informal dialogue

Comments

1. Andrew,

   October 8, 2009 at 2:57 pm

   Hello,
   I am currently a physical computing student. I am trying to use your sample code as a base point for studying Processing and Phidgets. Due to lack of documentation on the subject I am asking for your help. Currently I am bouncing between 2 different machines, 1 is running linux the other Mac Os X Snow Leopard. With your code I can’t get very far on my Linux machine. On my Mac I am getting farther however my device is still not functional in processing. I was wondering if you could take a look at my code and let me know what is causing problems.

   The error I receive is unexpected token: void. That error falls upon the void draw line.

   import com.phidgets.*;
   import com.phidgets.event.*;

   // Declare Variables – a ServoPhidget object called ’sp’, a Double called ‘pos’ and an integer called ‘xPos’
   ServoPhidget sp; // Declare the servophidget
   double pos; // this is a type of number, which can store more decimal place values than the standard floating point value, check the referennce page
   int xPos;

   // Set size, video framerate, connect to and open phidget object
   void setup()
   {
   frameRate(20);
   size(400,300);
   try
   {
   // Create & Assign the servophidget
   sp = new ServoPhidget();
   sp.openAny();
   println(”Waiting for Phidget”);
   sp.waitForAttachment();
   // if you do not see this below in the console, your phidget is not connected
   println(”OK ready to go”);
   }
   catch(Exception e)
   {
   println(”ERROR”);
   System.out.println(e);
   }

   void draw(){
   background(200);
   // map the mouse x coordinate to the available range of the servophidget
   pos = map(mouseX,0,width,-22.9,232.0);
   // read the data from the phidget
   try
   }

   {
   sp.setPosition(0,pos);
   sp.getPositionMax(0);
   // checking the max and min values for the servophidget
   double helloMax = sp.getPositionMax(0);
   double helloMin = sp.getPositionMin(0);
   // print a line to the console to display the data as it arrives
   println(”min is: ” + helloMin + “, max is: ” + helloMax + “, current position is: ” + pos);
   }
   catch(Exception e)
   {
   println(”ERROR”);
   System.out.println(e);
   }

   // the double variable is not used in processing, but is needed to send to the servophidget.
   // to display this data as a graph onscreen you need to convert it to a floating point number

   float fPos = (float)pos;
   fPos = map(fPos,-22.9,232.0,0,height);
   stroke(0);

   // line(xPos,0,xPos,height-fPos); // Un-comment out this line to draw a vertical graph of the motor movement
   stroke(50);
   line(mouseX,0,mouseX,height);

   // this controls the graph position onscreen, it animates the graph and refreshes to the 0 position when the graph goes offscreen
   if (xPos >= width)
   {
   xPos = 0;
   }
   else {
   xPos++;
   }
   }

   Thanks,
   Andrew

   Reply
2. jasonmcdermott,

   October 8, 2009 at 4:26 pm

   Hi Andrew,

   I agree the phidget documentation is sorely lacking, if you have the chance to look into arduino hardware instead I would recommend it – the supporting community and documentation well and truly make up for the learning curve. Phidgets aren’t impossible to get working in processing, the java library does exist and it should help point you in the right direction, just go to the java section of the phidgets website.

   I had a look at your code, it seems like the copy+paste between processing and wordpress isn’t the cleanest method – some commented lines get wrapped and smart quotes are another problem. I cleaned that up a little bit, it was just a simple matter of checking each of the open and close braces { and }. Give this a try (and don’t forget to download the phidget21.jar file or nothing will happen.

   I hope this helps, drop me a line if you have any more hassles. Good luck!

   import com.phidgets.*;
   import com.phidgets.event.*;

   // Declare Variables – a ServoPhidget object called ’sp’, a Double called ‘pos’ and an integer called ‘xPos’
   ServoPhidget sp; // Declare the servophidget
   double pos;
   int xPos;

   // Set size, video framerate, connect to and open phidget object
   void setup()
   {
   frameRate(20);
   size(400,300);
   try {
   // Create & Assign the servophidget
   sp = new ServoPhidget();
   sp.openAny();
   println(”Waiting for Phidget”);
   sp.waitForAttachment();
   // if you do not see this below in the console, your phidget is not connected
   println(”OK ready to go”);
   }
   catch(Exception e)
   {
   println(”ERROR”);
   System.out.println(e);
   }
   }

   void draw(){
   background(200);
   // map the mouse x coordinate to the available range of the servophidget
   pos = map(mouseX,0,width,-22.9,232.0);
   // read the data from the phidget
   try {
   sp.setPosition(0,pos);
   sp.getPositionMax(0);
   // checking the max and min values for the servophidget
   double helloMax = sp.getPositionMax(0);
   double helloMin = sp.getPositionMin(0);
   // print a line to the console to display the data as it arrives
   println(”min is: ” + helloMin + “, max is: ” + helloMax + “, current position is: ” + pos);
   }
   catch(Exception e) {
   println(”ERROR”);
   System.out.println(e);
   }
   // the double variable is not used in processing, but is needed to send to the servophidget.
   // to display this data as a graph onscreen you need to convert it to a floating point number

   float fPos = (float)pos;
   fPos = map(fPos,-22.9,232.0,0,height);
   stroke(0);

   // line(xPos,0,xPos,height-fPos); // Un-comment out this line to draw a vertical graph of the motor movement
   stroke(50);
   line(mouseX,0,mouseX,height);

   // this controls the graph position onscreen, it animates the graph and refreshes to the 0 position when the graph goes offscreen
   if (xPos >= width)
   {
   xPos = 0;
   }
   else {
   xPos++;
   }
   }

   Reply
3. Polprav,

   October 15, 2009 at 7:10 am

   Hello from Russia)

   Reply