TUTORIALS micro:bit

micro:bit JavaScript Blocks Editor: Turning LEDs on and off

DFRobot Nov 23 2017 756

led.plot(0, 0);
led.plot(4,4);

led.unplot(0, 0);
led.unplot(4,4);

led.toggle(2, 2);

for (let x = 0; x < 5; x++) {
    for (let y = 0; y < 5; y++) {
        led.plot(x, y);
        control.waitMicros(2000000);
        led.unplot(x, y);
    }
}

for (let x = 0; x < 5; x++) {
    for (let y = 0; y < 5; y++) {
        led.toggle(x, y);
        control.waitMicros(2000000);
        led.toggle(x, y);
    }
}

for (let x = 0; x < 5; x++) {
    for (let y = 0; y < 5; y++) {
        led.plot(x, y);
        control.waitMicros(2000000);
        led.unplot(x, y);
    }
}
 
for (let x = 0; x < 5; x++) {
    for (let y = 0; y < 5; y++) {
        led.toggle(x, y);
        control.waitMicros(2000000);
        led.toggle(x, y);
    }
}

micro:bit JavaScript Blocks Editor: Turning LEDs on and off

The objective of this microbit tutorial is to explain how to turn on, turn off and toggle the LEDs from the micro:bit LED matrix. We will be using the using JavaScript Blocks Editor for developing our code.

Introduction

The objective of this post is to explain how to turn on, turn off and toggle the LEDs from the micro:bit LED matrix. We will be using the using JavaScript Blocks Editor for developing our code.

We are going to use a delay function inside some loops to turn on and off all the LEDs of the board, one at each time. Nonetheless, at the time of writing, the mentioned delay function doesn’t introduce the delay specified as input on the micro:bit simulation mode of JavaScript Blocks Editor.

Thus, the final code will only work correctly on the board. Nonetheless, the functions to control the LEDs work well on simulation, so we can use them individually to test.

The functions to use

As usual, we have very simple to use functions that allow us to control the LEDs of the micro:bit matrix, which are available on the led namespace.

So, if for example we want to light the first LED we pass the coordinates (0,0) and for the last LED we pass (4,4).

You can try this previous code on the simulation mode and confirm that both the first and the last LEDs of the matrix will be turned on, as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1 – Turn on LEDs on the micro:bit simulation.To turn off a specific LED, we simply need to call the unplot function from the led namespace, also passing as input the x and y coordinates of the LED. The coordinates system works the same way it does for the plot function.

So, to turn off the previously lighted LEDs, we can simply use the following commands and confirm the result on the simulation environment.

You can check at figure 2 that the LEDs previously lighted are now off.

Figure 2 – Turn off LEDs on the micro:bit simulation.Finally, if we just want to toggle the current state of the LED, we can use the toggle function of the same namespace, passing as input the x and y coordinates of the LED, again using the same coordinates system.

You can check at figure 3 the toggled LED, which is now turned on.

Figure 3 – Toggle LED on micro:bit simulation.

The code

Now that we have already introduced the basic functions for controlling the LEDs, we will create a simple program to turn on and off all the LEDs of the matrix, one at each time. First we will do it using the plot and unplot functions and then using the toggle function.

So, as said before, both x and y coordinates range from 0 to 4. Thus, we will perform the LED actions inside two loops ranging from 0 to 4. The outermost loop will iterate the x coordinate and the innermost loop will iterate the y coordinate.

Since all the 5 iterations of the innermost loop will execute before the outermost loop goes to the next iteration, then the LEDs of column 0 will light row by row, then the LEDs of column 1, and so on.

Next we will achieve the same effect but using the toggle function. In this case, we call the toggle function at the beginning of the loop to turn on the LED and then call it again after the delay to turn off the same LED.

The final complete code can be seen below.

Testing the code

To test the code, simply click the big download button at the bottom left corner of the JavaScript Code Blocks editor, just below the simulation interface.

Then drag the downloaded file and drop it on the micro:bit drive, which appears when you connect it to a computer. Remember that it appears as a USB drive but when we drop the code there it will be automatically uploaded to the board and run.

Upon finishing the procedure, you should see the LEDs light one by one in the previously mentioned order. Then, the procedure will then repeat for the toggling loop.

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REVIEW

Figure 1 – Turn on LEDs on the micro:bit simulation.
To turn off a specific LED, we simply need to call the unplot function from the led namespace, also passing as input the x and y coordinates of the LED. The coordinates system works the same way it does for the plot function.

Figure 2 – Turn off LEDs on the micro:bit simulation.
Finally, if we just want to toggle the current state of the LED, we can use the toggle function of the same namespace, passing as input the x and y coordinates of the LED, again using the same coordinates system.