Firmata Library
Firmata is a generic protocol for communicating with microcontrollers like the Arduino and 86Duino from software on a host computer. The protocol details can be found in the wiki page, and for more on the Firmata protocol, see http://firmata.org.
The Firmata library implements the Firmata protocol and allows you to write custom firmware without having to create your own protocol and objects for the programming environment that you are using. (You may be interested in seeing the video that shows 86Duino communicates with Processing via the Firmata library.)
Methods
begin()
start the library
begin(long)
start the library and override the default baud rate
printVersion()
send the protocol version to the host computer
blinkVersion()
blink the protocol version on pin 13
printFirmwareVersion()
send the firmware name and version to the host computer
setFirmwareVersion(byte major, byte minor)
set the firmware name and version, using the sketch’s filename, minus the .pde
Sending Messages :
sendAnalog(byte pin, int value)
send an analog message
sendDigitalPorts(byte pin, byte firstPort, byte secondPort)
send digital ports as individual bytes
sendDigitalPortPair(byte pin, int value)
send digital ports as one int
sendSysex(byte command, byte bytec, byte* bytev)
send a command with an arbitrary array of bytes
sendString(const char* string)
send a string to the host computer
sendString(byte command, const char* string)
send a string to the host computer using a custom command type
Receiving Messages :
available()
check to see if there are any incoming messages in the buffer
processInput()
process incoming messages from the buffer, sending the data to any registered callback functions
attach(byte command, callbackFunction myFunction)
attach a function to an incoming message type
detach(byte command)
detach a function from an incoming message type
Callback Functions
In order to attach your function to a message type, your function must match the standard callback function. There are currently three types of callback functions in Firmata: generic, string, and sysex.
generic
void callbackFunction(byte pin, int value);
system_reset
void systemResetCallbackFunction(void);
string
void stringCallbackFunction(char *myString);
sysex
void sysexCallbackFunction(byte pin, byte byteCount, byte *arrayPointer);
Message Types :
These are the various message types that you can attach functions to.
ANALOG_MESSAGE
the analog value for a single pin
DIGITAL_MESSAGE
8-bits of digital pin data (one port)
REPORT_ANALOG
enable/disable the reporting of analog pin
REPORT_DIGITAL
enable/disable the reporting of a digital port
SET_PIN_MODE
change the pin mode between INPUT/OUTPUT/PWM/etc.
FIRMATA_STRING
C-style strings, uses stringCallbackFunction for the function type
SYSEX_START
generic, arbitrary length messages (via MIDI SysEx protocol), uses sysexCallbackFunction for the function type
SYSTEM_RESET
message to reset firmware to its default state, uses systemResetCallbackFunction for the function type
Example
This example shows how to send and receive analog messages using Firmata.
#include <Firmata.h>
byte analogPin;
void analogWriteCallback(byte pin, int value)
{
pinMode(pin,OUTPUT);
analogWrite(pin, value);
}
void setup()
{
Firmata.setFirmwareVersion(0, 1);
Firmata.attach(ANALOG_MESSAGE, analogWriteCallback);
Firmata.begin();
}
void loop()
{
while(Firmata.available()) {
Firmata.processInput();
}
for(analogPin = 0; analogPin < TOTAL_ANALOG_PINS; analogPin++) {
Firmata.sendAnalog(analogPin, analogRead(analogPin));
}
}
The text of the 86Duino reference is a modification of the Arduino reference, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. Code samples in the reference are released into the public domain.
