: bool
Response:
  • no response

Sets the segments of the Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet 2.0 segment-by-segment.

The data is split into the four digits, two colon dots and the tick mark.

The indices of the segments in the digit and colon parameters are as follows:

Indices of segments
request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_segments
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • digit0 – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 8
  • digit1 – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 8
  • digit2 – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 8
  • digit3 – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 8
  • colon – Type: [bool, ...], Length: 2
  • tick – Type: bool

Returns the segment data as set by request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_segments.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_brightness
Request:
  • brightness – Type: int, Range: [0 to 7], Default: 7
Response:
  • no response

The brightness can be set between 0 (dark) and 7 (bright).

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_brightness
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • brightness – Type: int, Range: [0 to 7], Default: 7

Returns the brightness as set by request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_brightness.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_numeric_value
Request:
  • value – Type: [int, ...], Length: 4, Range: [-2 to 15]
Response:
  • no response

Sets a numeric value for each of the digits. They represent:

  • -2: minus sign
  • -1: blank
  • 0-9: 0-9
  • 10: A
  • 11: b
  • 12: C
  • 13: d
  • 14: E
  • 15: F

Example: A call with [-2, -1, 4, 2] will result in a display of "- 42".

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_selected_segment
Request:
  • segment – Type: int, Range: [0 to 34]
  • value – Type: bool
Response:
  • no response

Turns one specified segment on or off.

The indices of the segments are as follows:

Indices of selected segments
request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_selected_segment
Request:
  • segment – Type: int, Range: [0 to 34]
Response:
  • value – Type: bool

Returns the value of a single segment.

Advanced Functions

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/start_counter
Request:
  • value_from – Type: int, Range: [-999 to 9999]
  • value_to – Type: int, Range: [-999 to 9999]
  • increment – Type: int, Range: [-999 to 9999]
  • length – Type: int, Unit: 1 ms, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]
Response:
  • no response

Starts a counter with the from value that counts to the to value with the each step incremented by increment. length is the pause between each increment.

Example: If you set from to 0, to to 100, increment to 1 and length to 1000, a counter that goes from 0 to 100 with one second pause between each increment will be started.

Using a negative increment allows to count backwards.

You can stop the counter at every time by calling request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_segments or request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_numeric_value.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_counter_value
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • value – Type: int, Range: [-999 to 9999]

Returns the counter value that is currently shown on the display.

If there is no counter running a 0 will be returned.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_spitfp_error_count
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • error_count_ack_checksum – Type: int, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]
  • error_count_message_checksum – Type: int, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]
  • error_count_frame – Type: int, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]
  • error_count_overflow – Type: int, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]

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.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_status_led_config
Request:
  • config – Type: int, Range: See symbols, Default: 3
Response:
  • no response

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 symbols are available for this function:

For config:

  • "off" = 0
  • "on" = 1
  • "show_heartbeat" = 2
  • "show_status" = 3
request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_status_led_config
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • config – Type: int, Range: See symbols, Default: 3

Returns the configuration as set by request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_status_led_config

The following symbols are available for this function:

For config:

  • "off" = 0
  • "on" = 1
  • "show_heartbeat" = 2
  • "show_status" = 3
request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_chip_temperature
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • temperature – Type: int, Unit: 1 °C, Range: [-215 to 215 - 1]

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.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/reset
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • no response

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!

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_identity
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • uid – Type: string, Length: up to 8
  • connected_uid – Type: string, Length: up to 8
  • position – Type: char, Range: ["a" to "h", "z"]
  • hardware_version – Type: [int, ...], Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255]
  • firmware_version – Type: [int, ...], Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255]
  • device_identifier – Type: int, Range: [0 to 216 - 1]
  • _display_name – Type: string

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. If symbolic output is not disabled, the device identifier is mapped to the corresponding name in the format used in topics.

The display name contains the Segment Display 4x7 2.0's name in a human readable form.

Callbacks

Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done with the corresponding .../register/... topic and an optional suffix. This suffix can be used to deregister the callback later.

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.

register/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/counter_finished
Register Request:
  • register – Type: bool
Callback Response:
  • empty payload

A callback can be registered for this event by publishing to the .../register/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/counter_finished[/<SUFFIX>] topic with the payload "true". An added callback can be removed by publishing to the same topic with the payload "false". To support multiple (de)registrations, e.g. for message filtering, an optional suffix can be used.

If the callback is triggered, a message with it's payload is published under the corresponding .../callback/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/counter_finished[/<SUFFIX>] topic for each registered suffix.

This callback is triggered when the counter (see request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/start_counter) is finished.

Internal Functions

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.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_bootloader_mode
Request:
  • mode – Type: int, Range: See symbols
Response:
  • status – Type: int, Range: See symbols

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 symbols are available for this function:

For mode:

  • "bootloader" = 0
  • "firmware" = 1
  • "bootloader_wait_for_reboot" = 2
  • "firmware_wait_for_reboot" = 3
  • "firmware_wait_for_erase_and_reboot" = 4

For status:

  • "ok" = 0
  • "invalid_mode" = 1
  • "no_change" = 2
  • "entry_function_not_present" = 3
  • "device_identifier_incorrect" = 4
  • "crc_mismatch" = 5
request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/get_bootloader_mode
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • mode – Type: int, Range: See symbols

Returns the current bootloader mode, see request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_bootloader_mode.

The following symbols are available for this function:

For mode:

  • "bootloader" = 0
  • "firmware" = 1
  • "bootloader_wait_for_reboot" = 2
  • "firmware_wait_for_reboot" = 3
  • "firmware_wait_for_erase_and_reboot" = 4
request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_write_firmware_pointer
Request:
  • pointer – Type: int, Unit: 1 B, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]
Response:
  • no response

Sets the firmware pointer for request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/write_firmware. 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.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/write_firmware
Request:
  • data – Type: [int, ...], Length: 64, Range: [0 to 255]
Response:
  • status – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255]

Writes 64 Bytes of firmware at the position as written by request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/set_write_firmware_pointer 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.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/write_uid
Request:
  • uid – Type: int, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]
Response:
  • no response

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.

request/segment_display_4x7_v2_bricklet/<UID>/read_uid
Request:
  • empty payload
Response:
  • uid – Type: int, Range: [0 to 232 - 1]

Returns the current UID as an integer. Encode as Base58 to get the usual string version.