Serial & I2C

Talk to other devices: serial ports on the computer ARCx runs on (COM), serial ports on an EZB (UART), and I2C devices on an EZB.

Where to find it: the Serial & I2C category of the toolbox, in any script editor set to Blockly or on Top bar → Workspaces → Blockly

Blocks

Details

COM port names

The serial ports on this computer, such as COM3 on Windows or /dev/ttyUSB0 on Linux.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

COM.availablePorts()

Open COM port … at baud …

Open a serial port on this computer so it can be read and written.

In JavaScript: this block runs

COM.open('COM3', 115200);

COM port … write text … …

Send text out of a serial port.

In JavaScript: this block runs

COM.writeStringNewLine('COM3', 'Hello');

COM port … write bytes …

Send bytes (numbers 0 to 255) out of a serial port.

In JavaScript: this block runs

COM.write('COM3', [1, 2, 3]);

Bytes waiting on COM port …

How many bytes have arrived on a serial port and not been read yet.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

COM.available('COM3')

COM port … read …

Read from a serial port: up to the next new line, everything that has arrived, or one byte as a number.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

COM.readLine('COM3')

COM port … read … bytes

Read a number of bytes from a serial port, as a list.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

COM.read('COM3', 4)

Discard everything waiting on COM port …

Throw away whatever has arrived on a serial port and not been read, to start fresh.

In JavaScript: this block runs

COM.clearInputBuffer('COM3');

COM port … is open

True when this script has the serial port open.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

COM.isPortOpen('COM3')

Close COM port …

Close a serial port so another program can use it.

In JavaScript: this block runs

COM.close('COM3');

Start EZB UART … at baud …

Turn on one of the EZB's hardware serial ports at a baud rate. Do this once before reading or writing it.

In JavaScript: this block runs

UART.initHardwareUart(0, 115200);

EZB UART … write text …

Send text out of an EZB hardware serial port.

In JavaScript: this block runs

UART.hardwareUartWriteString(0, 'Hello');

EZB UART … write bytes …

Send bytes (numbers 0 to 255) out of an EZB hardware serial port.

In JavaScript: this block runs

UART.hardwareUartWrite(0, [1, 2, 3]);

Bytes waiting on EZB UART …

How many bytes have arrived on an EZB hardware serial port and not been read yet.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

UART.hardwareUartAvailable(0)

EZB UART … read everything waiting …

Read everything that has arrived on an EZB hardware serial port, as text or as a list of bytes.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

UART.hardwareUartReadStringAvailable(0)

EZB UART … read … bytes …

Read a number of bytes from an EZB hardware serial port, as text or as a list of bytes.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

UART.hardwareUartReadString(0, 4)

Send serial text … on digital … at baud …

Send text out of an EZB digital port as serial data, for a device that only needs to receive.

In JavaScript: this block runs

UART.sendSerialString(d0, 1, 'Hello');

Send serial bytes … on digital … at baud …

Send bytes (numbers 0 to 255) out of an EZB digital port as serial data.

In JavaScript: this block runs

UART.sendSerial(d0, 1, [1, 2, 3]);

I2C write bytes … to address …

Send bytes (numbers 0 to 255) to the I2C device at a 7-bit address.

In JavaScript: this block runs

I2C.write(30, [0, 1]);

I2C write text … to address …

Send text to the I2C device at a 7-bit address.

In JavaScript: this block runs

I2C.writeString(30, 'Hello');

I2C read … bytes from address … …

Read a number of bytes from the I2C device at a 7-bit address, as a list of bytes or as text.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

I2C.read(30, 2)

I2C read one byte from address …

Read one byte from the I2C device at a 7-bit address.

In JavaScript: this block gives back the value of

I2C.readByte(30)

Set I2C clock speed to … Hz

Set how fast the EZB talks on the I2C bus. 100000 is standard, 400000 is fast mode.

In JavaScript: this block runs

I2C.setClockSpeed(100000);