Component: Colour GLCD (BL0157) (E-blocks 2)

Author	Matrix Ltd
Version	1.6 (Release)
Category	E-blocks 2

Colour GLCD (BL0157) component

Graphical display component designed to work with the BL0157 E-block. Based on the ILI9163C 16-bit colour graphical controller IC.

You can use component macros in flowcode 8 to draw various shapes on the colour GLCD such as a circle, an ellipse, a line and a rectangle. There are also macros to turn the backlight on or off, and to print a string of characters or a decimal number on the screen of the GLCD. As it is a ‘colour’ GLCD, you can set the background or foreground colour by inputting values from 0-255 for red, green and blue, in order to create almost any colour in the world. Before the GLCD can take information in, you need to initialise it with a component macro.

Make sure all connections in flowcode are connected to the correct port and pins, the port should correspond to the port that the colour GLCD is connected to on your E-blocks 2 upstream board.

Examples

A simple example that shows how to use some common functions.

BL0157 Example

Downloadable macro reference

BacklightOn

Sets the backlight enable pin allowing the display backlight to switch on.

Switching the backlight on and off at high speed allow the light to be dimmed.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

This call does not return a value

PrintNumber

This macro prints a decimal number to the Graphical LCD.

Parameters

INT Number

Byte or Integer number to send to the display.

UINT X

X pixel coordinate to set the output string position.

UINT Y

Y pixel coordinate to set the output string position.

BYTE Font

Range: 0 to 31 - 0=5x8, 1=10x8, 2=10x16, 3=5x16, 4-31=Extended Sizes

BYTE Transparent

Specifies if the background of the text is drawn - 0 = Background colour is drawn, 1 = Background colour not drawn.

Return value

This call does not return a value

DrawLine

Draws a line with the current foreground colour from pixel location X1, Y1 to pixel location X2, Y2.

Parameters

UINT X1

UINT Y1

UINT X2

UINT Y2

Return value

This call does not return a value

Plot

Sets a pixel with the current foreground colour at pixel location X, Y.

Parameters

UINT X1

UINT Y1

Return value

This call does not return a value

DrawEllipse

Draws an ellipse object on the display with the center of the ellipse at the location X,Y

Parameters

UINT X

X Coordinate for the center of the circle

UINT Y

Y coordinate for the center of the circle

UINT XRadius

Radius of the circle on the X axis specified in pixels

UINT YRadius

Radius of the circle on the Y axis specified in pixels

BYTE Transparent

0=Fill inside circle using background colour / 1=Draw outer circle only

BYTE Solid

0=Use Transparent Setting / 1=Fill with foreground colour

Return value

This call does not return a value

FastPlot

Sets a pixel with the current foreground colour at current pixel location.

Not compatible with orientations other than 0.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

This call does not return a value

SetDisplayOrientation

Controls the way data is printed out on the display allowing multiple different viewing orientations. Default is 0.

Parameters

BYTE Orientation

0=Default, 1=90°CW, 2=180°CW, 3=270°CW

Return value

This call does not return a value

BacklightOff

Clears the backlight enable pin allowing the display backlight to switch off.

Switching the backlight on and off at high speed allow the light to be dimmed.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

This call does not return a value

BPlot

Sets a pixel with the current background colour at pixel location X, Y.

Parameters

UINT X1

UINT Y1

Return value

This call does not return a value

Window

Specifies a full screen or sub window of pixels to draw.

Useful when used with the FastPlot function to draw bitmaps at high speed.

Parameters

BYTE X1

BYTE Y1

BYTE X2

BYTE Y2

Return value

This call does not return a value

Print

This macro prints a string of characters to the Graphical LCD.

Parameters

<- STRING Str

String of characters to send to the display.

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

UINT X1

X pixel coordinate to set the output string position.

UINT Y1

Y pixel coordinate to set the output string position.

BYTE Font

Range: 0 to 31 - 0=5x8, 1=10x8, 2=10x16, 3=5x16, 4-31=Extended Sizes

BYTE Transparent

Specifies if the background of the text is drawn - 0 = Background colour is drawn, 1 = Background colour not drawn.

Return value

This call does not return a value

ClearDisplay

This macro clears the display of any previous output by overwriting the entire display with the background colour.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

This call does not return a value

SetBackgroundColour

Specifies the colour of the background by creating a mixture of red, green and blue.

Parameters

BYTE Red

0 - 255 where 0 = no red and 255 = maximum red

BYTE Green

0 - 255 where 0 = no green and 255 = maximum green

BYTE Blue

0 - 255 where 0 = no blue and 255 = maximum blue

Return value

This call does not return a value

DrawCircle

Draws a circle object on the display with the center of the circle at the location X,Y

Parameters

UINT X

X Coordinate for the center of the circle

UINT Y

Y coordinate for the center of the circle

UINT Radius

Radius of the circle specified in pixels

BYTE Transparent

0=Fill inside circle using background colour / 1=Draw outer circle only

BYTE Solid

0=Use Transparent Setting / 1=Fill with foreground colour

Return value

This call does not return a value

SetForegroundColour

Specifies the colour of the foreground by creating a mixture of red, green and blue.

Parameters

BYTE Red

0 - 255 where 0 = no red and 255 = maximum red

BYTE Green

0 - 255 where 0 = no green and 255 = maximum green

BYTE Blue

0 - 255 where 0 = no blue and 255 = maximum blue

Return value

This call does not return a value

DrawRectangle

Draws a rectangle with the current foreground colour from pixel loaction X1, Y1 to pixel location X2, Y2

Parameters

UINT X1

UINT Y1

UINT X2

UINT Y2

BYTE Transparent

Chooses the transparency of the box - 0 = Box contains background colour, 1 = Box contains previous pixel data.

BYTE Solid

Chooses to fill the box with colour - 0 = Box contains transparency data, 1 = Box contains foreground colour.

Return value

This call does not return a value

Initialise

The Init macro must be called once to initialise the Graphical LCD display before any other Graphical LCD component macros are called.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

This call does not return a value

Simulation macro reference

This component does not contain any simulation macros

Property reference

Pixel Height

This property is of type Signed integer and can be referenced with the variable name pixel_height.

Heigt of gLCD canvas measured in pixels.

Pixel Width

This property is of type Signed integer and can be referenced with the variable name pixel_width.

Width of gLCD canvas measured in pixels.

Monochrome

This property is of type True or false and can be referenced with the variable name monochrome.

Specifies if the display is capable of colour or monochrome only.

Foreground Color

This property is of type Color picker and can be referenced with the variable name foreground_colour.

Specifies the initial foreground color.

Background Color

This property is of type Color picker and can be referenced with the variable name background_colour.

Specifies the initial background color.

Colour Bit Depth

This property is of type Signed integer and can be referenced with the variable name colour_bit_depth.

Total color bit depth for the display.

Red Bit Depth

This property is of type Signed integer and can be referenced with the variable name red_bit_depth.

Specifies the red bit depth for the display.

Green Bit Depth

This property is of type Signed integer and can be referenced with the variable name green_bit_depth.

Specifies the green bit depth for the display.

Blue Bit Depth

This property is of type Signed integer and can be referenced with the variable name blue_bit_depth.

Specifies the blue bit depth for the display.

Data

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name data_pin.

Data pin connection

Clock

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name clock_pin.

Clock pin connection

Chip Select

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name chip_sel_pin.

Chip select pin connection

A0

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name a0_pin.

Instruction / Command pin connection

Reset

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name reset_pin.

Reset pin connection

LED

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name led_pin.

LED backlight strobe pin connection

Display Method

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name DisplayMethod.

Chooses which method to use when drawing to the gLCD component

The bitmap is the more common mode but may run slowly on some machines.

The point cloud should run faster but may use more memory.