Clock question

I have a question about an RTC clock. Before everyone jumps on and says there is lots of code please read my whole rant, er question. So, I'm designing an incubator that needs to log temperature and time. Simple, lots of applications have the same requirements, I've read lots of text about them. Lots of code on how to do a clock. However, I have never seen complete clock code. By that I mean, I can program the time in at code time but how do you change the time and date? Eventually you will need to set it. Either because of a power outage or maybe a time change. I started writing the code and two things became obvious. First, it took a lot of code to cover it all and second how to display the menu and choices was really subjective. I've done several projects where when it got to alpha testing someone always asks who coded this? What is obvious to me is less than clear to a user who has no idea what the buttons and lights mean. The main display is just the temp on an LED due to to the ability to read the display easier in a dim environment so do you add an LCD just to set the time? Add individual LED's for some functions? This involves a whole realm of user interface that I'm just not that good at. And please, I'm not looking for some answer like put in lights or use buttons, but rather concrete complete answers. I know this is a rather burdensome request but I'm hoping for a few ideas in which I get possibly a new direction to go. Currently I have an LCD, two line, 16 character that brings up date and time by button pushes. It's also used to display time/temp anomalies. One button to activate the menu, one button for up and one for down and another button for selection which advances to the next screen. When you get to the end of the choices it writes the date and time to the clock. The menu starts with the day, then month then year, then minutes then hour. Current value on top line and when you push a button the new value in written on the bottom line. I can post the code but as I said it is very lengthy and I'm not sure that really is productive in this situation. Anyone written a complete solution for a clock? Code isn't really as important to me as how the selections were made, what kind of display, buttons, switches, how was selection made. Is it really this simple or am I way off base?

Re: Clock question

lennyG,

I think this is a very difficult question you have asked.
I have never studied programming or programming language, at least not in a formal classroom. Yet I have spent countless hours (hundreds of hours) blinking an LED, studying code snippets, writing to an LCD, trying different methods to detect a pushbutton, learning to use a subroutine, learning interrupts, studying more code examples, etc. etc.

I am just an electronics and microcontroller enthusiast. Yet I have done just what you describe.
For me it was really a process of building blocks... I started by learning how to read the time from an RTC module. Then I displayed that time on a given display (LCD or LED matrix, etc)

Then I learned how to set that time in the RTC. First as you said, from the program each time I loaded the code into the micro.
Then later by detecting a push button to cause the code to go to a separate "set time" routine.

Now this is what I think you are asking. How do I jump into this set time routine??
Well one way is for your main code to watch for a given button to be pressed. This is done periodically in your main code. When you want to set or adjust the time you would press this button and then the code jumps to the set time routine. Then in that routine it allows you to up/down the given value HH:MM:SS. You will want to be able to display that new value on your display so you can see when you get to the right number. Then you will want a different button (or a time out period) to automatically tell the micro to advance to the next thing to be adjusted HH>>MM>>SS (But usually you would skip SS and have the code set SS to zero).

I believe this is the heart of programming. You have to be able to DREAM up a way to literally direct the microcontroller to do what you want it to do.

There is no correct way to set the time. That is for you to imagine, code, test, debug, etc.
There are certainly good programming practices. There is elegant code and ugly code. Easy to understand and "what the hell was this guy thinking" kind of code, even though the ugly code may work correctly and never fail.

The set time routine must match and work with the rest of your code. The number of buttons required is dependent on your ability to dream up ways to signal different conditions to the micro. ie. short press, long press, double press within a time period, holding two buttons at once, only looking for a button press on powerup, etc, etc.

How do you tell someone to get to your house??? would someone else in that house use the EXACT same directions??? yet those two different set of directions would still result in arriving at your house. Although one may take longer, or drive a longer distance, etc.

To me (an untrained programmer) that is the beauty and the challenge of writing code.

Sorry for the non answer. But if someone provided you with an example it would likely take a considerable amount of effort to understand what and how they accomplished the given task. Would not likely work with your existing hardware. And they no-doubt did not write the code in one sitting. It likely evolved over several steps and testing phases.

If you are new at programming (guessing by your number of posts) then just start by doing simple things and adding bit by bit (no pun intended) to your code to make it do something else or blink an led faster/slower based on button press or up/down, etc. etc.

ask detailed questions, provide your coding examples when you ask, and you will get help here, world class programmers are lurking here and are very willing to help.

Re: Clock question

Quote:

when it got to alpha testing someone always asks who coded this? What is obvious to me is less than clear to a user
who has no idea what the buttons and lights mean . . .

which is 1/2 the reason for well commented code, additionaly if you put
functions in a group it is helpful. The other 1/2 reason is a year from now
You will not remember either.

Quote:

Anyone written a complete solution for a clock?

I have not seen one.

I suggest you look at some of "Scampy's" work as he builds reptile incubators.
Melanie showed how to do menus.

You should post code, it helps generate interest among the helpful . . . Heckler is one of those, I see He's already on it . . .
And, Always, Always post your code as a Yourfilename.TXT file attachment or put in
code tags

http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/misc.php?do=bbcode#code

Very little "FREE FISH HERE", but lots of code strugglers, who will walk with you.

Re: Clock question

Here is an example taken from one of my projects. I don't confess to writing the tightest of code, but for the reasons mentioned above, it helps when or if I need to update the code, or use it for something else a year later !

This uses a DS1307 RTC chip. There are stacks of diagrams on the net that show you haw to wire one up to a PIC micro so I won't bother you with those details

First define some variables

Code:

;----[Variables/Aliases - Time]------------------------------------------------- RTCSec var byte ' Seconds RTCMin var byte ' Minutes RTCHour var byte ' Hours RTCWDay var byte ' Weekday RTCDay var byte ' Day RTCMonth var byte ' Months RTCYear var byte ' Year RTCCtrl var byte ' Control SetTime var byte ' 12/24 Hour Clock SetSec var byte ' Seconds SetMin var byte ' Minutes SetHour var byte ' Hours TimeH var byte ' Variable to store current hour for comparison to drop temp time TimeM var Byte ' Variable to store current minutes for comparison to drop temp time

Set some values for the basic hours and minutes and write it to the chip (14:00 in this case)

Code:

RTCSec=0 RTCMin=0 RTCHour=14 I2CWrite SDApin,SCLpin,$D0,$00,[RTCSec,RTCMin,RTCHour,RTCWDay,RTCDay,RTCMonth,RTCYear,RTCCtrl]

Now to set up the LCD so the time is displayed. This example uses a 2 x 16 LCD, and its connected to port B of the micro

Code:

DEFINE LCD_DREG PORTB ' LCD Data port DEFINE LCD_DBIT 0 ' starting Data bit (0 or 4) DEFINE LCD_EREG PORTB ' LCD Enable port DEFINE LCD_EBIT 5 ' Enable bit (on EasyPIC 5 LCD) DEFINE LCD_RSREG PORTB ' LCD Register Select port DEFINE LCD_RSBIT 4 ' Register Select bit (on EasyPIC 5 LCD) DEFINE LCD_BITS 4 ' LCD bus size (4 or 8 bits) DEFINE LCD_LINES 2 ' number of lines on LCD DEFINE LCD_COMMANDUS 2000 ' Command delay time in us DEFINE LCD_DATAUS 50 ' Data delay time in us LCDOUT $FE,1:FLAGS=0:PAUSE 250:LCDOUT $FE,1:PAUSE 250 ' Initialize LCD

Where possible I've used self explanitary variable, ie RTCHour etc.

Code:

I2CRead SDApin,SCLpin,$D0,$00,[RTCSec,RTCMin,RTCHour,RTCWDay,RTCDay,RTCMonth,RTCYear,RTCCtrl] ; read DS1307 chip If RTCHour.6=1 then CounterA=(RTCHour>>4)&$01 ' Work-Out 12 or 24 hour Display for Hours else CounterA=(RTCHour>>4)&$03 endif CounterA=CounterA*10+(RTCHour&$0F) ' Display Hours appropriately for 12 or 24 hour Mode timeH=(RTCHour>>4) 'convert the BCD format of the hours register and store in variable timeH timeH=(timeH &$03)*10 timeH=timeH+(RTCHour&$0F) timeM=(RTCMin>>4) timeM=(timeM &$07)*10 timeM=timeM+(RTCMin&$0F) 'convert the BCD format of the mins register and store in variable timeM If RTCHour.6=1 then LCDOut $FE,$C0+11,#CounterA else LCDOut $FE,$C0+11,#CounterA Dig 1,#CounterA Dig 0 endif LCDOut ":",#(RTCMin>>4)&$0F,#RTCMin&$0F

To set the time to the current time rather than the preset used in the variables you need some form of menu, and three buttons, one to cycle through the hours, second to cycle through the minutes, and the 3rd to store the settings in the variables.

Code:

time: LCDOUT $FE,1 LCDOUT $FE,2,"Set Time" inp3: IF H_butt = 0 THEN GOSUB IncHours IF M_butt = 0 THEN GOSUB IncMinutes SetHour=Hours SetMin=Minutes LCDOUT $FE,$C0,#SetHour DIG 1,#SetHour DIG 0,":",#SetMin DIG 1,#SetMin DIG 0 pause 200 If S_butt = 0 then pause 250 goto savetime endif goto inp3 savetime: ' Save 12/24 Hours to BCD DS1307's Format ' --------------------------------------- CounterA=SetHour If SetTime=1 then If CounterA>12 then CounterA=CounterA-12 If CounterA=0 then CounterA=12 endif Gosub ConvertBCD RTCHour=CounterB ' Save the Hours Value If SetTime=1 then RTCHour.6=1 ' Save the 12 Hour Mode Flag If SetHour=>12 then RTCHour.5=1 ' Save the 'PM' Flag endif ' ' Save Minutes ' ------------ CounterA=SetMin Gosub ConvertBCD RTCMin=CounterB CounterA=SetSec Gosub ConvertBCD RTCSec=CounterB I2CWrite SDApin,SCLpin,$D0,$00,[RTCSec,RTCMin,RTCHour,RTCWDay,RTCDay,RTCMonth,RTCYear,RTCCtrl] IncHours: Hours = Hours + 1 IF Hours = 24 THEN Hours = 0 pause 250 RETURN IncMinutes: Minutes = Minutes + 1 IF Minutes = 60 THEN Minutes = 0 pause 250 RETURN

This will get you as far as setting and displaying the hours and minutes on an LCD. As far as logging the time and other data for an incubator, I'll let you figure that one out... I've been building vivarium controllers and thermostats with the help of these nice guys on the forum for some years now, and a lot of the projects have been discussed and documented in this forum. So I'll let you do some research and look forward to seeing your code in the future, but in the meantime I hope this helps

Re: Clock question

Below is my clock code. I wrote it a couple years ago and never looked at it again, but as I recall it worked and, as it says in the comments, it works with 3 buttons to set the date/ time.

When reading from the RTC, I read the clock registers and decode them into decimal format in the REG_VAL array - element order matches the clock register order. Writing new values to the clock is accomplished the same way, but in reverse - load the decimal value into the REG_VAL array and then loop through all 7 registers converting them to BCD and writing them back to the clock registers. Let's say I want to advance the hour by one for Daylight Savings Time. A quick example:

Read clock registers [0..7], decode to decimal and write to REG_VAL[0..7]. Add one to REG_VAL[2] (the hour register). In a loop convert each register back to BCD and write it back to the RTC.

In addition, two other arrays are defined - one the MINIMIUM value allowed in each register (0 mostly, but for year its the current year and for month its one) and the other is the MAXIMUM value allowed in each register (59 mostly, but for month its 12)

To set the clock, BUTTON 1 is used to scroll through the registers (0 - 7), BUTTON 2 advances the value of the register to the MAX value before rolling over to MIN value and BUTTON 3 writes the register value to the clock and resets the register count.

-- as I recall

Code:

'**************************************************************** '* Name : 3 BTN CLOCK.BAS * '* Author : [AMOQUE] * '* Notice : Copyright (c) 2013 [PBP 2.6] * '* : All Rights Reserved * '* Date : 10/21/2013 * '* Version : 1.0 * '* Notes : 16F88, DS1337, 3 BUTTONS - ACTIVE HIGH * '* : * '**************************************************************** #CONFIG __config _CONFIG1, _INTRC_IO & _WDT_OFF & _PWRTE_OFF & _MCLR_ON & _BODEN_OFF & _LVP_OFF & _CPD_OFF & _WRT_PROTECT_OFF & _DEBUG_OFF __config _CONFIG2, _FCMEN_OFF & _IESO_OFF #ENDCONFIG DEFINE OSC 8 '-----DEBUG (SERIAL) SETUP---------------------------------------- DEFINE DEBUG_REG PORTB DEFINE DEBUG_BIT 5 DEFINE DEBUG_BAUD 2400 DEFINE DEBUG_MODE 0 '-----CHIP REGISTER SET-UP---------------------------------------- TRISA = %00000000 ' Set PORTA output TRISB = %00001101 OSCCON = %01110000 CCP1CON = %00001100 T2CON = %00000101 'ADCON0 = %11000000 ' Configure and turn on A/D Module 'ADCON1 = %10000000 ' Set PORTA analog and LEFT justify result 'ANSEL = %00000011 '-----PORT SET-UP------------------------------------------------- SDA VAR PORTB.1 SCL VAR PORTB.4 BTN1 VAR PORTB.0 BTN2 VAR PORTB.2 BTN3 VAR PORTB.3 '-----CLOCK SET-UP------------------------------------------------ RTC_ADD CON %11010000 REG_TIM CON $00 REG_AL1 CON $07 ' Not implimented REG_AL2 CON $0B ' Not implimented REG_SPC con $0E REG_STS CON $0F 'STP_ADD var byte STP_add con %01000000 '-----TIME/ CLOCK VARIABLES---------------------------------------- REG_MIN VAR BYTE[7] ' Minimum register values REG_VAL VAR Byte[7] ' Seconds, minutes, hours, day of week, date, month, year REG_MAX VAR BYTE[7] ' Maximum register values ACT_REG VAR BYTE ' Active register (setting) '-----GENERAL USE VARIABLES--------------------------------------- LP VAR BYTE ' For/ Next value D0 VAR BYTE D1 VAR BYTE D2 VAR BYTE '-----INITIALIZE CLOCK-------------------------------------------- 'CHECK STATUS debug "---STABALIZE---", 10 pause 250 D0 = $00 : D1 = $00 gosub SPCL_READ D0 = $00 : D1 = $00 ' Assign 'special' registers gosub SPCL_WRITE ' Write 'special' registers gosub SPCL_READ ' Verify 'SET INITIAL TIME FOR lp = 0 TO 6 ' For each register REG_VAL[LP] = LP ' Set value to address NEXT LP ' Loop '----------------------' Alarm set-up GOSUB CLK_WRITE ' Write initial values and start clock 'LOAD REGISTER MIN/ MAX VALUES REG_MIN[0] = 00: REG_MIN[1] = 00: REG_MIN[2] = 00: REG_MIN[3] = 1: REG_MIN[4] = 01: REG_MIN[5] = 01: REG_MIN[6] = 00 REG_MAX[0] = 59: REG_MAX[1] = 59: REG_MAX[2] = 23: REG_MAX[3] = 6: REG_MAX[4] = 31: REG_MAX[5] = 12: REG_MAX[6] = 99 D0=4 goto Stepper_Control '+++++MAIN LOOP+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MAIN: if BTN1 then goto CLK_SET ' Button 1 = Enter set mode GOSUB CLK_READ: ' Read clock PAUSE 500 ' Pause GOTO MAIN ' Loop til the end of time (lol) '-----SUB-ROUTINES------------------------------------------------ 'READ TIME, CONVERT TO DECIMAL VALUES, DISPLAY CLK_READ: I2CRead SDA, SCL, RTC_ADD, REG_TIM, [REG_VAL[0], REG_VAL[1], REG_VAL[2], REG_VAL[3], REG_VAL[4], REG_VAL[5], REG_VAL[6]] FOR LP = 0 TO 6 ' For each register D0 = (REG_VAL[LP] >> 4) * 10 ' Decode 10's digit D1 = REG_VAL[LP] & %0001111 ' Blank 10's, get 1's REG_VAL[LP] = D0 + D1 ' Write Decimal value to register NEXT LP ' Next register DEBUG "TIME:[", dec1 REG_VAL[3], "] ", dec2 REG_VAL[5], "/", dec2 REG_VAL[4], "/", dec2 REG_VAL[6], " ", dec2 REG_VAL[2], ":", dec2 REG_VAL[1], ":", dec2 REG_VAL[0], 10 Return 'CONVERT TO BCD VALUES, WRITE TO CLOCK REGISTERS CLK_WRITE: FOR LP = 0 TO 6 ' For each register D0 = REG_VAL[LP] / 10 ' Get decimal 10's digit D1 = REG_VAL[LP] // 10 ' Get decimal 1's REG_VAL[LP] = (D0 << 4) + d1 ' Shift BCD 10's in, add 1's NEXT LP ' Next register I2CWrite SDA, SCL, RTC_ADD, REG_TIM, [REG_VAL[0], REG_VAL[1], REG_VAL[2], REG_VAL[3], REG_VAL[4], REG_VAL[5], REG_VAL[6]] GOSUB CLK_READ ' Update display Return 'SPECIAL REGISTERS-------------------------------------------------------------- SPCL_WRITE: I2CWrite SDA, SCL, RTC_ADD, REG_SPC, [D0, D1] Return SPCL_READ: I2CRead SDA, SCL, RTC_ADD, REG_SPC, [D0, D1] debug "SPCL: [", bin8 D0, "] STATUS: [", BIN8 D1, "]", 10, 10 pause 1000 Return 'BEGIN SET ROUTINE-------------------------------------------------------------- CLK_SET: debug "SET TIME", 10 ' Announce in debug window For LP = 0 to 100 ' Start timer loop IF BTN2 Then Goto SELECT_REG ' Button 2 = select register Pause 100 ' Advance time NEXT LP ' Loop GOTO MAIN ' Time expired, drop out 'SELECT REGISTER SELECT_REG: debug "SELECT REGISTER" , 10 ACT_REG = 0 : D2 = 0 ' Reset active register For LP = 0 to 100 ' Start timer loop IF BTN2 Then ' Button 2 press ACT_REG = ACT_REG + 1 ' Advance active register LP = 0 ' Restart time loop IF ACT_REG > 6 THEN ACT_REG = 0 ' Keep register number in bounds DEBUG "EDIT=", DEC1 ACT_REG, " MAX=" ' Announce register and max value to debug debug DEC2 REG_MAX[ACT_REG], 10 Endif If BTN3 Then ' Button 3 press debug "SET REGISTER VALUE" , 10 ' Announce to debug LP = 0 ' Restart time loop Goto ADV_VALUE ' Goto advanve register value routine Endif ' End button 3 loop Pause 100 ' Advance time NEXT LP ' Loop GOTO MAIN ' Time expired, drop out 'ADVANCE REGISTER VALUE ADV_VALUE: debug "ADVANCE REGISTER VALUE" , 10 for LP = 0 to 100 ' Announce to debug IF Btn3 Then ' Button 3 press LP = 0 ' Restart time loop D2 = D2 + 1 ' Advance register value IF D2 > REG_MAX[ACT_REG] THEN D2 = REG_MIN[ACT_REG] ' Keep register value in bounds debug "REG=", DEC2 ACT_REG, " NEW VALUE=", DEC2 D2 , 10 ' Announce to debug ENDIF ' End button 3 press IF BTN1 Then ' Button 1 press debug "WRITE VALUE TO CLOCK" , 10 ' Announce to debug LP = 0 ' Restart timer GOSUB CLK_READ ' Read fresh clock values REG_VAL[ACT_REG] = D2 ' Insert new value GOSUB CLK_WRITE ' Write to chip GOTO SELECT_REG ' Goto 'select register' EndIF ' End button 1 press Pause 100 ' Advance timer Next LP ' Loop GOTO MAIN ' Time expired, drop out Stepper_Control: DEBUG "DO=",DEC2 D0,10 for LP = 1 to 100 '---------------------------------2 --1 I2CWrite SDA, SCL, STP_ADD, [%00000010] : pause D0 '1 on 2 off 'I2CWrite SDA, SCL, STP_ADD, [%00001010] : pause D0 '1 on 2 on I2CWrite SDA, SCL, STP_ADD, [%00001000] : pause D0 '2 on 1 off 'I2CWrite SDA, SCL, STP_ADD, [%00001001] : pause D0 '2 on 1 onr I2CWrite SDA, SCL, STP_ADD, [%00000010] : pause D0 '1 onr 'I2CWrite SDA, SCL, STP_ADD, [%00000001] : pause D0 '2 onr 1 onr I2CWrite SDA, SCL, STP_ADD, [%00000101] : pause D0 '2 onr 'I2CWrite SDA, SCL, STP_ADD, [%00000110] : pause D0 '2 onr 1 onr Next LP 'D0=D0+1 Goto Stepper_control END