TcMenu - Overview and quick start
TcMenu is a complete menu solution for Arduino and mbed platforms that supports a wide range of input / display devices, and can be remotely controlled using embedCONTROL or using our Java Remote API on supported hardware. This page walks you through using tcMenu Designer to design and build an embedded application. Your code will have access to the full power of IOAbstraction library and TaskManagerIO library. These two popular libraries make clean, event driven programming possible for embedded apps.
Arduino 7 segment LEDDisplay library documentation
Using the LEDDisplay library LEDDisplay is an easy to use library that makes light work of multi-digit 7segment displays. If you need help building the circuit or understanding the concepts, then refer to this guide: Arduino multiple digit, 7 segment display tutorial. Answering questions and getting help Get help from the community forum for LEDDisplay You can also contact us about commercial support on LEDDisplay Setting up the LEDDisplay library Before using any methods from the library, and usually in the global scope (outside of any function) you need to include the header file and initialise the library.
Checking if 7segment display is common anode or cathode
If you've got a 7 segment display but are not sure if it is common anode or common cathode, then you need to check the polarity of the display. This is easily done with a low voltage supply (9V or less) from a battery, bench PSU or Arduino board. Firstly and before anything else, connect a 1K resistor between the common pin and the battery. This will avoid potential damage to the LED's in the display.
LiquidCystalIO with PCF8574 i2c backpack
An I2C LCD backpack based on the PCF8574 chip provides an easy way to get started with LiquidCrystalIO on most Arduino boards. It is usually in one of two configurations as listed below. This library works correctly with the display and even has a shorthand way of creating the LCD for this case. Connectivity combinations for i2c backpacks Pin Option1 Option2 0 RS EN 1 RW RW 2 EN RS 3 Backlight Backlight 4 D4 D4 5 D5 D5 6 D6 D6 7 D7 D7 Construction for Option 1 outside of any functions (global):
Rendering with TcMenu to TFT, LCD and OLED
TcMenu supports a wide range of rendering devices, from HD44780 based units using our LiquidCrystal fork through to mono OLED’s and full colour TFT displays using the Adafruit_GFX library. In order to achieve such a wide range of displays the renderer describes things in terms of menu items, active positions, editors and dialogs. This allows each renderer to convert these concepts into something that works for it’s needs. TitleWidget for presenting state in icon form For all displays including LiquidCrystal we support the concept of title widgets.
Securing a submenu using tcMenu
It is possible to secure sub-menus in tcMenu by setting the secured switch in the designer UI. Once this is done, and as long as there is an authenticator within your sketch that is assigned to the menu manager, then there is nothing else to do. First, during the design phase, ensure that you select to secure the sub-menu. It is recommended that such menus are marked as local only, so they cannot be sent remotely:
Menu library remote connectivity tutorial
TcMenu has considerable out of the box remote connectivity on Arduino. Supporting Ethernet2 library, UipEthernet library, ESP8266 WiFi, ESP32 WiFi and Serial (including Bluetooth Serial). It is recommended that this guide is read in conjunction with the embedded library reference docs. A typical remote menu application designed using the library will be able to accept connections from any source that can communicate using TagVal protocol. On the Arduino side, there will be an object instance named remoteServer provided by the plugin.
TcMenu Designer UI documentation
Introduction TcMenu is a framework for generating menu based applications on the Arduino platform. Typically a TcMenu application will be designed using the TcMenu Generator UI also on TcMenu Designer on Windows 10 Store, then generated based on the parameters you specify. TcMenu embedded library is written in a modular way for the Arduino platform; giving unprecedented levels of control over how the menu is displayed, input acquisition and external control of the menu.
Arduino single 7 segment analog measurement example
Measuring voltage from an analog input. Following on from the previous example ( example for driving 7 segment LED displays ). we now build on the same circuit to make a simple voltage meter. Additional requirements: Potentiometer of at least 10Kohms. In order to measure voltage, we need to use an Arduino board analog input. Usually these are marked separately as “analog in”. We are going to use a potentiometer to adjust the voltage at the analog input.
