Problem with processing crashing. Can anyone see why?

samg1988

Problem with processing crashing. Can anyone see why?

in Integration and Hardware • 2 years ago

I have a program running with three buttons that represent 3 warning stages. OK, Minor Problem and Major Problem.

If the OK button is pressed, nothing happens and a 1 is written to a text file.
If the Minor button is pressed, a vibration motor pulses for a moment every 5 seconds or so. A 2 is written to the file.
If the Minor button is pressed, the vibration motor pulses like a heartbeat. A 3 is written to the file.

The difficulty I'm having is that after a while, the vibrations seem to stop working even though the rest of the program appears to work fine. I end up having to stop processing and start it again.
Can anyone see what I might have done to cause this problem?
I have a feeling it's something to do with millis() running out, or getting confused. I'm a noob so I'm still learning.

Here's my code in full...

import processing.serial.*;
import cc.arduino.*;

Arduino arduino;
PrintWriter output;

int okbuttonPin = 4;     // the ok button
int minorbuttonPin = 3;     // the minor button
int majorbuttonPin = 2;     // the major button
int vibrationPin = 13;      // the vibration motor

int vibVal = 0; //vibration timing counter

boolean major = false;
boolean minor = false;
boolean ok = true;

long time;
long waitUntil = 0;
long startLoopTime;
float startTime;

int majorbuttonState = 0;         // variable for reading the major button status
int minorbuttonState = 0;         // variable for reading the minor button status
int okbuttonState = 0;         // variable for reading the ok button status

int check = 0; //variable to check the number written to the file

void setup() {

    time = millis(); //set time = now

    arduino = new Arduino(this, Arduino.list()[0], 57600);

    //initialize the vibration motor as an output
    arduino.pinMode(vibrationPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);

     //initialize all the buttons as inputs
     arduino.pinMode(majorbuttonPin, Arduino.INPUT);
     arduino.pinMode(minorbuttonPin, Arduino.INPUT);
     arduino.pinMode(okbuttonPin, Arduino.INPUT);

    }

void draw(){

     //if 2 seconds have passed, enable the buttons (by changing them back to inputs)
      if (millis() > startTime + 2000) {
        fill(255);
        arduino.pinMode(majorbuttonPin, Arduino.INPUT);
        arduino.pinMode(minorbuttonPin, Arduino.INPUT);
        arduino.pinMode(okbuttonPin, Arduino.INPUT);
      }
        rect(20, 20, 20, 20);



      // read the state of the buttons
      majorbuttonState = arduino.digitalRead(majorbuttonPin);
      minorbuttonState = arduino.digitalRead(minorbuttonPin);
      okbuttonState = arduino.digitalRead(okbuttonPin);

      // check if the major button is pressed.
      if (majorbuttonState == arduino.HIGH) {
      major = true;
      minor = false;
      ok = false;
      }


      // check if the minor button is pressed.
      if (minorbuttonState == arduino.HIGH) {
      minor = true;
      major = false;
      ok = false;
      }

      // check if the ok button is pressed.
      if (okbuttonState == arduino.HIGH) {
      ok = true;
      minor = false;
      major = false;
      }

//----------------------------------------------------------------------

//if the ok button has been pressed
if (ok == true) {

     //do not vibrate
     arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);

     //write 1 to the file if it hasn't done so already
      if (check != 1) {
         print(" ok ");

         output = createWriter("file.txt");
         output.println("1"); //Write "1" to the file
         output.flush(); // Write the remaining data
         output.close(); // Finish the file

         //change check variable to 2 so the file is only written to once
         check = 1;

         // temporarily disable input from buttons by making them outputs
         startTime = millis();
         fill(0);
         arduino.pinMode(majorbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
         arduino.pinMode(minorbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
         arduino.pinMode(okbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
       }

}



//----------------------------------------------------------------------



//if the minor button has been pressed
if (minor == true) {


    while (millis() >= time + 500)
       {

      // vibrate once then wait a while to do it again
       vibVal = 1 + vibVal;
       if(vibVal == 1) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.HIGH);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 2) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 3) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 4) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 5) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 6) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 7) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 8) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 9) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 10) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
        else if(vibVal == 11) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 12) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
         vibVal = 0;
       }
        time = millis(); //record current time

       }

   //write 2 to the file if it hasnt done so already
   if (check != 2){
        print(" minor fault ");

        output = createWriter("file.txt");
        output.println("2"); //Write "2" to the file
        output.flush(); // Write the remaining data
        output.close(); // Finish the file

        //change check variable to 2 so the file is only written to once
        check = 2;

        // temporarily disable input from buttons by making them outputs
        startTime = millis();
        fill(0);
        arduino.pinMode(majorbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
        arduino.pinMode(minorbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
        arduino.pinMode(okbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
       }

}


//----------------------------------------------------------------------

//if the major button has been pressed
if (major == true) {

     //pulse the vibration motor like a heartbeat
       while (millis() >= time + 500)
      {


       vibVal = 1 + vibVal;
       if(vibVal == 1) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.HIGH);
       }
       else if(vibVal == 2) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);

       }
       else if(vibVal == 3) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.HIGH);

       }
       else if(vibVal == 4) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);

       }
       else if(vibVal == 5) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);

       }
       else if(vibVal == 6) {
         arduino.digitalWrite(vibrationPin, arduino.LOW);
         vibVal = 0;

       }
        time = millis(); //record current time

      }

//write 3 to the file if it hasnt done so already
if (check != 3){

         print("major fault");
         output = createWriter("file.txt");
         output.println("3"); //Write "2" to the file
         output.flush(); // Write the remaining data
         output.close(); // Finish the file

         //change check variable to 3 so the file is only written to once
         check = 3;

         // temporarily disable input from buttons by making them outputs
         startTime = millis();
         fill(0);
         arduino.pinMode(majorbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
         arduino.pinMode(minorbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
         arduino.pinMode(okbuttonPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
         }


}

}

Thanks!

Replies(5)

dequo

Re: Problem with processing crashing. Can anyone see why?

2 years ago

disabling buttons by making them outputs is a strange way to do things. i wouldnt trust the processing library to do all this arduino stuff either, especially changing pinmodes so often

samg1988

Re: Problem with processing crashing. Can anyone see why?

2 years ago

What do you think I could do rather than making them outputs?

can you suggest any ways I might be able to improve what I already have? Like I say I'm new to this really so I'm learning as I go.

Cheers!

samg1988

Re: Problem with processing crashing. Can anyone see why?

2 years ago

bump. can anyone help me? I'm totally stumped.

samg1988

Re: Problem with processing crashing. Can anyone see why?

2 years ago

bump. tried a million things but i have no idea whats causing this to work so intermittently, or how I can improve on it.

amnon.owed

Re: Problem with processing crashing. Can anyone see why?

2 years ago

There seems to be a loose relationship between what you intend to do, what you think your code does and what your code actually does. I suggest using println to receive more feedback so you might grasp what is happening at what times in your program.

For example from your comment "//if 2 seconds have passed, enable the buttons (by changing them back to inputs)" it seems you think that after 2 seconds the buttons are 'enabled'. Apart from the point made earlier by dequo, my point is that this is not what your code does. Use a println to check. What it does in fact is after 2 seconds CONTINUOUSLY set them to input at the frameRate of your sketch (maybe 60fps?). This goes on until the time is set to millis() in one of the functions below. So your code is not 'enabling' the buttons once, but more likely hundreds of times. This is likely to cause problems. A better way is to set them to input in setup once and never change that. Then regular the time/interval you are reading from these buttons, for example with booleans or timers/millis().

Second example. From your comment " //if the [x] button has been pressed" it seems you think that your program is accurately monitoring button presses. In fact it is not (apart from using int's and true/false through each other). Different button presses in your code 'erase' other button presses before an action resulting from this has happened.

So all in all I would suggest checking the reference and examples to learn some of the basics. For example you can really shorten those if-else statements by using the available operators. To streamline your code I also suggest placing different parts in their own function, for example "void buttonOnePressed()" etc. That way your code is cleaner and more manageable.

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