Getting Started with a Raptor™ Touchscreen Display€¦ · · 2017-12-07Programming the Display ... Introduction The Raptor™ ™ Touchscreen Display is a unique offering from

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CONTROL SYSTEM SOLUTIONS

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Getting Started with a Raptor™ Touchscreen Display

Building an interactive application

November 10th 2014

Michael Godfrey [email protected]


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Contents Figures ........................................................................................................................................................................2

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................3

1.1 Motivation ..................................................................................................................................................3

1.2 Setup ...........................................................................................................................................................3

Hardware ............................................................................................................................................4

Software .............................................................................................................................................5

2. Building a Model .................................................................................................................................................6

2.1 Getting Started ...........................................................................................................................................6

Creating a New Model ........................................................................................................................6

Performing a Model Update (ctrl+d) ..............................................................................................6

Building a Raptor™ Touchscreen Display Model ...............................................................................6

Programming the Display ...................................................................................................................8

3. Creating a Display ............................................................................................................................................ 10

3.1 Screens .................................................................................................................................................... 10

Screen Outputs ................................................................................................................................ 10

Switching Between Screens ............................................................................................................. 11

3.2 Drawing.................................................................................................................................................... 12

Drawing Order ................................................................................................................................. 12

Standard Drawing Blocks ................................................................................................................. 12

Drawing Images ............................................................................................................................... 14

Clearing Screen Area ....................................................................................................................... 14

Drawing Text Example ..................................................................................................................... 15

3.3 Working with the Touchscreen ............................................................................................................... 18

Touchscreen Calibration .................................................................................................................. 18

Touchscreen Status ......................................................................................................................... 19

Touchscreen Buttons ....................................................................................................................... 20

4. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................... 20


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1. Figures

Figure 1.a – The Raptor™ Display Library .................................................................................................................. 3

Figure 1.2.1.a – The VeeCAN 800 ............................................................................................................................... 4

Figure 1.2.2.a – Raptor™ Compatibility Matrix ........................................................................................................ 5

Figure 2.1.1.a – A Template Touchscreen Display Project ......................................................................................... 6

Figure 2.1.3.a – Build Configuration Settings in the Target Definition Block ............................................................ 7

Figure 2.1.3.b – Compiler Settings in the Target Definition Block ............................................................................. 7

Figure 2.1.4.a – USB Drive Inserted in Front of a Raptor™ Display .......................................................................... 8

Figure 2.1.4.b – Hard Reset Button ............................................................................................................................ 9

Figure 3.1.a – Screen Definition ............................................................................................................................... 10

Figure 3.1.2.a – Raptor™ Goto Screen Block Called by a Falling Edge Trigger ....................................................... 11

Figure 3.2.1.a – Previous and Next Ports ................................................................................................................. 12

Figure 3.2.2.a – Standard Drawing Blocks ............................................................................................................... 13

Figure 3.2.3.a – Display Image Blocks ..................................................................................................................... 14

Figure 3.2.4.a – Block to Clear Screen Area ............................................................................................................. 14

Figure 3.2.5.a – Raptor™ String and Printf blocks .................................................................................................. 15

Figure 3.2.5.b – Basic Example to Draw Text .......................................................................................................... 16

Figure 3.2.5.c – Drawing text in an Element Block Triggered Subsystem ................................................................ 16

Figure 3.2.5.d – Comparing Techniques Drawing Text Without an Element Block vs. With One ............................ 17

Figure 3.3.1.a – Touch Calibration Screen and Recalibrate Screen Block ................................................................ 18

Figure 3.3.2.a – Display Touchscreen Status Block .................................................................................................. 19

Figure 3.3.3.a – Display Touchscreen Button Blocks ............................................................................................... 20


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1. Introduction The Raptor™ ™ Touchscreen Display is a unique offering from New Eagle. By combining a general

purpose controller and a wide array of communications with a 7-inch touch screen display on top of the Raptor™

model-based development platform, engineers with little to no programming experience have unprecedented

power to create intuitive Man-Machine Interfaces that may either directly control the host system, or

coordinate with other devices.

Figure 1.a – The Raptor™ Display Library

1.1 Motivation The purpose of this paper is to introduce the reader to the Raptor™ Touchscreen Display. A user with no

knowledge of the device should be able to put together a simple but useful application. It is assumed that the

reader has a basic understanding of Matlab, Simulink, and the Raptor™ platform.

1.2 Setup This guide assumes some knowledge of the Raptor™ platform and model-based development with

Simulink. The minimum requirements to get started are described below:


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Hardware

VeeCAN 800

Figure 1.2.1.a – The VeeCAN 800

Specifications:

7” Resistive Touchscreen Color Display

WVGA 800 x 480 color TFT LCD

Max brightness of 1000 NIT (cd/m2).

Fully waterproof (IP65)

(3) Deutsch 12-pin connectors

2 USB ports

Freescale iMX 286 processor

Operating Temperature: -30 to +80°C.

Operating Voltage: 10-32 VDC

Available I/O:

14 Analog Inputs

4 Digital Inputs

8 Outputs

2 CAN Channels

Ethernet

2 USB Ports

PC

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) processor

1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit)

16 GB available hard disk space

DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.

One USB port and flash drive with 128MB or higher free space

Datalink Adapter (optional)

Though optional, a CAN adapter will allow you to send CAN messages back and forth, and if you

have Merlin installed take measurements and set adjustments via XCP.


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Software The Raptor™ platform provides a comprehensive suite of tools to design and program each of the display

devices.

Figure 1.2.2.a – Raptor™ Compatibility Matrix

Development Environment

Windows 7 32-bit

Matlab 2012a or newer

CodeSourcery, Sourcery G++ Lite for ARM GNU Linux

.Net 4.0 or Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1

Raptor™ 2014a


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2. Building a Model This guide assumes that the user has installed Raptor™ with a compatible versions of Matlab and

Simulink Coder. For details about compatible versions of Matlab and Raptor™ see section 1.2.2

2.1 Getting Started

Creating a New Model With Matlab open, enter ‘raptor_create_touch_display_project('example_project');’ into the

command window. Simulink should open a model like the one shown in figure 2.1.1.a.

Figure 2.1.1.a – A Template Touchscreen Display Project

Performing a Model Update (ctrl+d) The user may validate a model without executing a full build by performing a Model Update.

This will validate parameters, connections, data types and block-specific constraints to let the user know

if a build will fail, and what can be done to prevent it.

Building a Raptor™ Touchscreen Display Model In Simulink, a build can be triggered with ctrl+b. This will begin the task of translating blocks

placed in the model into C code and compiling them into either a PC simulator or device binary. By

default the model is configured to generate both. The simulator is useful for debugging, or doing

developing without any display hardware present. Build configuration parameters can be set in the

Target Definition block.


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Configuring the Build

There are two configuration parameters specific to the VeeCAN devices. These can be set by

opening the Target Definition block at the top of the model.

Figure 2.1.3.a – Build Configuration Settings in the Target Definition Block

Compiler

There are actually two parameters to choose for Compiler, Device and Simulator. If a compiler is

selected (not set to ‘none’) for device, then a device binary to program a physical VeeCAN 800 will be

generated. If a compiler for Simulator is selected, then the same code will be compiled and loaded into

a simulator executable.

Figure 2.1.3.b – Compiler Settings in the Target Definition Block

Auto-Run Simulator

Checking Auto-Run Simulator will start the simulator executable as soon as the build is finished

if one has been generated.


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Programming the Display By default, Raptor™ builds are output to the \\ECU\ directory. After a successful build the

output should typically look like,

\\ECU\ |...|-<Project Name>\ |...|...|-<Build Number>\ |...|...|...|- README_HOW_TO_INSTALL.txt

|...|...|...|- <Project Name>_<Build Number>.zip <-- Device Binary |...|...|...|- Simulator\

|...|...|...|...|- VeeCAN_Simulator.exe <-- VeeCAN Simulator

The contents of the build directory will vary depending on what options were selected in the

target definition block. For instance, a device binary will only be generated if a compiler was selected for

one. For more details see section 2.1.3.

Programming from a USB drive

Programming the display requires a USB flash drive. To begin reprogramming, unzip the

contents of the device binary into top level of the flash drive. (ie. so the file system on the flash drive

mirrors what is inside of the .zip file) With the display turned on, insert the flash drive into either USB

port. After a few seconds the device should detect a new program on the USB drive and begin

reprogramming. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the process.

Figure 2.1.4.a – USB Drive Inserted in Front of a Raptor™ Display

Merlin

Merlin allows the user to program the display from a Raptor™ Package file (.rpg), as well as

connect over XCP to probe adjustment and measurement values. For more information on Merlin go to

www.neweagle.net.


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Hard Reset

Occasionally software loaded onto the display may cause it to become inoperable. Sometimes a

startup sequence will put the device into a loop that prevents traditional programming, or a program

may simply crash on startup. When this happens there is a hard-reset option available.

From the hardware manufacturer:

Make sure the power is off then insert the USB Stick into the USB Port. Turn on the power

while simultaneously holding down the small red button right next to the USB port on the

back of the unit. The screen will turn blue and after a few seconds the update process will

begin. There will be on-screen information during the update process. Please remove the USB

Stick when prompted and the target unit will automatically reboot into the new software.

Figure 2.1.4.b – Hard Reset Button


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3. Creating a Display

3.1 Screens Raptor™ has special blocks for defining graphical output in displays. The main block that organizes the

sequence of drawing UI elements is the Screen Definition block.

Figure 3.1.a – Screen Definition

Screen Outputs As a rule of thumb, Create_Background() and UpdateForeground() should only be used for

drawing and display logic. While it’s valid to poll I/O, communications, or work with other pieces of

application logic in these subsystems, it is cleaner to do so in either the Init() or IsCurrentScreen

subsystems, using ports as necessary to pipe relevant data back and forth.

Init() Actions that are executed when a screen is initialized go into the Init() function. This

subsystem is called each time the screen is brought up as the current screen.

That is, for two hypothetical screens, MyScreen1 and MyScreen2, if the application begins on

MyScreen1, switches to MyScreen2, and then switches back to MyScreen1, the Init() function will be

called twice; once when the application starts up, and once when switching back from MyScreen2.

Create_Background() Actions that are executed only when a complete redraw of a screen is required go into the

Create_Background() function. These because these actions do not happen frequently, only items that


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go into the background such as background images or non-moving parts should go here. This is also a

good place to initialize button definitions.

Update_Foreground() The display SDK queues foreground drawing tasks and executes them in a tight loop.

Update_Foreground() is the function that should contain any moving parts or elements that will be

updated live on the screen.

IsCurrentScreen IsCurrentScreen is a Boolean output that gets set high when the given screen is current. The

traditional application for this is to attach it to an enabled subsystem allowing everything inside it to

run continuously (free of the display loop.) This is where logic I/O and communications relevant to a

particular screen should go.

Switching Between Screens

Figure 3.1.2.a – Raptor™ Goto Screen Block Called by a Falling Edge Trigger

Switching between screens can be done with the Goto Screen block. When executed this block

will switch from the current screen to the specified screen.

Note: When executing this block inside of a Screen function (eg. IsCurrentScreen) it is highly

recommended to place the Goto Screen block inside of a triggered subsystem with a falling-edge trigger

to allow the value that triggered the switch to reset before changing screens. This helps to prevent

infinite loops, or being prevented from returning to this screen again


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3.2 Drawing

Drawing Order Most drawing blocks have an option to show ‘previous’ and ‘next’ ports. Next ports output a

Boolean when the drawing block is finished to enable the next block to begin drawing. This ensures

order which is important when an element is meant to overlap another.

Figure 3.2.1.a – Previous and Next Ports

As shown in figure 3.2.1.a, to draw one element on top of another, simply put the next port of

the element that goes on bottom into the previous port of the element that goes on top.

Standard Drawing Blocks There are ten standard drawing blocks that cover everything from drawing and filling in

differently shaped regions, to writing text to the screen. As an aid, all of these blocks show a sample of

their selected color on the mask when the color value is set directly in the block (as opposed to taken

from a port.)

Draw Arc

Draws an arc of a specified color, thickness, and radius from one angle to another.


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Figure 3.2.2.a – Standard Drawing Blocks

Draw Line

Draws a line of specified color, thickness,

and style from one point to another.

Draw Text

Draws text onto the screen at a specified

location. The block has two ports for X and Y

location. What this location means in terms of

positioning is determined by the horizontal and

vertical alignment parameters which are set in the

mask.

Text may either be directly set in the

block, or taken from a port. For trying to write live

updated text, this can be very useful when used

together with the Raptor™ printf block. For

more help with drawing text see section 3.2.5.

Draw Circle

Draws a circle of specified color and

thickness around a coordinate location with a

specific radius.

Fill Circle

Fills in a circle area of specified color around a coordinate location with a specific radius.

Draw Rectangle

Draws a rectangle of specified color and thickness between two coordinate locations.

Fill Rectangle

Fills a rectangle area of specified color between two coordinate locations.

Draw Polygon

Draws a polygon of specified color and thickness between a set of ordered pairs

Fill Polygon

Fills a polygon area of specified color between a set of ordered pairs

Fill Ellipse

Fills an ellipse area of specified color about a given center point with a specific x-radius, y-radius,

and rotation.


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Drawing Images

Figure 3.2.3.a – Display Image Blocks

For outputting images directly onto the display, there is a Draw Image block. This block allows for

an image to be placed at a specified coordinate on the screen.

The image my either be specified directly, or through a port with an Image Ref block. The Image

Ref can be useful for using application logic to draw either one image or another.

Clearing Screen Area Sometimes it is helpful to be able to clear an area. There are a few blocks in Raptor™ to help to

help with clearing screen area.

Figure 3.2.4.a – Block to Clear Screen Area

Clear Rect

The Clear Rect block works just like the Fill Rect block, only rather than covering a particular

area, it is cleared with the background color.


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Clear Screen

The Clear Screen block clears an entire screen to show only the background color. A good

application for this is right before a background display gets drawn.

Element

The Element block outputs a function call trigger. For elements being actively drawn on the

screen, the Element block will first clear the area behind it before drawing. This can be useful for text

being drawn and updated on the screen in the same position.

It should be noted that for elements that will be changing position on the screen, this block is

not a good option, as it will only clear the next position that a block is to be drawn in, leaving an artifact

still from the previous position.

Drawing Text Example

Working with Raptor™ Strings, Printf, etc.

Because the end goal of Simulink is to generate C code, there is no direct notion of a String

object. Raptor™ provides a few blocks to make working with String text easier.

3.2.5.a – Raptor™ String and Printf blocks

The first block Raptor™ provides is the String block. The String block allocates a block of

program memory of a particular character length and if defined, initializes it with a null-terminated

String value. The benefit to this is that a String of text can now be passed around without needing to

explicitly handle it as an array of characters.

The other String block that is commonly useful in display design is the Printf block. The Raptor™

Printf block exposes all the functionality of a C format string in Raptor™ . Perhaps the most powerful

feature of this block is that it will read the provided format string, and create input ports for each of the

parameters. The block then outputs the formatted string.

There are a number of other String blocks available in the Raptor™ library as well to convert

Raptor™ Strings to and from arrays, determine length, and even perform a Scanf on a string.

Drawing String Text

Drawing text is fairly straightforward, with a few caveats.


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In this example there’s a Draw Text block centered on a point. (i.e. Both horizontal and vertical

alignment are set to center.) There is a Printf block with a format string, “My Value = %d”. Raptor™

reads this string and recognizes that there is one integer parameter, and creates an input port on the

block according. Finally, there is an empty Raptor™ String initialized to 20 characters wide to hold the

output value. There is also a custom subsystem that increments a number from zero once a second to

give us some sample data to change live at runtime.

Figure 3.2.5.b – Basic Example to Draw Text

The above example will draw text on the screen, updating the text value every second. The

problem with this approach is that Raptor™ will not clear the previous string before drawing the next

one. The result will be a strange overlapped string drawn on the screen.

To updated strings from being written over old ones the easiest technique is to put the live

element being drawn into a function call subsystem triggered by the Element block. This will ensure that

the entire area being written is cleared in between each successive redraw.

Figure 3.2.5.c – Drawing Text in an Element Block Triggered Subsystem


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Figure 3.2.5.d – Comparing Techniques: Drawing Text without an Element Block vs. With One


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3.3 Working with the Touchscreen What sets this display apart from other display offerings from New Eagle is the 7” resistive touchscreen.

Touchscreen input allows for a wide range of user experience options

Touchscreen Calibration

Figure 3.3.1.a – Touch Calibration Screen and Recalibrate Screen Block

Touchscreen calibration is automatically launched when the device is first turned on after

reprogramming. The application designer can (and should) provide some extra gesture to recalibrate the

display if need be. This can be a long press, a button, or a simple pattern.

If the touchscreen needs to be recalibrated this can be done with the Recalibrate Screen block

triggered with a Function call generator. If possible in the application, the gesture to initiate

recalibration should not be dependent on needing to press a particular location on the screen. The

reason for this being that if the touchscreen calibration is very far off the user may not know what

location is actually being clicked in spite of what location is being pressed on the display.


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Touchscreen Status The most direct way to work with the touchscreen is via the touchscreen status block. This block

provides information directly from the touchscreen drivers to show whether or not the screen is

currently being touched, and if so in what coordinate location.

Figure 3.3.2.a – Display Touchscreen Status block

Possible uses include:

Detecting when a particular area has been pressed

Determining how long the screen has been pressed

Transforming user input

Drawing a cursor momentarily when the user presses the screen to indicate where the

program interprets the location of the screen press


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Touchscreen Buttons

Figure 3.3.3.a – Display Touchscreen Button Blocks

The Raptor™ Touchscreen Display does not have hardware buttons like the other display

modules. In order to get the same kind of functionality, Raptor™ provides a set of blocks to draw

buttons on the screen that act just like physical buttons.

There are two parts to the touchscreen buttons. A Button Def block and a Button Status block.

The Button Def block does the work of both drawing and initializing the button status in

software. This block should be placed in the Create_Backgound() subsystem of a Screen_Definition. This

ensures that the button will only be active when the current scree on which the button is drawn is

active.

The Button Status block may be placed anywhere in the model and acts just like a digital input,

outputting a high value when the button is pressed, and low when released.

Note: When using a touchscreen button to switch between screens, it is highly recommended to place

the Goto Screen block inside of a triggered subsystem with a falling-edge trigger to allow the button

status value that triggered the switch to reset before changing screens. This helps to prevent infinite

loops, or being prevented from returning to this screen again.

4. Conclusion The Raptor™ Touchscreen Display is a powerful tool for creating interactive controls applications. By

now the reader should feel confident to begin architecting software on the Raptor™ Touchscreen Display.

For further information and support, or to inquire about purchasing options contact New Eagle at

www.neweagle.net/contact

Documents

Getting Started with a Raptor™ Touchscreen Display€¦ · · 2017-12-07Programming the Display ... Introduction The Raptor™ ™ Touchscreen Display is a unique offering from