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:breadcrumbs: <a href="../../index.html">Home</a> / <a href="../../index.html#software-vbnet">Software</a> / Visual Basic .NET - Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet

.. |device_identifier_constant| replace:: There is also a :ref:`constant <segment_display_4x7_bricklet_vbnet_constants>` for the device identifier of this Bricklet.

.. _segment_display_4x7_bricklet_vbnet:

Visual Basic .NET - Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet
================================================

This is the description of the :ref:`Visual Basic .NET API bindings <api_bindings_vbnet>` for the :ref:`Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet <segment_display_4x7_bricklet>`. General information and technical
specifications for the Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet are summarized in its :ref:`hardware description
<segment_display_4x7_bricklet_description>`.

An :ref:`installation guide <api_bindings_vbnet_install>` for the Visual Basic .NET API
bindings is part of their general description.

.. _segment_display_4x7_bricklet_vbnet_examples:


Examples
--------

The example code below is `Public Domain (CC0 1.0)
<http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/>`__.

Simple
^^^^^^

`Download (ExampleSimple.vb) <https://github.com/Tinkerforge/segment-display-4x7-bricklet/raw/master/software/examples/vbnet/ExampleSimple.vb>`__

.. literalinclude:: SegmentDisplay4x7_Bricklet_VBNET_ExampleSimple.vb
 :language: vbnet
 :linenos:
 :tab-width: 4

.. _segment_display_4x7_bricklet_vbnet_api:

API
---

Since Visual Basic .NET does not support multiple return values directly, we
use the ``ByRef`` keyword to return multiple values from a function.

All functions and procedures listed below are thread-safe.




Basic Functions
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


.. vbnet:function:: Class BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7(ByVal uid As String, ByVal ipcon As IPConnection)

 Creates an object with the unique device ID ``uid``:

 .. code-block:: vbnet

    Dim segmentDisplay4x7 As New BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon)

 This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected
 (see examples :ref:`above <segment_display_4x7_bricklet_vbnet_examples>`).


.. vbnet:function:: Sub BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.SetSegments(ByVal segments[] As Byte, ByVal brightness As Byte, ByVal colon As Boolean)

 The 7-segment display can be set with bitmaps. Every bit controls one
 segment:
 
 .. image:: /Images/Bricklets/bricklet_segment_display_4x7_bit_order.png
    :scale: 100 %
    :alt: Bit order of one segment
    :align: center
 
 For example to set a "5" you would want to activate segments 0, 2, 3, 5 and 6.
 This is represented by the number 0b01101101 = 0x6d = 109.
 
 The brightness can be set between 0 (dark) and 7 (bright). The colon
 parameter turns the colon of the display on or off.
 
.. vbnet:function:: Sub BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.GetSegments(ByRef segments[] As Byte, ByRef brightness As Byte, ByRef colon As Boolean)

 Returns the segment, brightness and color data as set by 
 :vbnet:func:`SetSegments() <BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.SetSegments>`.
 


Advanced Functions
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. vbnet:function:: Sub BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.StartCounter(ByVal valueFrom As Short, ByVal valueTo As Short, ByVal increment As Short, ByVal length As Long)

 Starts a counter with the *from* value that counts to the *to*
 value with the each step incremented by *increment*.
 The *length* of the increment is given in ms.
 
 Example: If you set *from* to 0, *to* to 100, *increment* to 1 and
 *length* to 1000, a counter that goes from 0 to 100 with one second
 pause between each increment will be started.
 
 The maximum values for *from*, *to* and *increment* is 9999, 
 the minimum value is -999.
 
 Using a negative increment allows to count backwards.
 
 You can stop the counter at every time by calling :vbnet:func:`SetSegments() <BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.SetSegments>`.
 
.. vbnet:function:: Function BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.GetCounterValue() As Integer

 Returns the counter value that is currently shown on the display.
 
 If there is no counter running a 0 will be returned.
 
.. vbnet:function:: Function BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.GetAPIVersion() As Byte[]

 Returns the version of the API definition (major, minor, revision) implemented
 by this API bindings. This is neither the release version of this API bindings
 nor does it tell you anything about the represented Brick or Bricklet.
 
.. vbnet:function:: Function BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.GetResponseExpected(ByVal functionId As Byte) As Boolean

 Returns the response expected flag for the function specified by the function
 ID parameter. It is *true* if the function is expected to send a response,
 *false* otherwise.
 
 For getter functions this is enabled by default and cannot be disabled,
 because those functions will always send a response. For callback configuration
 functions it is enabled by default too, but can be disabled by
 :vbnet:func:`SetResponseExpected() <BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.SetResponseExpected>`. For setter functions it is disabled by default
 and can be enabled.
 
 Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect
 timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The
 device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for
 a setter function then no response is send and errors are silently ignored,
 because they cannot be detected.
 
 See :vbnet:func:`SetResponseExpected() <BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.SetResponseExpected>`
 for the list of function ID constants available for this function.
 
.. vbnet:function:: Sub BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.SetResponseExpected(ByVal functionId As Byte, ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)

 Changes the response expected flag of the function specified by the
 function ID parameter. This flag can only be changed for setter (default value:
 *false*) and callback configuration functions (default value: *true*). For
 getter functions it is always enabled and callbacks it is always disabled.
 
 Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect
 timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The
 device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for
 a setter function then no response is send and errors are silently ignored,
 because they cannot be detected.
 
 The following function ID constants are available for this function:
 
 * BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.FUNCTION_SET_SEGMENTS = 1
 * BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.FUNCTION_START_COUNTER = 3
 
.. vbnet:function:: Sub BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.SetResponseExpectedAll(ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)

 Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration
 functions of this device at once.
 
.. vbnet:function:: Sub BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.GetIdentity(ByRef uid As String, ByRef connectedUid As String, ByRef position As Char, ByRef hardwareVersion[] As Byte, ByRef firmwareVersion[] As Byte, ByRef deviceIdentifier As Integer)

 Returns the UID, the UID where the Bricklet is connected to, 
 the position, the hardware and firmware version as well as the
 device identifier.
 
 The position can be 'a', 'b', 'c' or 'd'.
 
 The device identifier numbers can be found :ref:`here <device_identifier>`.
 |device_identifier_constant|
 


.. _segment_display_4x7_bricklet_vbnet_callbacks:

Callbacks
^^^^^^^^^

Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from
the device. The registration is done by assigning a procedure to an callback
property of the device object:

 .. code-block:: vbnet

    Sub Callback(ByVal sender As BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7, ByVal value As Short)
        Console.WriteLine("Value: {0}", value)
    End Sub

    AddHandler segmentDisplay4x7.Example, AddressOf Callback

The available callback property and their type of parameters are described below.

.. note::
 Using callbacks for recurring events is *always* preferred
 compared to using getters. It will use less USB bandwidth and the latency
 will be a lot better, since there is no round trip time.


.. vbnet:function:: Event BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.CounterFinished(ByVal sender As BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7)


 This callback is triggered when the counter (see :vbnet:func:`StartCounter() <BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.StartCounter>`) is
 finished.
 


.. _segment_display_4x7_bricklet_vbnet_constants:

Constants
^^^^^^^^^

.. vbnet:attribute:: Const BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.DEVICE_IDENTIFIER

 This constant is used to identify a Segment Display 4x7 Bricklet.

 The :vbnet:func:`GetIdentity() <BrickletSegmentDisplay4x7.GetIdentity>` function and the
 :vbnet:func:`EnumerateCallback <IPConnection.EnumerateCallback>`
 callback of the IP Connection have a ``deviceIdentifier`` parameter to specify
 the Brick's or Bricklet's type.

