Table of reserved event source IDs

micro:bit
#1

I am experimenting with using custom events to control program flow, and am looking for a way to use “source IDs” that aren’t already in use. The doc provides a link to a page that is claimed to contain a table of reserved IDs, but I don’t see this info there or anyplace else. Is there such a table?

From the doc:

Creating an event is easy - just create a MicroBitEvent with the source and value you need, and the runtime takes care of the rest:

MicroBitEvent(MICROBIT_ID_BUTTON_A, MICROBIT_BUTTON_EVT_CLICK);
Feel free to create your own events lke this too. Just try to avoid using any source ID that is already used by the runtime! :slight_smile: See the messageBus page for a complete table of the reserved source IDs.

#2

Here’s where MakeCode pulls its values from: https://github.com/microsoft/pxt-microbit/blob/master/libs/core/dal.d.ts

If you search for “ID” in that page you should find most of them. I think the only other one we use that isn’t listed there is MICROBIT_MELODY_ID = 2000 which is used to produce events for the melody APIs in the music category.

#3

And here is the actual source of truth: https://github.com/lancaster-university/microbit-dal/blob/master/inc/core/MicroBitComponent.h#L32

@jamesadevine correct me if I’m wrong

#4

Yes @richard, that is the definitive list of source values for events used in the microbit-dal. A similar list is available for CODAL: https://github.com/lancaster-university/codal-core/blob/master/inc/core/CodalComponent.h

#5

Excellent - thanks! I am thinking that kids might find events a good way to implement some more complicated logic, though I am a bit chagrined that there aren’t built in timer events of any kind?

#6

@dpwoos In a later evolution of the dal (CODAL) there are. In the microbit-dal, you can use classes from mbed to achieve such a thing… Ticker (https://os.mbed.com/docs/mbed-os/v5.12/apis/ticker.html), regular interrupts, and Timeout (https://os.mbed.com/docs/mbed-os/v5.12/apis/timeout.html), a single interrupt, are available… you are responsible for handling interrupts appropriately :slight_smile:

There is also a regular callback that occurs every 6 milliseconds for components that you could use to create your own Timer class.

#7

would this work?

forever(function() {
   something
   pause(interval)
})
#8

I am concerned that relying on using “pause” in a background “while(true)” will result in considerable drift, but I need to do some tests on a micro:bit. For example, 25 background “while(true)” loops containing a “pause(100)” that each toggle one of the leds.

edit: I just tried this, and on a physical micro:bit I cannot create 25 background subprograms (X020 No Free Memory), but I can create 12. Also, the drift is a lot more than in the simulator.

let ledBlink = ((x: number, y: number, pauseMS: number) => {
control.inBackground(() => {
while (true) {
led.toggle(x, y)
basic.pause(pauseMS)
}
})
})
// 5x5 doesn’t work but this 4x3 does
for (let ix = 0; ix < 4; ix++) {
for (let iy = 0; iy < 3; iy++) {
ledBlink(ix, iy, 100)
}
}

I think that I will look at creating an extension that will raise an event every x milliseconds.
Also, I wonder if it might be fun for our students to use “music” events and “tempo” to get a nice pulse?

music.onEvent(MusicEvent.MelodyNotePlayed, function () {
led.toggle(4, 4)
})
// tempo of 60 is 1 beat / sec
music.setTempo(60)
// play a rest for 1 sec
music.beginMelody([“r1:4”], MelodyOptions.Forever)

#9

You could hack something together by compensating for drift by looking at current time. Pause on microbit has i think 6ms resolution. It’s 4ms or so on codal targets.

#10

Music.Melody with beat=60 produces a pulse that runs 9ms/sec slow:

let t = 0
let seconds = 0
music.onEvent(MusicEvent.MelodyNotePlayed, function () {
// init t
if (t == 0) {
t = input.runningTime()
}
led.toggle(0, 0)
seconds += 1
//if (seconds % 10 == 0) {
serial.writeNumbers([seconds, input.runningTime() - t])
serial.writeLine("")
//}
t += 1000
})
// tempo of 60 is 1 beat / sec
music.setTempo(60)
// play a rest for 1 sec
music.beginMelody([“r:4”], MelodyOptions.Forever)