Tiki Tank Two

Effect Display Devices

Currently we have three output devices for the effects:

• Threads: 480 pixels in circle
• Barrel: 77 pixels straight line
• Panels: 10 LED strips on each side of the tank, represented by the array of 10 pixels

Creating effects

Every effect implements simple IEffect interface, with following signature. To use your effect with the effect simulator is must implement one of the specific interfaces (IBarrelEffect, ITreadEffect, IPanelEffect).

public interface IEffect
{
    void Activate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels);
    void Deactivate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels);
    void FrameUpdate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels);
    bool WouldUpdate();
    void Tick();

    bool IsSensorDriven { get; set; }
    string Argument { get; set; }
    System.Drawing.Color Color { get; set; }
}

public interface IBarrelEffect : IEffect {}
public interface ITreadEffect : IEffect {}
public interface IPanelEffect : IEffect {}

void Activate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels)

Method is called when the effect is activated for showing. Array of colors pixels[] contains current content of the display device (last frame). Make changes to this array in order to prepare your first frame, or to make a copy of the current frame to blend it with your effect.

void Deactivate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels)

Method is called when the effect is being deactivated. Array of colors pixels[] contains current content of the display device (last frame). Make changes to this array in order to create a last frame. You can use this method to free the additional resources that effect was using.

int FrameUpdate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels)

This is the main method for the effect which is called by the frame scheduler. Array of colors pixels[] contains current content of the display device (last frame). Modify this array to create a new frame to be displayed.

bool WouldUpdate()

Method is called regularly by frame scheduler to determine whether the effect needs frame update or not. If the method returns true then FrameUpdate() is called.

void Tick()

Method is called based on the Vehicle Speed Sensor output. When the vehicle is not moving the method is not called.

bool IsSensorDriven

Property is True when user requested this effect to be driven by the Vehicle Speed Sensor. When this property is set and vehicle is moving, method Tick() is called based on the vehicle speed.

string Argument

Property contains user changeable parameter for the effect.

System.Drawing.Color Color

Property contain user changeable color parameter for the effect.

Sample Effect

This is simple effect that blinks one pixel. Position of the blinking pixel is changing based on vehicle speed.

class BlinkingPoint : IEffect
{
    public BlinkingPoint()
    {
        this.Color = System.Drawing.Color.Red;             
    }

    public void Activate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels)
    {
        startTime = DateTime.Now;     
        length = pixels.Length;
        position = 0;
        pointVisible = true;
    }

    public void Deactivate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels)
    {

    }

    public void FrameUpdate(System.Drawing.Color[] pixels)
    {
        // Clean the strip
        for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
            pixels[i] = System.Drawing.Color.Black;

        // Show the point
        if (pointVisible)
            pixels[position] = this.Color;

        pointVisible = !pointVisible;
    }

    public bool WouldUpdate()
    {
        // Determine if it's time to update based (every 100 millisecond)
        TimeSpan delta = DateTime.Now - startTime;
        if (delta.TotalMilliseconds > 100)
        {
            startTime = DateTime.Now;
            return true;
        }

        return false;
    }

    public void Tick()
    {
        // Move the point on tick
        position++;
        if (position >= length)
            position = 0;
    }

    public bool IsSensorDriven { get; set; }

    public string Argument { get; set; }

    public System.Drawing.Color Color { get; set; }

    private int position;
    private int length;
    private bool pointVisible;
    private DateTime startTime;
}