pfodApp/pfodDesigner YouTube Videos

by Matthew Ford 5^th August 2022 (original 8^th August 2019)
© Forward Computing and Control Pty. Ltd. NSW Australia
All rights reserved.

Brian's Tutorial Videos on pfodApp and pfodDesigner

These are a series of YouTube tutorial videos produced by a pfodApp user. Email pfod.com.au via support if you need help with any aspects of pfodApp / pfodDesigner
See Video 13 / Video 14 for a complete dwg designer written in Arduino.

Video 1 – Introduction to pfodDesigner
Also see the pfodDesigner tutorials.

Video 2 – Transferring the pfodDesigner generated code to your Arduino device

Video 3 – Controlling outputs, On/Off and PWM
Also see the Pulsed Outputs for Arduino using pfodApp using pfodDesigner tutorial

Video 4 – Sub-Menus, Labels and Reading Analog and Digital Inputs
Also see the How to Display/Plot Arduino Data on Android tutorial

Video 5 – Formatting Tags, alarms and sample drawings (hand coded) displaying data.
Drawings are very flexible and powerful but require hand coding which this video does not cover.
See the Custom Arduino Controls for Android tutorial for the details.

Video 6 – Illustration of making your drawings interactive using touch zones (drawing buttons).
This is an example of an irrigation controller which also mixes drawings and other menu items on the same menu.
This video show some of the functionality you can build into your interfaces.
It does not cover the coding details. See the Custom Arduino Controls for Android tutorial for how to add touch zones and touch actions to your drawings.
Also see the Arduino UNO/Mega Starter and the Arduino101 Starter sketches that make extensive use of drawing functions including on-screen help and pan and zoom.

Video 7 – Introducing pushZero/popZero for moving and scaling drawing items.

Video 8 – Indexing Drawing Items to Update them.
This video shows how you can update parts of your drawing via a unique index.
When you send a drawing update with an indexed drawing item, the update completely replaces the existing item with the same index.
Indexes can also be used to set the order items are drawn. Higher indexed items are drawn over lower ones. Items with no index are drawn in the order received.
Finally item indices need to be unique. In this simple example, Brian allocates the indices by hand.
For more complex situations, the pfodParser library provides the reserveIdx(n) method that returns the first index of n indices that are globally unique for this sketch.
See pfodDwgControls for more info on using indices and reserveIdx( )

Video 9 – Plots and Unicode characters
This video illustrates custom interface build by Brian that allows the user to select multiple items to plot on a single plot or multiple plots on a single screen.
pfodDesigner can generate multi-plot examples.
This interface uses Unicode characters to provide the symbols used for the buttons. See Using Non-ASCII chars in Arduino
As with all these videos, the screen display on your Android mobile is completely determined by the commands you send.
Brian's code specifies the text, colours, button outlines etc, as well as the size and location of the button's touch zone and what action to take when a button is pressed.
See pfodDwgControls for more info.

Video 10 – More Dwg Examples

Video 11a – Coding a button to enter a String
This tutorial creates a graphic in pfodDesigner. Modifies the generated code to add a button which open a string input screen.
The tutorial also covers turning on the log debug data setting to display the touch zones (the dotted 'a' square above)
There is a companion Arduino sketch which contains the code.
Video_11a_String_Input.ino

Video 11b – Numeric Input
This video uses a graphic button to open a numeric input screen
and on return show the result on the drawing.
There is a companion Arduino sketch which contains the code.
Video_11b_Numeric_Input.ino

Video 11c – Single Selection Input
This video shows how to code a single selection input screen.
There is a companion Arduino sketch which contains the code.
Video_11c_Single_Selection_Input.ino

Video 11d– Multi-Selection Input
This video shows how to code a multi-selection input screen.
There is a companion Arduino sketch which contains the code.
Video_11d_Multi_Selection_Input.ino

Video 12 – Touch Zones
This video shows the use of touchZones and touch filters
By default the dotted lines outlining the touchZones and the touch cmd letters are not displayed
by pfodApp. The Log Debug setting in the connections screen has been turned on for this video.
There is a companion Arduino sketch which contains the code.
Video_12_Filters_in_TouchZones.ino

Video 13 – Dwg Designer
This video demonstrates Brian's Dwg Designer Sketch.
The current sketch runs on a Mega2560+Adafruit BLE Module + Adafruit_FRAM.
The next version will run on just a Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266.
The entire code for this display and operation is in the sketch,
pfodApp just displays what is sent to it. No Android programming required.
For a copy of the Ardunio code contact Brian at gmail.com via userinterfacebuilder

Video 14 – Dwg Builder
This is another video demonstrates Brian's Dwg Designer Sketch.
This sketch runs on a Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266.
The entire code for this display and operation is in the sketch,
pfodApp just displays what is sent to it. No Android programming required.
For a copy of the Ardunio code contact Brian at gmail.com via userinterfacebuilder

Android^TM is a trademark of Google Inc. For use of the Arduino name see http://arduino.cc/en/Main/FAQ

The General Purpose Android/Arduino Control App.
pfodDevice™ and pfodApp™ are trade marks of Forward Computing and Control Pty. Ltd.