Use Visual Basic to enhance the Display

 The reason that I like VB as a Programming Environment is the ease with which you can make it look nicer or Enhance the Display if you want to sound fancier about it.

If we take the Red LED - Green LED Program, we can another couple of features which show the beginnings of what might appear in a mimic panel.  So the first thing we would do is to add a couple of Shapes (another type of VB Object).

We put a shape beside the Red Control buttons then set the properties to :-

Shape = circle

Fillcolor = Red

Bordercolor = red

Name = Red_Circle

Do the same for the second, green, shape.

Then we edit the VB code

Private Sub Red_Off_Click()

  MSComm1.Output = "r"                   '   Sends r Switch off Red

  Red_Circle.FillColor = vbWhite       '   Changes the fillcolor to white

End Sub

Private Sub Red_On_Click()

  MSComm1.Output = "R"        '   Sends R Switch on Red

  Red_Circle.FillColor = vbRed

End Sub

Running the Program now gives an improved display.

  

 

The important thing now, is that we don't need to do anything to the Arduino Code. Any changes now can all happen in the VB Environment.

You can do all kind of things such as hiding an "On" button after it's been pressed, so that you can't press it again by mistake.  Then "Show" the On Button after you press the "Off" button.

Another idea is to set a single button as a "Toggle" button.

For the Red LED, the logic is to 

    look at the Fillcolor

        If the fillcolor is red                  (ie it is on)

           set the fillcolor to white         (switch it off)

        else                                            ( what you do if the fillcolor is NOT red )

            set the fillcolor to red            (ie switch it off)

        end if                                         ( this ends any code caused by the earlier If condition )

What will this look like in VB Code?

Private Sub Red_Toggle_Click()

  If Red_Circle.FillColor = vbRed Then    '  Red LED is already on

     MSComm1.Output = "r"                       '  Sends r Switch off Red

     Red_Circle.FillColor = vbWhite           '  changes the light to white / off

  Else                                                           '  what to do if red LED is NOT on

     MSComm1.Output = "R"                      '  Sends R Switch on Red

     Red_Circle.FillColor = vbRed              '  changes the light to Red / on

  End If                                                       '  finishes of the "If" condition

  

End Sub

And that, dear reader, is why I like Visual Basic.