This is the description of the Visual Basic .NET API bindings for the Ambient Light Bricklet 3.0. General information and technical specifications for the Ambient Light Bricklet 3.0 are summarized in its hardware description.
An installation guide for the Visual Basic .NET API bindings is part of their general description.
The example code below is Public Domain (CC0 1.0).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | Imports System
Imports Tinkerforge
Module ExampleSimple
Const HOST As String = "localhost"
Const PORT As Integer = 4223
Const UID As String = "XYZ" ' Change XYZ to the UID of your Ambient Light Bricklet 3.0
Sub Main()
Dim ipcon As New IPConnection() ' Create IP connection
Dim al As New BrickletAmbientLightV3(UID, ipcon) ' Create device object
ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT) ' Connect to brickd
' Don't use device before ipcon is connected
' Get current Illuminance
Dim illuminance As Long = al.GetIlluminance()
Console.WriteLine("Illuminance: " + (illuminance/100.0).ToString() + " lx")
Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit")
Console.ReadLine()
ipcon.Disconnect()
End Sub
End Module
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 | Imports System
Imports Tinkerforge
Module ExampleCallback
Const HOST As String = "localhost"
Const PORT As Integer = 4223
Const UID As String = "XYZ" ' Change XYZ to the UID of your Ambient Light Bricklet 3.0
' Callback subroutine for illuminance callback
Sub IlluminanceCB(ByVal sender As BrickletAmbientLightV3, ByVal illuminance As Long)
Console.WriteLine("Illuminance: " + (illuminance/100.0).ToString() + " lx")
End Sub
Sub Main()
Dim ipcon As New IPConnection() ' Create IP connection
Dim al As New BrickletAmbientLightV3(UID, ipcon) ' Create device object
ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT) ' Connect to brickd
' Don't use device before ipcon is connected
' Register illuminance callback to subroutine IlluminanceCB
AddHandler al.IlluminanceCallback, AddressOf IlluminanceCB
' Set period for illuminance callback to 1s (1000ms) without a threshold
al.SetIlluminanceCallbackConfiguration(1000, False, "x"C, 0, 0)
Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit")
Console.ReadLine()
ipcon.Disconnect()
End Sub
End Module
|
Download (ExampleThreshold.vb)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 | Imports System
Imports Tinkerforge
Module ExampleThreshold
Const HOST As String = "localhost"
Const PORT As Integer = 4223
Const UID As String = "XYZ" ' Change XYZ to the UID of your Ambient Light Bricklet 3.0
' Callback subroutine for illuminance callback
Sub IlluminanceCB(ByVal sender As BrickletAmbientLightV3, ByVal illuminance As Long)
Console.WriteLine("Illuminance: " + (illuminance/100.0).ToString() + " lx")
Console.WriteLine("Too bright, close the curtains!")
End Sub
Sub Main()
Dim ipcon As New IPConnection() ' Create IP connection
Dim al As New BrickletAmbientLightV3(UID, ipcon) ' Create device object
ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT) ' Connect to brickd
' Don't use device before ipcon is connected
' Register illuminance callback to subroutine IlluminanceCB
AddHandler al.IlluminanceCallback, AddressOf IlluminanceCB
' Configure threshold for illuminance "greater than 500 lx"
' with a debounce period of 1s (1000ms)
al.SetIlluminanceCallbackConfiguration(1000, False, ">"C, 500*100, 0)
Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit")
Console.ReadLine()
ipcon.Disconnect()
End Sub
End Module
|
Since Visual Basic .NET does not support multiple return values directly, we
use the ByRef
keyword to return multiple values from a function.
All functions and procedures listed below are thread-safe.
BrickletAmbientLightV3
(ByVal uid As String, ByVal ipcon As IPConnection)¶Creates an object with the unique device ID uid
:
Dim ambientLightV3 As New BrickletAmbientLightV3("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon)
This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetIlluminance
() As Long¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the illuminance of the ambient light sensor. The measurement range goes up to about 100000lux, but above 64000lux the precision starts to drop. The illuminance is given in lux/100, i.e. a value of 450000 means that an illuminance of 4500lux is measured.
An illuminance of 0lux indicates an error condition where the sensor cannot
perform a reasonable measurement. This can happen with very dim or very bright
light conditions. In bright light conditions this might indicate that the sensor
is saturated and the configuration should be modified (SetConfiguration()
)
to better match the conditions.
If you want to get the value periodically, it is recommended to use the
IlluminanceCallback
callback. You can set the callback configuration
with SetIlluminanceCallbackConfiguration()
.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
SetConfiguration
(ByVal illuminanceRange As Byte, ByVal integrationTime As Byte)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the configuration. It is possible to configure an illuminance range between 0-600lux and 0-64000lux and an integration time between 50ms and 400ms.
The unlimited illuminance range allows to measure up to about 100000lux, but above 64000lux the precision starts to drop.
A smaller illuminance range increases the resolution of the data. A longer integration time will result in less noise on the data.
If the actual measure illuminance is out-of-range then the current illuminance
range maximum +0.01lux is reported by GetIlluminance()
and the
IlluminanceCallback
callback. For example, 800001 for the 0-8000lux range.
With a long integration time the sensor might be saturated before the measured
value reaches the maximum of the selected illuminance range. In this case 0lux
is reported by GetIlluminance()
and the IlluminanceCallback
callback.
If the measurement is out-of-range or the sensor is saturated then you should configure the next higher illuminance range. If the highest range is already in use, then start to reduce the integration time.
The following constants are available for this function:
For illuminanceRange:
For integrationTime:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetConfiguration
(ByRef illuminanceRange As Byte, ByRef integrationTime As Byte)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the configuration as set by SetConfiguration()
.
The following constants are available for this function:
For illuminanceRange:
For integrationTime:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetSPITFPErrorCount
(ByRef errorCountAckChecksum As Long, ByRef errorCountMessageChecksum As Long, ByRef errorCountFrame As Long, ByRef errorCountOverflow As Long)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the error count for the communication between Brick and Bricklet.
The errors are divided into
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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
SetStatusLEDConfig
(ByVal config As Byte)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
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 constants are available for this function:
For config:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetStatusLEDConfig
() As Byte¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the configuration as set by SetStatusLEDConfig()
The following constants are available for this function:
For config:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetChipTemperature
() As Short¶Returns: |
|
---|
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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
Reset
()¶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!
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetIdentity
(ByRef uid As String, ByRef connectedUid As String, ByRef position As Char, ByRef hardwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef firmwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef deviceIdentifier As Integer)¶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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
SetIlluminanceCallbackConfiguration
(ByVal period As Long, ByVal valueHasToChange As Boolean, ByVal option As Char, ByVal min As Long, ByVal max As Long)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
The period is the period with which the IlluminanceCallback
callback is triggered
periodically. A value of 0 turns the callback off.
If the value has to change-parameter is set to true, the callback is only triggered after the value has changed. If the value didn't change within the period, the callback is triggered immediately on change.
If it is set to false, the callback is continuously triggered with the period, independent of the value.
It is furthermore possible to constrain the callback with thresholds.
The option-parameter together with min/max sets a threshold for the IlluminanceCallback
callback.
The following options are possible:
Option | Description |
---|---|
'x' | Threshold is turned off |
'o' | Threshold is triggered when the value is outside the min and max values |
'i' | Threshold is triggered when the value is inside or equal to the min and max values |
'<' | Threshold is triggered when the value is smaller than the min value (max is ignored) |
'>' | Threshold is triggered when the value is greater than the min value (max is ignored) |
If the option is set to 'x' (threshold turned off) the callback is triggered with the fixed period.
The following constants are available for this function:
For option:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetIlluminanceCallbackConfiguration
(ByRef period As Long, ByRef valueHasToChange As Boolean, ByRef option As Char, ByRef min As Long, ByRef max As Long)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the callback configuration as set by SetIlluminanceCallbackConfiguration()
.
The following constants are available for this function:
For option:
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:
Sub MyCallback(ByVal sender As BrickletAmbientLightV3, ByVal value As Short) Console.WriteLine("Value: {0}", value) End Sub AddHandler ambientLightV3.ExampleCallback, AddressOf MyCallback
The available callback property and their type of parameters 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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
IlluminanceCallback
(ByVal sender As BrickletAmbientLightV3, ByVal illuminance As Long)¶Callback Parameters: |
|
---|
This callback is triggered periodically according to the configuration set by
SetIlluminanceCallbackConfiguration()
.
The parameter is the same as GetIlluminance()
.
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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetAPIVersion
() As Byte()¶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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetResponseExpected
(ByVal functionId As Byte) As Boolean¶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:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
SetResponseExpected
(ByVal functionId As Byte, ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)¶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:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
SetResponseExpectedAll
(ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration functions of this device at once.
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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
SetBootloaderMode
(ByVal mode As Byte) As Byte¶Parameters: |
|
---|---|
Returns: |
|
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 constants are available for this function:
For mode:
For status:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
GetBootloaderMode
() As Byte¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the current bootloader mode, see SetBootloaderMode()
.
The following constants are available for this function:
For mode:
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
SetWriteFirmwarePointer
(ByVal pointer As Long)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the firmware pointer for WriteFirmware()
. 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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
WriteFirmware
(ByVal data() As Byte) As Byte¶Parameters: |
|
---|---|
Returns: |
|
Writes 64 Bytes of firmware at the position as written by
SetWriteFirmwarePointer()
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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
WriteUID
(ByVal uid As Long)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
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.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
ReadUID
() As Long¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the current UID as an integer. Encode as Base58 to get the usual string version.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
DEVICE_IDENTIFIER
¶This constant is used to identify a Ambient Light Bricklet 3.0.
The GetIdentity()
function and the
IPConnection.EnumerateCallback
callback of the IP Connection have a deviceIdentifier
parameter to specify
the Brick's or Bricklet's type.
BrickletAmbientLightV3.
DEVICE_DISPLAY_NAME
¶This constant represents the human readable name of a Ambient Light Bricklet 3.0.