XinaBox OD01 MakeCode extension

The OD01 is 64x128 dot matrix monochrome OLED screen which has an SSD1306 mounted on to it. Use it with a micro:bit to show large amounts of data on screen at the same time.

Read more about it or purchase one here

This library provides functions to print and draw to the OD01 OLED display.

The following Standard Printing functions are provided (with examples later):

• print string. Write anything to screen, and specify whether to start the NEXT print on a new line.
• print number. Write a number to screen, and specify whether to start the NEXT print on a new line.
• clear screen.
• invert screen TRUE / FALSE. Setting this to TRUE causes all pixels to change from on to off, or off to on.

These are your main printing tools, but you can also use the "Print anywhere on screen" functions to put text and numbers on screen:

• show string
• show number

The 2 functions allow you to specify the location where the text / number is printed. In addition, you can use a Color parameter to write the text / number differently

There are also several "Drawing" functions that allow you to draw items on to the screen at a location you specify:

• set pixel
• draw horizontal line
• draw vertical line
• draw rectangle

In each case you also specify a Color (soz UK for spelling). Color = 1 means the image is drawn and Color = 0 means the image is erased.

There are also "SW01 Control" functions to control the SW01:

• initialise OLED. This is triggered by default and you don't need to use this normally.
• display ON / OFF. It is ON by default

NB: you do NOT need to initialise or turn on the OLED before using it - both are done when the micro:bit powers up the circuit. You might use them in advanced circumstances, e.g. power the SW01 off to preserve battery power, or initialise the OD01 if an error state has been recorded.

How-to guides

A comprehensive set of How-to guides that show you how to use the blocks and provides simple examples of the code is available online: XinaBox How-to Guides for OD01 on BBC micro:bit using MakeCode

Basic Printing: Print string / number on same line / new line:

// Print "Number = " then "42" on the NEXT line:
OD01.printString("Number = ", true)
OD01.printNumber(42, true)

// Print "Number = " then "42" on the SAME line:
OD01.printString("Number = ", false)
OD01.printNumber(42, true)

// And of course, when you want to start again just use clear screen:
OD01.clear()
// Note that the clear screen function will ONLY clear stuff written to screen using the print functions.
// Anything that has been drawn using other functions will NOT be removed when clear screen is used.

// Use screen invert for a cool strobe effect (Warning - flashing light):
basic.forever(function () {
    OD01.invert(true)
    basic.pause(200)
    OD01.invert(false)
    basic.pause(200)
})

Basic Drawing: Flashing a string / number:

// Print "Number = " then "42" in the location specified (column = 42, row = 4, color = 1):
OD01.String("Calling", 42, 4, 1)
OD01.Number(446, 88, 4, 1)

// Print "Calling " then "446" in the same place but inverted (use for emphasis like bold):
OD01.String("Calling", 42, 4, 0)
OD01.Number(446, 88, 4, 0)

You would use showString / showNumber instead of printString / printNumber when you have a fixed screen layout, such as in a game.

With the print functions it is hard to control where text or numbers are shown on screen.

The Show functions allow you specify exactly where something is shown.

If you wanted to show the score of a game in the top right of the screen you would use showNumber

// Now put these together to create a cool blinking effect:
basic.forever(function () {
    OD01.String("Calling", 42, 4, 1)
    OD01.Number(446, 88, 4, 1)
    basic.pause(500)
    OD01.String("Calling", 42, 4, 0)
    OD01.Number(446, 88, 4, 0)
    basic.pause(500)
})

Bear in mind that you cannot use clear screen to remove text or numbers added using the Show methods.

And setting color = 0 shows the inverse, rather than removing it from screen.

To remove text or numbers added using the Show methods use the following technique:

// Print an empty string to the location you want to remove text / numbers from:
OD01.String("Calling", 42, 4, 1)
OD01.String("       ", 42, 4, 1)

Check out our How-to Guides online to learn how to use the draw functions and in the process learn how to make a pixel bounce around the screen and how to control a rectangle with the A and B buttons.

Attribution

This extension is based on the OLED Package from microbit/micropython Chinese community.

Great thanks to Shaoziyang for all the heavy lifting :)

License

MIT

Copyright (c) 2019, XinaBox

Supported targets

• for PXT/microbit