Coding TinkerForge components

tinkerforge:custom is the base type for creating components that interact with the TinkerForge range of electronics building blocks.

A single Brick or Bricklet device field annotated with @TinkerForge will be automatically injected based on the field type and the uid property of the component. The component ensures that all TinkerForge callbacks are called in the right thread so that you can safely send messages in device listeners.

Key method hooks

The primary method hooks you can override are -

• setup() : called whenever a brick / bricklet connection is made (field injected) and any time the code is updated.
• update() : called on every update cycle when a brick / bricklet is connected.
• dispose() : called when the component is about to be disconnected from the brick / bricklet. Should remove listeners and set callback rates back to 0.

Additional functions / variables

lcdString()

String lcdString(String string, int length);

This function takes any String, truncates it to the required length and translates characters as required for display with the TinkerForge LCD bricklet.

CALLBACK_PERIOD

final int CALLBACK_PERIOD

This constant should be used whenever a callback period value needs to be set on a Brick or Bricklet

Example

This is the code used to wrap the TinkerForge infra-red distance sensor within PraxisLIVE

@TinkerForge BrickletDistanceIR device;

@P(1) @ReadOnly
int distance;
@Out(1) @ID("distance")
Output out;

Listener listener = new Listener();

@Override
public void setup() {
  device.addDistanceListener(listener);
  try {
    device.setDistanceCallbackPeriod(CALLBACK_PERIOD);
  } catch (TimeoutException | NotConnectedException ex) {
    log(WARNING, ex);
  }
}

@Override
public void dispose() {
  device.removeDistanceListener(listener);
  try {
    device.setDistanceCallbackPeriod(0);
  } catch (TimeoutException | NotConnectedException ex) {
    log(WARNING, ex);
  }
}

private class Listener implements BrickletDistanceIR.DistanceListener {

  @Override
  public void distance(int dist) {
    distance = dist;
      out.send(dist);
    }

}