Example custom module

At the top there's a couple of helper functions, get_pt() and get_delay(), for getting handles and the time delay from the MatPLC and checking that no error is returned.

After that we come to the chase() function, which contains the bulk of the code. First it gets handles for the left and right buttons and all the lights, and then it gets the time delay value and starts up the timer. Then the main loop starts. Apart from the boiler-plate beginning and end of scan, it contains just two pieces of code: one to check the left and right buttons, and set the dir variable appropriately, and the other to move the light along one when the timer has expired.

The main() function just initializes the library and calls chase().

Listing

/*
 * (c) 2000 Jiri Baum
 *
 * Offered to the public under the terms of the GNU General Public License
 * as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
 * License, or (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
 * WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
 * Public License for more details.
 *
 * This code is made available on the understanding that it will not be
 * used in safety-critical situations without a full and competent review.
 */


/*
 * light chaser - sample code 
 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

#include <plc.h>
#include <logic/timer.h>

const int num_lights = 4; /* how many lights in the chase, max 9 */ 

/* 
 * Get a handle to a point, checking that it's valid. Abort if the handle
 * could not be obtained.
 */
plc_pt_t get_pt(const char *pt_name)
{
  plc_pt_t pt_handle;

  pt_handle = plc_pt_by_name(pt_name);

  if (!pt_handle.valid) {
    plc_log_errmsg(1, "Could not get handle to %s, aborting.", pt_name);
    printf("Could not get valid handle to %s.\n", pt_name);
    exit(1);
  }

  return pt_handle;
}

/* Obtain the chasing delay from the config, default 0.5 seconds. */
double get_delay(void)
{
  double res;

  /* 
   * Get the value "delay", of type double, into res.
   * Minimum 0, maximum HUGE_VAL (ie, no maximum), default 0.5
   */
  if (conffile_get_value_d("delay", &res, 0, HUGE_VAL, 0.5) == 0) {
    /* a return value of 0 means OK - return the value obtained */
    return res;
  }

  /* some sort of problem - log it, and use half a second */
  plc_log_wrnmsg(1, "Could not get delay from config, using 0.5s");

  return 0.5;
}

void chase(void)
{
  plc_pt_t left, right, L[num_lights];
  char Lname[] = "Ln";
  int i, dir=1, cur=num_lights-1;
  double delay;
  plc_timer_t timer;

  /* get the point handles */
  left = get_pt("left");
  right = get_pt("right");
  for(i=0;i<num_lights;i++) {
    Lname[1] = '1'+i;
    L[i]=get_pt(Lname);
  }
  
  /* get the delay from the config */
  delay = get_delay();
  /* start the timer ticking */
  plc_timer_start(timer);

  /* now chase! */
  while (1) {
    /* beginning of scan */
    plc_scan_beg();
    plc_update();

    /* check for change of direction */
    if (plc_get(left) && !plc_get(right)) {
      dir = -1;
    } else if (plc_get(right)) {
      dir = 1;
    }

    /* has delay elapsed? */
    if (plc_timer_done(timer, delay)) {
      /* move the light along */
      plc_set(L[cur],0);
      cur=(cur+dir+num_lights) % num_lights; /* be careful about -1 % n */
      plc_set(L[cur],1);

      /* set timer back by delay; this avoids loss of precision */
      plc_timer_add(timer, -delay);
    }

    /* end of scan */
    plc_update();
    plc_scan_end();
  }
}

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  /* initialise the MatPLC library */
  if (plc_init("Chaser", argc, argv) < 0) {
    printf("Error initializing PLC\n");
    return -1;
  }

  chase();

  return 0;
}

Notes

The chaser needs a timer because it does two things at different time scales: it checks the left and right buttons as often as possible, but it only moves the light along a couple of times per second.

$Date: 2005/05/15 09:37:00 $