Yet another way of blinking an LED on the Arduino

18 Jun 2015

When I was making the Topsy Turvy Clock I created a non blocking delay class so that the Arduino could be doing other things whilst waiting for a timeout. This avoids the use of the delay function which otherwise "blocks" the operation until the timeout is completed. I realised that this same technique could be used to control the flashing of the RGB LED. This will need to be expanded to handle the colour cycling which will indicate that the Wifi settings need configuring.

Code: https://github.com/Workshopshed/EnchantedObjects/tree/master/Code/Examples/Blinker

Example Usage

Here's an example of the blinking code using the LED on pin 13.

#include "Blink.h"
Blinker b(1,0);

void setup() {
  b.Blink(Short_Blink);
  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  digitalWrite(13, b.Level());
  //Do other things here as desired
}

Virtual Prototyping

As an experiment the code was uploaded to 123D circuits.

https://123d.circuits.io/circuits/868830-blinker-class

This allowed the example to be tested from a web page without the need for actually having an Arduino plugged into the computer.

Next: Swapping out the bridge

Top Comments

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mcb1 over 10 years ago

Why didn't you just do it in the code, rather than add the extra library.?
The example "BlinkwithoutDelay" (yes stupid name) uses the same millis Timer as you've used.

I've always advacated for avoiding using Delay whenever possible.

Mark
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Workshopshed over 10 years ago in reply to mcb1

Mark,
I come from a software background so try to apply SOLID principles whenever I can to get code that can be easily maintained. For my example the class does seem a little small but once I've added in the colour cycle then it will not be so trivial.
http://code.tutsplus.com/series/the-solid-principles--cms-634

In practical terms it means that I've got one line of code to set the type of blinking, currently "solid, short, long" and one line to get the level for the output. There's no dependency between the blinking and output device so I can test using LED13 but swap over to use the Infineon LED board once I'm happy it works. If I decide to add a different type of blinking then my output code does not change just the code that determines the flashing.

It also means that as projects get bigger it's easier to manage. I don't put my classes into the libraries folders but incorporate them into the project. Here's what my current work in progress looks like (blinker not yet added), what you can see is all of the .ino file.
https://github.com/Workshopshed/EnchantedObjects/tree/master/Code/DemoController
In theory I could also drop blinker into a unit test framework. I've never tried unit testing with C++ / Arduino but it does mean that you can refactor code much more easily without worrying that you are going to break things.

Cheers,

Andy
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crjeder over 10 years ago in reply to Workshopshed

Yes, recycling is good!

(even when unused code does not pollute the environment )
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mcb1 over 10 years ago in reply to Workshopshed
Andy
I can see your reasons .....
In your example the times are fixed.
```
  switch (Mode) {
    case Short_Blink:
        _onDuration = 250;
        _offDuration = 250;
        break;
    case Long_Blink:
        _onDuration = 1000;
        _offDuration = 2000;
      break;
```
So the example doesn't translate for everyone unless you can send a different time.

Mark
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Workshopshed over 10 years ago in reply to mcb1

I shall leave that as an exercise for the readers
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Workshopshed over 10 years ago in reply to mcb1

I shall leave that as an exercise for the readers
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