Any sample client side code?

[wyx2000]

I started with RCSwitchFirmata, could not get it work. I use a client code with firmata lib like below:

var board = new firmata.Board('COM4', function () {
  console.log('ready!')
});
 
  board.on("ready", function() {
    const a = 6;
    const b = 7;
.....

neither ready above fires. But if I try it with the StandardFirmata code, it works fine.

Any idea? Is there special client side code for RCSwitchFirmata?

Thanks

[git-developer]

Is there special client side code for RCSwitchFirmata?

I don't know of any. The initialisation code is not part of RCSwitchFirmata but ConfigurableFirmata; so to track down your problem, you could start using ConfigurableFirmata and update to RCSwitchFirmata when communication works.

Testing was done with the perl-firmata client, so whatever needs to be done on initialization should be available there.

[wyx2000]

The perl-firmata is for connec to firmata. Can we have a simple code to show how to pass message to RCSwitchFirmata?

For example, in the document you describe what need send to firmata

All values described here are 8-bit-based (i.e., after unpacking from 7-bit sysex transfer format). A common pattern of all queries is that they echo the query message as response. This pattern allows for detection of unsupported or wrong messages.

Message format
byte 0: Feature ID (RCOUTPUT_DATAor RCINPUT_DATA)
byte 1: Subcommand
byte 2: pin
following bytes: subcommand specific parameters

Can we have a sample code in any client that send a message to control RCSwitch like the below sketch code does?

mySwitch.enableTransmit(10);
mySwitch.setPulseLength(320);
mySwitch.setProtocol(1);
mySwitch.send(5393, 24);

I searched quite a lot today but still cannot make it work, the message byte sequence, the method to call etc. all mixed, not sure which part went wrong.

[wyx2000]

Could you point out how do I link to the result from the report in RCInputFirmata?

void RCInputFirmata::report()

[git-developer]

Could you point out how do I link to the result from the report in RCInputFirmata?

As explained in #3, received rf signals will be reported automatically to your host whenever they arrive.

[git-developer]

Please consider that only a few Firmata client libraries currently support ConfigurableFirmata. It seems to me that you try to use ConfigurableFirmata without such a client, which means you're about to develop such a client by yourself. I cannot give you detailed information on this because I never created a firmata client; I used FHEM instead. FHEM is a perl-based smart home application that integrates perl-firmata. Most of the initialization and configuration code is part of perl-firmata and FHEM. In FHEM, the following configuration represents your code above:

define firmata FRM /dev/ttyUSB0@57600
define rc_sender FRM_RCOUT 10
attr   rc_sender IODev firmata
attr   rc_sender pulseLength 320
attr   rc_sender protocol 1
set rc_sender longCode 5393

[git-developer]

Maybe this trace log is helpful for you, it shows all messages between FHEM and the arduino at initialization time:

2018.11.07 20:21:54 3: Opening firmata device /dev/ttyUSB0
2018.11.07 20:21:54 3: Setting firmata serial parameters to 57600,8,N,1
2018.11.07 20:21:54 5: firmata FRM_DoInit
2018.11.07 20:21:54 5: firmata FRM:>ff
2018.11.07 20:21:54 3: firmata device opened
2018.11.07 20:21:57 3: firmata querying Firmata versions
2018.11.07 20:21:57 5: firmata FRM:>f90000
2018.11.07 20:21:57 5: firmata FRM:>f079f7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:<f90206f0790206520043005300770069007400630068004600690072006d006100740061002e0069006e006f00f7e05503e11203e26802e35302e43a02e51d02e60e02e71002e86f01e97001ea7701eb6701ec6601ed6001ee4b01ef5901f90206f0790206520043005300770069007400630068004600690072006d006100740061002e0069006e006f00f7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 3: firmata Firmata Firmware Version: RCSwitchFirmata.ino V_2_06 (using Protocol Version: V_2_06)
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:>f069f7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:>f06bf7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:<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
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:<00010101020a0a017f00010101020a0a017f00010101020a0a017f00010101020a0a017f00010101020a0a017f00010101020a0a017f00010101020a0a017ff7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:>f07a6807f7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata initializing 'receiver'
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:>f05d0102f7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata initializing 'sender'
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:>f05c010af7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:<f071
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:<55006e00680061006e0064006c0065006400200073007900
2018.11.07 20:21:58 5: firmata FRM:<730065007800200063006f006d006d0061006e006400f7f07155006e00680061006e0064006c0065006400200073007900730065007800200063006f006d006d0061006e006400f7
2018.11.07 20:21:58 3: received String_data: Unhandled sysex command
2018.11.07 20:21:58 3: received String_data: Unhandled sysex command

[git-developer]

@wyx2000 Did you work it out? If you've been successful, I'd appreciate if you could post some sample code so that other users may participate from your work.

[wyx2000]

@wyx2000 Did you work it out? If you've been successful, I'd appreciate if you could post some sample code so that other users may participate from your work.

Yes, I can post what I found out, will do that tomorrow

[wyx2000]

Ok, here is the code I am using now.
I am using firmata.js, the js library for firmata.
To send message to arduino, the important part is the need to encode 8 bits to 7 bits

RC315.rcOutput = function(subcommand, pin, val) {
    var data = [];
    data.push(START_SYSEX);
    data.push(RCOUTPUT_DATA);
    data.push(subcommand);
    data.push(pin);
    if(val){
      if (Array.isArray(val)) {
        for (var i = 0; i < val.length ; i++) {
          data.push(val[i]);   
        }        
      }else{
        data.push(val & 0x7F);
        val = val >> 7 ;
        data.push(val & 0x7F);        
        val = val >> 7 ;
        data.push(val & 0x7F);
      }
    }
    data.push(END_SYSEX);    
    this.board.sp.write(data);
};

RC315.rcControl = function(code, pulseLength) {
    this.rcOutput(RCOUTPUT_DETACH, outPin);   
    this.rcOutput(RCOUTPUT_ATTACH, outPin);
    if(pulseLength)
      this.rcOutput(RCOUTPUT_PULSE_LENGTH, outPin, pulseLength);
  
    var bytes = Encoder7Bit.to7BitArray([0x18, 0x00].concat(longToByteArray(code)));
 
    this.rcOutput(RCOUTPUT_CODE_LONG, outPin,  bytes);
}

To receive message from arduino side,

// set firmata.SYSEX_RESPONSE[RCINPUT_DATA] to receive message
RC315.init=function(){
  this.board = new firmata.Board('COM4');
  firmata.SYSEX_RESPONSE[RCINPUT_DATA] = function(board) {
    console.log('RC315 in command (%s): %s, pin: %s ', new Date(), board.buffer[2], board.buffer[3]);
    if(board.buffer[2]==RCINPUT_MESSAGE){
      var data=Encoder7Bit.from7BitArray(board.buffer.slice(4));
      console.log('value: %s, bitcount: %s, delay: %s, protocal: %s ', 
        (data[0]<<24)+(data[1]<<16)+(data[2]<<8)+data[3],
        (data[4]<<8)+data[5], (data[6]<<8)+data[7], (data[8]<<8)+data[9]);   
    }
 }
}
// the data bytes for RCINPUT
RC315.rcinput = function(subcommand, pin, val) {
    var data = [];
    data.push(START_SYSEX);
    data.push(RCINPUT_DATA);
    data.push(subcommand);
    data.push(pin);
    data.push(END_SYSEX);
    this.board.sp.write(data);
};
// attach to input pin and message will be forward to firmata.SYSEX_RESPONSE[RCINPUT_DATA]
RC315.rcinput(RCINPUT_ATTACH, inPin)

[git-developer]

Thanks for sharing, @wyx2000. Is it OK for you when I copy this into the documentation?

One remark on your markdown syntax: single words may formatted as code using a single backtick (`), code blocks need three backticks (```) before and after or an indentation of at least four spaces.

Please close this issue when you think that your problem is solved.

[wyx2000]

Sure, you can copy to document

[git-developer]

I have a question on the following code of rcOutput:

    if (Array.isArray(val)) {
      for (var i = 0; i < val.length ; i++) {
        data.push(val[i]);   
      }        
    }

Is it correct that the array val must come 7-bit encoded from the caller?

[wyx2000]

Yes. The code is from my working application. That is one of the thing that caught me, I thought the firmata.js should handle that. So it is the firmata protocal, all bytes big than 0x80 are commands, dynamic data bytes need be in 7 bits.

[git-developer]

@wyx2000, I've integrated your code into the README. I'd appreciate if you could proofread it. If it's OK, I will merge it from branch develop into master.

Does RCSwitchFirmata work for your project, have you been successful?