Characteristic	Locus
Inheritance	System.Object > SerialLCD
Namespace	Meadow.Foundation.Displays
Assembly	SerialLCD.dll

Syntax

public class SerialLCD : ITextDisplay

Remarks

Serial LCD backpacks provide a convenient way to display data on a 16x2 or 20x4 LCD display.

Purchasing

This driver supports the Sparkfun Serial Backpack. This can also be purchased as a kit with both the serial backpack and the LCD.

Examples

The application below outputs Hello, world on the LCD:

using System.Threading;
using Meadow;
using Meadow.Foundation.Displays;

namespace SerialLCD_Sample
{
    public class Program
    {
        static IApp _app; 
        public static void Main()
        {
            _app = new App();
        }
    }

    public class App : AppBase<F7Micro, App>
    {
        public App ()
        {
            var display = new SerialLCD();
            //
            //  Clear the display ready for the test.
            //
            display.Clear();
            display.SetCursorStyle(SerialLCD.CursorStyle.BlinkingBoxOff);
            display.SetCursorStyle(SerialLCD.CursorStyle.UnderlineOff);
            //
            //  Display some text on the bottom row of a 16x2 LCD.
            //
            display.SetCursorPosition(2, 1);
            display.DisplayText("Hello, world");
        }
    }
}

Example Circuit

The Serial LCD requires only three connections; power, ground and serial data. The Tx pin on Meadow should be connected to the Rx pin on the serial backpack:

Constructors

SerialLCD(IIODevice, SerialPortName, TextDisplayConfig, Int32, Parity, Int32, StopBits)

Create a new SerialLCD object.

Declaration

public SerialLCD(IIODevice device, SerialPortName port, TextDisplayConfig config = null, int baudRate = 9600, Parity parity = null, int dataBits = 8, StopBits stopBits = null)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
IIODevice	device
SerialPortName	port
TextDisplayConfig	config	TextDisplayConfig object defining the LCD dimension (null will default to 16x2).
System.Int32	baudRate	Baud rate to use (default = 9600).
Parity	parity	Parity to use (default is None).
System.Int32	dataBits	Number of data bits (default is 8 data bits).
StopBits	stopBits	Number of stop bits (default is one stop bit).

Fields

_lock

object for using lock() to do thread synch

Declaration

protected object _lock

Field Value

Type	Description
System.Object

Properties

DisplayConfig

Display configuration (width and height).

Declaration

public TextDisplayConfig DisplayConfig { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
TextDisplayConfig

Methods

Clear()

Clear the display.

Declaration

public void Clear()

ClearLine(Byte)

Clears the specified line by writing a string of empty characters to it.

Declaration

public void ClearLine(byte lineNumber)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.Byte	lineNumber	Line to clear (0-3)

DisplayText(String)

Display the text at the current cursor position.

Declaration

[Obsolete("Use .Write methods instead.")]
public void DisplayText(string text)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	text	Text to display.

MoveCursor(SerialLCD.Direction)

Move the cursor either right or left on the display.

Declaration

public void MoveCursor(SerialLCD.Direction direction)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
SerialLCD.Direction	direction	Direction to move the cursor, left or right.

SaveCustomCharacter(Byte[], Byte)

Saves a custom character to one of 8 slots in the CGRAM. Custom characters are defined as charater maps and can be created using online graphical tools such as the one found at: http://maxpromer.github.io/LCD-Character-Creator/

Note: due to .Net's underlying string implementation, slot 0 is unusable unless you decode the string yourself and use the Write(byte[] chars) method. Otherwise, when the string is created, .Net treats the 0 character as a string terminator.

Declaration

public void SaveCustomCharacter(byte[] characterMap, byte address)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.Byte[]	characterMap	Character map defining the 5x8 character.
System.Byte	address	0-7

ScrollDisplay(SerialLCD.Direction)

Scroll the contents of the display one character in the specified direction.

Declaration

public void ScrollDisplay(SerialLCD.Direction direction)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
SerialLCD.Direction	direction	Direction to scroll the display, left or right.

SetBaudRate(SerialLCD.LCDBaudRate)

Change the baud rate of the display using the command interface.

Declaration

public void SetBaudRate(SerialLCD.LCDBaudRate baudRate)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
SerialLCD.LCDBaudRate	baudRate

SetBrightness(Single)

Sets the backlight brightness of the LCD. Valid values are 0 through 1. Sleeps for 125milliseconds after setting to let the display settle.

0 = Off 0.5 = 50% 1 = 100%

Declaration

public void SetBrightness(float brightness = 0.75F)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.Single	brightness

SetCursorPosition(Byte, Byte)

Set the cursor position on the display to the specified column and line.

Declaration

public void SetCursorPosition(byte column, byte line)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.Byte	column	Column on the display to move the cursor to (0-15 or 0-19).
System.Byte	line	Line on the display to move the cursor to (0-3).

SetCursorStyle(SerialLCD.CursorStyle)

Set the cursor style to underline or block. The cursor can also be blinking or solid.

Declaration

public void SetCursorStyle(SerialLCD.CursorStyle style)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
SerialLCD.CursorStyle	style	New cursor style (Block/Underline, Blinking/Solid).

SetDisplayVisualState(SerialLCD.DisplayPowerState)

Turn the display on or off.

Declaration

public void SetDisplayVisualState(SerialLCD.DisplayPowerState state)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
SerialLCD.DisplayPowerState	state	New power state for the display.

SetSplashScreen(String, String)

Set up the splash screen.

Declaration

public void SetSplashScreen(string line1, string line2)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	line1
System.String	line2

ToggleSplashScreen()

Toggle the splash screen.

Declaration

public void ToggleSplashScreen()

Write(Byte[])

Displays the characters at the current cursor position. Unlike the string text overload, this assumes the text has already been encoded to characters. Can be useful in sending pre-encoded characters, or accessing custom a custom character saved in the 0 slot.

Declaration

public void Write(byte[] chars)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.Byte[]	chars

Write(String)

Display the text at the current cursor position.

Declaration

public void Write(string text)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	text	Text to display.

WriteLine(String, Byte)

Writes the specified text to the specified line.

Declaration

public void WriteLine(string text, byte lineNumber)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	text	Text to display.
System.Byte	lineNumber	Line to write the text on (0-3).