C# - Tilt Bricklet

This is the description of the C# API bindings for the Tilt Bricklet. General information and technical specifications for the Tilt Bricklet are summarized in its hardware description.

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

Examples

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

Simple

Download (ExampleSimple.cs)

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using System;
using Tinkerforge;

class Example
{
    private static string HOST = "localhost";
    private static int PORT = 4223;
    private static string UID = "XYZ"; // Change XYZ to the UID of your Tilt Bricklet

    static void Main()
    {
        IPConnection ipcon = new IPConnection(); // Create IP connection
        BrickletTilt t = new BrickletTilt(UID, ipcon); // Create device object

        ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT); // Connect to brickd
        // Don't use device before ipcon is connected

        // Get current tilt state
        byte state = t.GetTiltState();

        if(state == BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_CLOSED)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Tilt State: Closed");
        }
        else if(state == BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_OPEN)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Tilt State: Open");
        }
        else if(state == BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_CLOSED_VIBRATING)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Tilt State: Closed Vibrating");
        }

        Console.WriteLine("Press enter to exit");
        Console.ReadLine();
        ipcon.Disconnect();
    }
}

Callback

Download (ExampleCallback.cs)

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using System;
using Tinkerforge;

class Example
{
    private static string HOST = "localhost";
    private static int PORT = 4223;
    private static string UID = "XYZ"; // Change XYZ to the UID of your Tilt Bricklet

    // Callback function for tilt state callback
    static void TiltStateCB(BrickletTilt sender, byte state)
    {
        if(state == BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_CLOSED)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Tilt State: Closed");
        }
        else if(state == BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_OPEN)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Tilt State: Open");
        }
        else if(state == BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_CLOSED_VIBRATING)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Tilt State: Closed Vibrating");
        }
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        IPConnection ipcon = new IPConnection(); // Create IP connection
        BrickletTilt t = new BrickletTilt(UID, ipcon); // Create device object

        ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT); // Connect to brickd
        // Don't use device before ipcon is connected

        // Enable tilt state callback
        t.EnableTiltStateCallback();

        // Register tilt state callback to function TiltStateCB
        t.TiltStateCallback += TiltStateCB;

        Console.WriteLine("Press enter to exit");
        Console.ReadLine();
        ipcon.Disconnect();
    }
}

API

Generally, every method of the C# bindings that returns a value can throw a Tinkerforge.TimeoutException. This exception gets thrown if the device did not respond. If a cable based connection is used, it is unlikely that this exception gets thrown (assuming nobody plugs the device out). However, if a wireless connection is used, timeouts will occur if the distance to the device gets too big.

Since C# does not support multiple return values directly, we use the out keyword to return multiple values from a method.

The namespace for all Brick/Bricklet bindings and the IPConnection is Tinkerforge.*.

All methods listed below are thread-safe.

Basic Functions

class BrickletTilt(string uid, IPConnection ipcon)
Parameters:
  • uid – Type: string
  • ipcon – Type: IPConnection
Returns:
  • tilt – Type: BrickletTilt

Creates an object with the unique device ID uid:

BrickletTilt tilt = new BrickletTilt("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon);

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

byte BrickletTilt.GetTiltState()
Returns:
  • state – Type: byte, Range: See constants

Returns the current tilt state. The state can either be

  • 0 = Closed: The ball in the tilt switch closes the circuit.
  • 1 = Open: The ball in the tilt switch does not close the circuit.
  • 2 = Closed Vibrating: The tilt switch is in motion (rapid change between open and close).
Tilt states

The following constants are available for this function:

For state:

  • BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_CLOSED = 0
  • BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_OPEN = 1
  • BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_CLOSED_VIBRATING = 2

Advanced Functions

void BrickletTilt.GetIdentity(out string uid, out string connectedUid, out char position, out byte[] hardwareVersion, out byte[] firmwareVersion, out int deviceIdentifier)
Output Parameters:
  • uid – Type: string, Length: up to 8
  • connectedUid – Type: string, Length: up to 8
  • position – Type: char, Range: ['a' to 'h', 'z']
  • hardwareVersion – Type: byte[], Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: byte, Range: [0 to 255]
  • firmwareVersion – Type: byte[], Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: byte, Range: [0 to 255]
  • deviceIdentifier – 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

void BrickletTilt.EnableTiltStateCallback()

Enables the TiltStateCallback callback.

void BrickletTilt.DisableTiltStateCallback()

Disables the TiltStateCallback callback.

bool BrickletTilt.IsTiltStateCallbackEnabled()
Returns:
  • enabled – Type: bool, Default: false

Returns true if the TiltStateCallback callback is enabled.

Callbacks

Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done by appending your callback handler to the corresponding event:

void MyCallback(BrickletTilt sender, int value)
{
    System.Console.WriteLine("Value: " + value);
}

tilt.ExampleCallback += MyCallback;

The available events 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.

event BrickletTilt.TiltStateCallback(BrickletTilt sender, byte state)
Callback Parameters:
  • sender – Type: BrickletTilt
  • state – Type: byte, Range: See constants

This callback provides the current tilt state. It is called every time the state changes.

See GetTiltState() for a description of the states.

The following constants are available for this function:

For state:

  • BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_CLOSED = 0
  • BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_OPEN = 1
  • BrickletTilt.TILT_STATE_CLOSED_VIBRATING = 2

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.

byte[] BrickletTilt.GetAPIVersion()
Output Parameters:
  • apiVersion – Type: byte[], Length: 3
    • 0: major – Type: byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 1: minor – Type: byte, Range: [0 to 255]
    • 2: revision – Type: byte, 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.

bool BrickletTilt.GetResponseExpected(byte functionId)
Parameters:
  • functionId – Type: byte, Range: See constants
Returns:
  • responseExpected – 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 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:

  • BrickletTilt.FUNCTION_ENABLE_TILT_STATE_CALLBACK = 2
  • BrickletTilt.FUNCTION_DISABLE_TILT_STATE_CALLBACK = 3
void BrickletTilt.SetResponseExpected(byte functionId, bool responseExpected)
Parameters:
  • functionId – Type: byte, Range: See constants
  • responseExpected – Type: bool

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:

  • BrickletTilt.FUNCTION_ENABLE_TILT_STATE_CALLBACK = 2
  • BrickletTilt.FUNCTION_DISABLE_TILT_STATE_CALLBACK = 3
void BrickletTilt.SetResponseExpectedAll(bool responseExpected)
Parameters:
  • responseExpected – Type: bool

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

Constants

int BrickletTilt.DEVICE_IDENTIFIER

This constant is used to identify a Tilt Bricklet.

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.

string BrickletTilt.DEVICE_DISPLAY_NAME

This constant represents the human readable name of a Tilt Bricklet.