Hello, I was wondering if there was any way to show a display on the controller of what motor got unplugged when a motor gets disconnected. I am using Vexcode Pro V5 C++.
I havent used c++ much but i have done some things with displays and it is possible to display an image or message on the controller screen so i would advice using something that can detect the brain and if something changes on it (such as the brain screen change to red yellow or orange) it then would broadcast a message to the controller which displays a message of your choice on it again i havent used C++ much so i hope this helps
Thank you, would you have an idea on how to mirror the brain to the controller in code because that is the part I am stuck on?
no images on the controller, only text.
yea, thereās no (official) way to detect the brain screen going orange.
What you need to do is.
create a new task
in a loop, monitor the āinstalled()ā status of devices, thereās more than one way to do this but the crudest is simply to use something like (if m1 is a motor).
m1.installed();
if that returns false, and you know it should be true, then send a message to the controller using controller.Screen.print.
have a go yourself but, if I have time, Iāll post a simple example tomorrow.
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Thank you
(20 characters)
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ty you for correcting me and as i said i dont know much about C++
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How would you create and / or implement a task in vexcode?
I tried this but this nothing showed up on the controller screen when I unplugged the motor. m5 is the motor. Do you know anyway to fix it?
if(m5.installed()) {
}
else {
Controller1.Screen.print(ām5 Disconnectedā);
}
You are starting along the right lines, but itās going to get a bit more complicated than that.
The checking for a motor being installed needs to be inside a while loop. So as not to interfere with other drive or auton code, itās probably best to run this in a separate thread. You need to consider that the bandwidth for sending messages to the controller is small, so try and limit how often you send a message, best to just send when the message needs to change rather than constantly. The V5 will not detect an unplugged motor until it has been lost for 1 second, a motor unplugged for a short time and replugged will simply be reinitialized and continue working. So here is a first crude example. It only monitors two motors by name, but could be extended to others. It only detects one disconnect and then stops checking, other logic could be added to improve upon this.
example_1
/*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* */
/* Module: main.cpp */
/* Author: james */
/* Created: 1/9/2024, 2:10:08 PM */
/* Description: V5 project */
/* */
/*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
#include "vex.h"
using namespace vex;
// A global instance of vex::brain used for printing to the V5 brain screen
vex::brain Brain;
vex::controller c1;
// define your global instances of motors and other devices here
vex::motor m1(PORT16);
vex::motor m2(PORT17);
int
motorMonitor() {
bool bDisconnected = false;
int portIndex;
while(1) {
// only detect first disconnect
if( !bDisconnected ) {
// crude, just check each known motor
if( !m1.installed() ) {
bDisconnected = true;
portIndex = m1.index();
}
else
if( !m2.installed() ) {
bDisconnected = true;
portIndex = m2.index();
}
if( bDisconnected ) {
c1.Screen.setCursor( 1, 1 );
c1.Screen.print( "Disconnect");
c1.Screen.setCursor( 2, 1 );
c1.Screen.print( "Port %d", portIndex + 1);
}
}
this_thread::sleep_for(100);
}
}
int main() {
thread t1(motorMonitor);
while(1) {
// Allow other tasks to run
this_thread::sleep_for(10);
}
}
A more generic approach would look for any disconnected device and not need to know the type or port number used. Here is an updated monitor thread that looks for any device being unplugged, more complicated and uses APIs that VEXcode generally does not document.
example_2
int
motorMonitor() {
bool bIsOk = true;
V5_DeviceType types[V5_MAX_DEVICE_PORTS] = {kDeviceTypeNoSensor};
// learn what is connected initially
for( int port=PORT1;port<=PORT21;port++) {
vex::device dev(port);
types[port] = dev.type();
}
while(1) {
int notConnected = 0;
// for all ports on the brain
for( int port=PORT1;port<=PORT21;port++) {
// A temporary device of any type
vex::device dev(port);
// do we expect a device on this port
if( types[port] != kDeviceTypeNoSensor ) {
// still connected ?
if( !dev.installed() ) {
// no, increase count of disconnected devices.
notConnected++;
}
}
}
// display when going from ok to bad
if( notConnected & bIsOk) {
c1.Screen.clearLine(3);
c1.Screen.print( "Disconnected %d", notConnected );
bIsOk = false;
}
// display when going from bad to ok
if( !notConnected & !bIsOk) {
c1.Screen.clearLine(3);
c1.Screen.print( "All Ok");
bIsOk = true;
}
this_thread::sleep_for(100);
}
}
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Thank you.
(20 chara)
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When I tested the code in example one it said āRedefinition of āmainā (137,5)ā in problems. Would you know why it says that, and how to fix it?
Well, it was a standalone example not intended to be added to an existing program. If you did that then you probably ended up with two āmainā functions.
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Ok. Also I was wondering if there was anyway or if you could tell me what the word "dev " is and what it means and its purpose? In example 2.
Iāll explain tomorrow.
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Oh I just realized what dev was its device I didnāt see that my bad. But what is bIsOk supposed to represent or mean?
Iāll explain some of the second example.
int
motorMonitor() {
bool bIsOk = true;
motorMonitor will be run as a thread and never exit. bIsOk is a variable (a boolean) used to remember if we sent a āDisconnectedā or a āAll Okā message to the controller screen.
Often I use whatās known as Hungarian notation for variables, not always, but itās useful for keeping track of what the type of variable is. That why bIsOk starts with a ābā.
V5_DeviceType types[V5_MAX_DEVICE_PORTS] = {kDeviceTypeNoSensor};
This is an array that used to store the initial type of the device/sensor on each port.
// learn what is connected initially
for( int port=PORT1;port<=PORT21;port++) {
vex::device dev(port);
types[port] = dev.type();
}
This initializes the array.
A vex::device is the base class for all other devices. A vex::motor is a subclass of vex::device. We can create an instance of vex::device for any port and then use that to check the type.
while(1) {
int notConnected = 0;
// for all ports on the brain
for( int port=PORT1;port<=PORT21;port++) {
// A temporary device of any type
vex::device dev(port);
// do we expect a device on this port
if( types[port] != kDeviceTypeNoSensor ) {
// still connected ?
if( !dev.installed() ) {
// no, increase count of disconnected devices.
notConnected++;
}
}
}
this part of the while loop checks each port for a disconnected device. It creates an instance of vex::device for the port, checks the initial type array to see if we expect to detect something, then checks the installed status for that port. installed() will return true if any type of device is connected and false if nothing is connected. We increment the variable notConnected for every port we find that has a disconnected device.
// display when going from ok to bad
if( notConnected & bIsOk) {
c1.Screen.clearLine(3);
c1.Screen.print( "Disconnected %d", notConnected );
bIsOk = false;
}
// display when going from bad to ok
if( !notConnected & !bIsOk) {
c1.Screen.clearLine(3);
c1.Screen.print( "All Ok");
bIsOk = true;
}
this_thread::sleep_for(100);
}
The second part of the while loop decides what, if anything, to send to the controller.
If notConnected is set and bIsOk is true we send the āDisconnectedā message and then set bIsOk to false.
If notConnected is zero and bIsOk is false, we send the āAll Okā message and set bIsOk back to true.
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