Software / API Bindings / Perl / API Reference and Examples / Bricklets (Discontinued) / Remote Switch Bricklet

Perl - Remote Switch Bricklet¶

This is the description of the Perl API bindings for the Remote Switch Bricklet. General information and technical specifications for the Remote Switch Bricklet are summarized in its hardware description.

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

Examples¶

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

Switch Socket¶

Download (example_switch_socket.pl)

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use Tinkerforge::IPConnection;
use Tinkerforge::BrickletRemoteSwitch;

use constant HOST => 'localhost';
use constant PORT => 4223;
use constant UID => 'XYZ'; # Change XYZ to the UID of your Remote Switch Bricklet

my $ipcon = Tinkerforge::IPConnection->new(); # Create IP connection
my $rs = Tinkerforge::BrickletRemoteSwitch->new(&UID, $ipcon); # Create device object

$ipcon->connect(&HOST, &PORT); # Connect to brickd
# Don't use device before ipcon is connected

# Switch on a type A socket with house code 17 and receiver code 1.
# House code 17 is 10001 in binary (least-significant bit first)
# and means that the DIP switches 1 and 5 are on and 2-4 are off.
# Receiver code 1 is 10000 in binary (least-significant bit first)
# and means that the DIP switch A is on and B-E are off.
$rs->switch_socket_a(17, 1, $rs->SWITCH_TO_ON);

print "Press key to exit\n";
<STDIN>;
$ipcon->disconnect();

API¶

Generally, every subroutine of the Perl bindings can report an error as Tinkerforge::Error object via croak(). The object has a get_code() and a get_message() subroutine. There are different error code:

Error->ALREADY_CONNECTED = 11
Error->NOT_CONNECTED = 12
Error->CONNECT_FAILED = 13
Error->INVALID_FUNCTION_ID = 21
Error->TIMEOUT = 31
Error->INVALID_PARAMETER = 41
Error->FUNCTION_NOT_SUPPORTED = 42
Error->UNKNOWN_ERROR = 43
Error->STREAM_OUT_OF_SYNC = 51
Error->INVALID_UID = 61
Error->NON_ASCII_CHAR_IN_SECRET = 71
Error->WRONG_DEVICE_TYPE = 81
Error->DEVICE_REPLACED = 82
Error->WRONG_RESPONSE_LENGTH = 83

All functions listed below are thread-safe.

Basic Functions¶

BrickletRemoteSwitch->new($uid, $ipcon)¶

Parameters:	$uid – Type: string $ipcon – Type: IPConnection
Returns:	$remote_switch – Type: BrickletRemoteSwitch

Creates an object with the unique device ID $uid:

$remote_switch = BrickletRemoteSwitch->new("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", $ipcon);

This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected.

BrickletRemoteSwitch->switch_socket($house_code, $receiver_code, $switch_to)¶

Parameters:	$house_code – Type: int, Range: [0 to 31] $receiver_code – Type: int, Range: [0 to 31] $switch_to – Type: int, Range: See constants
Returns:	undef

This function is deprecated, use switch_socket_a() instead.

The following constants are available for this function:

For $switch_to:

BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCH_TO_OFF = 0
BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCH_TO_ON = 1

BrickletRemoteSwitch->get_switching_state()¶

Returns:	$state – Type: int, Range: See constants

Returns the current switching state. If the current state is busy, the Bricklet is currently sending a code to switch a socket. It will not accept any requests to switch sockets until the state changes to ready.

How long the switching takes is dependent on the number of repeats, see set_repeats().

The following constants are available for this function:

For $state:

BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCHING_STATE_READY = 0
BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCHING_STATE_BUSY = 1

BrickletRemoteSwitch->switch_socket_a($house_code, $receiver_code, $switch_to)¶

Parameters:	$house_code – Type: int, Range: [0 to 31] $receiver_code – Type: int, Range: [0 to 31] $switch_to – Type: int, Range: See constants
Returns:	undef

To switch a type A socket you have to give the house code, receiver code and the state (on or off) you want to switch to.

A detailed description on how you can figure out the house and receiver code can be found here.

The following constants are available for this function:

For $switch_to:

BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCH_TO_OFF = 0
BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCH_TO_ON = 1

New in version 2.0.1 (Plugin).

BrickletRemoteSwitch->switch_socket_b($address, $unit, $switch_to)¶

Parameters:	$address – Type: int, Range: [0 to 2²⁶ - 1] $unit – Type: int, Range: [0 to 15, 255] $switch_to – Type: int, Range: See constants
Returns:	undef

To switch a type B socket you have to give the address, unit and the state (on or off) you want to switch to.

To switch all devices with the same address use 255 for the unit.

A detailed description on how you can teach a socket the address and unit can be found here.

The following constants are available for this function:

For $switch_to:

BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCH_TO_OFF = 0
BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCH_TO_ON = 1

New in version 2.0.1 (Plugin).

BrickletRemoteSwitch->dim_socket_b($address, $unit, $dim_value)¶

Parameters:	$address – Type: int, Range: [0 to 2²⁶ - 1] $unit – Type: int, Range: [0 to 15, 255] $dim_value – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255]
Returns:	undef

To control a type B dimmer you have to give the address, unit and the dim value you want to set the dimmer to.

A detailed description on how you can teach a dimmer the address and unit can be found here.

New in version 2.0.1 (Plugin).

BrickletRemoteSwitch->switch_socket_c($system_code, $device_code, $switch_to)¶

Parameters:	$system_code – Type: char, Range: ['A' to 'P'] $device_code – Type: int, Range: [1 to 16] $switch_to – Type: int, Range: See constants
Returns:	undef

To switch a type C socket you have to give the system code, device code and the state (on or off) you want to switch to.

A detailed description on how you can figure out the system and device code can be found here.

The following constants are available for this function:

For $switch_to:

BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCH_TO_OFF = 0
BrickletRemoteSwitch->SWITCH_TO_ON = 1

New in version 2.0.1 (Plugin).

Advanced Functions¶

BrickletRemoteSwitch->set_repeats($repeats)¶

Parameters:	$repeats – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255], Default: 5
Returns:	undef

Sets the number of times the code is sent when one of the switch socket functions is called. The repeats basically correspond to the amount of time that a button of the remote is pressed.

Some dimmers are controlled by the length of a button pressed, this can be simulated by increasing the repeats.

BrickletRemoteSwitch->get_repeats()¶

Returns:	$repeats – Type: int, Range: [0 to 255], Default: 5

Returns the number of repeats as set by set_repeats().

BrickletRemoteSwitch->get_identity()¶

Return Array:

Return Array:	0: $uid – Type: string, Length: up to 8 1: $connected_uid – Type: string, Length: up to 8 2: $position – Type: char, Range: ['a' to 'h', 'z'] 3: \@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] 4: \@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] 5: $device_identifier – Type: int, Range: [0 to 2¹⁶ - 1]

0: $uid – Type: string, Length: up to 8
1: $connected_uid – Type: string, Length: up to 8
2: $position – Type: char, Range: ['a' to 'h', 'z']
3: \@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]

4: \@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]

5: $device_identifier – Type: int, Range: [0 to 2¹⁶ - 1]

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.

Callback Configuration Functions¶

BrickletRemoteSwitch->register_callback($callback_id, $function)¶

Parameters:	$callback_id – Type: int $function – Type: string
Returns:	undef

Registers the given $function name with the given $callback_id.

The available callback IDs with corresponding function signatures are listed below.

Callbacks¶

Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done with the register_callback() function of the device object. The first parameter is the callback ID and the second parameter the callback function name:

sub my_callback
{
    print "@_[0]";
}

$remote_switch->register_callback(BrickletRemoteSwitch->CALLBACK_EXAMPLE, 'my_callback')

The callback function will be called from an internal thread of the IP Connection. In contrast to many other programming languages, variables are not automatically shared between threads in Perl. If you want to share a global variable between a callback function and the rest for your program it has to be marked as :shared. See the documentation of the threads::shared Perl module for more details.

The available constants with inherent number and 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.

BrickletRemoteSwitch->CALLBACK_SWITCHING_DONE¶

Callback Parameters:	no parameters

This callback is triggered whenever the switching state changes from busy to ready, see get_switching_state().

Virtual Functions¶

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.

BrickletRemoteSwitch->get_api_version()¶

Return Array:	0: \@api_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]

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.

BrickletRemoteSwitch->get_response_expected($function_id)¶

Parameters:	$function_id – Type: int, Range: See constants
Returns:	$response_expected – Type: bool

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 set_response_expected(). 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 $function_id:

BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SWITCH_SOCKET = 1
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SET_REPEATS = 4
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SWITCH_SOCKET_A = 6
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SWITCH_SOCKET_B = 7
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_DIM_SOCKET_B = 8
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SWITCH_SOCKET_C = 9

BrickletRemoteSwitch->set_response_expected($function_id, $response_expected)¶

Parameters:	$function_id – Type: int, Range: See constants $response_expected – Type: bool
Returns:	undef

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.

The following constants are available for this function:

For $function_id:

BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SWITCH_SOCKET = 1
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SET_REPEATS = 4
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SWITCH_SOCKET_A = 6
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SWITCH_SOCKET_B = 7
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_DIM_SOCKET_B = 8
BrickletRemoteSwitch->FUNCTION_SWITCH_SOCKET_C = 9

BrickletRemoteSwitch->set_response_expected_all($response_expected)¶

Parameters:	$response_expected – Type: bool
Returns:	undef

Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration functions of this device at once.

Constants¶

BrickletRemoteSwitch->DEVICE_IDENTIFIER¶

This constant is used to identify a Remote Switch Bricklet.

The get_identity() function and the IPConnection->CALLBACK_ENUMERATE callback of the IP Connection have a device_identifier parameter to specify the Brick's or Bricklet's type.

BrickletRemoteSwitch->DEVICE_DISPLAY_NAME¶: This constant represents the human readable name of a Remote Switch Bricklet.