What does "parts" attribute do?

PXT
#1

What exactly is the parts attribute for in the block annotations, please? There are examples in the “game” extension for the Microbit. When is it required and for what?

//% weight=60 blockGap=8 help=game/create-sprite
//% blockId=game_create_sprite block="create sprite at|x: %x|y: %y"
//% parts="ledmatrix"
export function createSprite(x: number, y: number): LedSprite {
    init();
    let p = new LedSprite(x, y);
    return p;
}
#2

Those attributes shouldn’t necessary for micro:bit! I think the led matrix ones just never got cleaned up. It’s used for the breadboarding support MakeCode has. The easiest place to see it in action is maker.makecode.com; as you start to place blocks in the workspace you should see the simulator add the required hardware components to a breadboard.

#3

Oh, I see. That’s a pretty nifty simulator.

Erm, is it possible to generate simulators for various LED displays such as the Pimoroni scroll:bit (and other things which use the IS31FL3731 matrix driver IC), or the Neopixel ZIP halo, the 8x8 ZIP tile, etc?

#4

Currently we don’t support any “shape” for the LEDs.

#5

Ah, but I see the maker.makecom.com environment uses the sprite editor which looks like the one in Arcade, and it can create an image of any dimension. I wish you could make a monochrome copy of that for the Microbit world!

#6

@richard can the sprite editor a Microbit image literal? We have grayscale in microbit :slight_smile:

#7

You could add a flag that does it but the sprite editor seems like overkill to me