Count down timer with interrupt/jump ?

[Bruce]

As I understand it, interrupts only work at the end of a command so if I pause 1sec the interrupt would only execute at the end of the pause ? Same as if I paused 1sec then just read an input pin.

Yes, but only if you're using ON INTERRUPT, which is really not the way to go for something
like this application. Assembler interrupts would work, but I think this can be done with a lot
less hassle.

Let's get creative on this one, and not use interrupts. We'll just monitor the Timer1 overflow
flag. With Timer1 running in the background you have a multi-tasking environment that can
remove a ton of firmware overhead.

   DEFINE LOADER_USED 1
   DEFINE OSC 4
   
   ' Define LAB-X1 LCD registers and bits
   DEFINE  LCD_DREG        PORTD
   DEFINE  LCD_DBIT        4
   DEFINE  LCD_RSREG       PORTE
   DEFINE  LCD_RSBIT       0
   DEFINE  LCD_EREG        PORTE
   DEFINE  LCD_EBIT        1
   DEFINE  LCD_COMMANDUS   2000
   DEFINE  LCD_DATAUS      50
   
   SYMBOL PROBE = PORTA.0 ' O-scope probe for timing tests
   SEC_COUNT VAR BYTE     ' seconds counter
   OLD_COUNT VAR BYTE     ' copy of count
   PORT_VAL  VAR BYTE     ' holds value read from input port
   O_FLOWS   VAR BYTE     ' holds the number of timer1 overflows
   
   T1LO CON $B0           ' timer1 reload values
   T1HI CON $3C
   
   PORTB = 0              ' RB3 to RB0 = 0
   TRISB = %11110000      ' RB7 to RB4 = inputs, RB3 to RB0 = outputs
   INTCON  = 0            ' interrupts disabled (we're just watching tmr1 int flag)
   OPTION_REG = 0         ' portb pull-ups on for RB7 to RB4
   T1CON = %00100000      ' 1:4 prescale (4uS per tick), timer1 off
   TMR1H = T1HI           ' $3CB0=15,536. 65,536-15,536 = 50,000
   TMR1L = T1LO           ' 50,000 ticks * 4uS = 0.2 seconds. 1 second / 0.2 = 5
                          ' every 5 timer1 overflows = 1 second
   ADCON1 = 7             ' Set PORTA and PORTE to digital
   LOW PORTE.2            ' LCD R/W line low (W)
   PAUSE 1000             ' Wait for LCD to start up
   LCDOUT $FE,1           ' Clear LCD
   
Main:
   SEC_COUNT=30           ' load for 30 to 0 countdown
   OLD_COUNT=1            ' mismatch for display (see below)
   O_FLOWS=0              ' clear overflow count
   PIR1.0=0               ' clear timer1 overflow flag
   T1CON.0=1              ' start timer1
    
Test:
   TOGGLE PROBE           ' 77uS from start to return

   ' Note: Timer1 overflows every 0.2 seconds, so we have time to execute
   ' a whopping 200,000 single-cycle instructions before this section is
   ' executed
   IF PIR1.0 THEN           ' if timer1 overflow then
      O_FLOWS=O_FLOWS+1     ' inc oveflow counter
      IF O_FLOWS=5 THEN     ' if 1 second elapsed then
         SEC_COUNT=SEC_COUNT-1 ' decrement seconds count
         O_FLOWS=0          ' reset overflow counter
      ENDIF
      PIR1.0=0              ' clear timer1 overflow flag
      T1CON.0 = 0           ' stop timer1
      TMR1L = TMR1L + T1LO  ' add in low byte
      IF TMR1L < T1LO THEN  TMR1H = TMR1H + 1  ' if low byte overflow, increment high byte
      TMR1H = TMR1H + T1HI  ' add in high byte
      T1CON.0=1             ' re-start timer1
      IF SEC_COUNT=255 THEN
         SEC_COUNT=30       ' reset to 30 after 0-1 underflow
         OLD_COUNT=1        ' make sure new value is displayed
      ENDIF
   ENDIF
   
   ' display is updated only when count has changed, so LCDOUT gets executed
   ' only once each second
   IF SEC_COUNT != OLD_COUNT THEN
      LCDOUT $FE,1,"Count = ",DEC SEC_COUNT
      OLD_COUNT=SEC_COUNT  ' match last displayed count for next pass
   ENDIF
   
   ' portb gets read ~every 77uS
   PORT_VAL = (PORTB >> 4) ' read portb
   IF PORT_VAL !=15 THEN ProcessInput ' do something if switch pressed
   GOTO Test
   
ProcessInput:
   ' print switch inputs on 2nd line of LCD when RB7, 6, 5 or 4 are at ground
   LCDOUT $FE,$C0,IBIN4 PORT_VAL ' display input values
   GOTO Test
    
   END

This is pretty heavily commented, but if you have questions, let me know. I didn't have a
serial LCD handy, but this should be pretty easy to modify for your own hardware.

Making entry into the time-consuming routines conditional, leaves a ton of time to monitor
your switch inputs, and it's easy to keep everything up to date without using interrupts.

So you have a boat-load of time to goof-off doing other stuff between the count,
display updates, and timer reloads.

Instead of wasting valuable time with a PAUSE 1000, you're running around the entire loop
from start to return in around 77uS, and have plenty of time to burn for other stuff.

If you have an O-scope, try placing the TOGGLE PROBE at different locations to see how fast
everything happens.