Joining 5 bit variables and splitting them into 8 bit ones later?

[CuriousOne]

Hello.
I'm using a MAX7219 dot matrix display, 8x8 pixels, 4 daisy chained.
I want to display some numbers on it. I can use 7x7 pixel font, so 4 digits will fit.
But I want to use 6x7 pixel font, so can fit 5 digits on screen.
Each letter graphics are stored in 6 bit codes, like this, for number 8

001110
011011
011011
001110
011011
011011
001110

But data to MAX7219 is being sent into 8 bit increments. So if I send it directly, there will be big gaps and each bit displayed only on single 8x8 matrix. So I need to add these 6 bits to each other, and then split them again into 8 bits. Like this:

001110 001110 001110 001110 should become
00111000 11100011 10001110
Any ideas?

[mpgmike]

Don't quite have the thought fully formed, but I'm thinking along the lines of:

FullDigit VAR LONG
FullDigit = ((Byte1 << 23) + (Byte2 << 17) + (Byte3 << 11)...

This might compact the bits(?)

You need 42 bits, but a LONG only has 32. There's an extra line that would have to be dealt with independently. Again, this isn't a "Solution", just food for thought.

[CuriousOne]

What if I create 32 bit array, write bits in sequence and then read it in appropriate chunks?

[mpgmike]

Something like this?

' 001110 001110 001110 001110
FullDisp VAR LONG
FullDisp.31 = 0
FullDisp.30 = 0
FullDisp.29 = 1
FullDisp.28 = 1
FullDisp.27 = 1
FullDisp.26 = 0
FullDisp.25 = 0
... ... ... ... ... ...

[CuriousOne]

Yes, but have no idea if can use another variable instead of 31 and other digits.
Like displayvar.X=Y

[HenrikOlsson]

I suspect this is what you want:

displayvar.0[X]=Y

But I also suspect we've covered this before so instead of me trying to repeat what's already been covered in detail I just leave it all to Melanie :-)
http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=544