small changes

updated readme, improved show_char and show_message

Author: Ellipse0934

README.md

@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ function for resetting the LED matrix to black.
 
     using SenseHat
     using ColorTypes
-    
+
     const LED = led_matrix()
-    
+
     LED[:] = SenseHat.JULIA_LOGO
     sleep(3)
     led_clear()
@@ -33,20 +33,19 @@ manipulated, returning a `StickEvent`:
 
     e = readstick()
 
-For querying within a loop, `sticktask()` will create a `Task` that produces `StickEvent`s. Use
-with `@schedule` for asynchronous use, e.g.
+For querying within a loop, use a `Channel` to create a buffer of `StickEvent`.
 
     using SenseHat
 
-    @schedule for e in sticktask()
-        println(e)
+    c = Channel{StickEvent}(32)
+
+    @async while true
+        put!(c, readstick())
     end
 
-will create a new task that prints the event, then and add it to the scheduler. See the
-help for `StickEvent` and `sticktask` for more details.
 
 ## Sensors
 
 `humidity()`, `temperature()` and `pressure()` will read values from the corresponding sensors.
 
-The inertial measurement unit (IMU) is not yet supported, but is coming soon. In the meantime, you can use the [python library](https://pythonhosted.org/sense-hat/) via [PyCall.jl](https://github.com/JuliaPy/PyCall.jl).
+The inertial measurement unit (IMU) is not yet supported, but is coming soon. In the meantime, you can use the [python library](https://pythonhosted.org/sense-hat/) via [PyCall.jl](https://github.com/JuliaPy/PyCall.jl).

src/SenseHat.jl

@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@ module SenseHat
 
 export led_matrix, RGB565, led_clear,
     show_char, show_message,
-    Stick, StickEvent, readstick,
-    pressure, temperature, humidity
+    Stick, StickEvent, readstick, sticktask,
+    pressure, temperature, humidity,
+    @colorant_str
 
 
 include("ioctl.jl")

src/stick.jl

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 module Stick
 
-export StickEvent, readstick
+export StickEvent, readstick, sticktask
 
 function _stick_input_device()
     try
@@ -83,4 +83,31 @@ function readstick()
     end
 end
 
+"""
+    sticktask()
+This is a `Task` that produces `StickEvent`s when the joystick on the Sense HAT is
+manipulated. It will block until new `StickEvent`s occur.
+A typical usage will be to create a new task which will call this asynchronously, e.g. the
+following will call the function `f(::StickEvent)` for each event:
+```
+@schedule for e in sticktask()
+    f(e)
+end
+```
+"""
+function sticktask()
+    Base.depwarn("`sticktask()` is deprecated. Use `Channel` instead to create a buffer of `StickEvent`.", :sticktask)
+    @task open(STICK_INPUT_DEVICE) do dev
+        fddev = RawFD(fd(dev))
+        while true
+            wait(fddev, readable=true)
+            s = read(dev, StickEventRaw)
+            if s.ev_type == EV_KEY
+                produce(StickEvent(s))
+            end
+        end
+    end
+end
+
+
 end # module

src/text.jl

@@ -1,57 +1,65 @@
 module Text
 
+using ColorTypes, Colors.@colorant_str
+
 import SenseHat.LED: RGB565, led_matrix, led_clear
 
-export show_char, show_message
+export show_char, show_message, @colorant_str
 
 """
-	show_char(c::Char, color::RGB565 = RGB565(1.0,1.0,1.0))
+    show_char(c::Char, color::ColorTypes.AbstractRGB = colorant"white")
 
-Display a single character `c` on the `Sense-Hat` LED Matrix.
+Display a single character `c` on the `SenseHat` LED Matrix.
 """
-function show_char(c::Char, color::RGB565 = RGB565(1.0,1.0,1.0))
-	led_clear()
-	if haskey(font, c)
-		convert(::Type{RGB565}, x::Bool) = x ? color : RGB565(0.0,0.0,0.0)
-		img = hcat(font[c], Bool.(zeros(8, 3)))
-		img = convert.(RGB565, img)
-		led_matrix()[:] = permutedims(img, (2,1))
-	else
-		error("Character font for $c not available \n")
-	end
-	return
+function show_char(c::Char, color::ColorTypes.AbstractRGB = colorant"white")
+    if haskey(font, c)
+        tocolor(b) = b ? RGB565(color) : RGB565(colorant"black")
+        L = PermutedDimsArray(led_matrix(), (2, 1))
+        L[:] .= colorant"black"
+        L[:,2:6] .= tocolor.(font[c])
+    else
+        error("Character font for $c not available \n")
+    end
+    return
 end
 
-
 """
-	show_message(s::String, speed::Real = 0.2, color::RGB565 = RGB565(1.0,1.0,1.0))
+    show_message(s::String, speed::Real = 0.2, color::ColorTypes.AbstractRGB = colorant"white")
+
+Display a scrolling message `s` on the `SenseHat` LED Matrix. `speed` is the time in seconds per frame and `color` is the color of text.
 
-Display a scrolling message `s` on the `Sense-Hat` LED Matrix. `speed` is the time in seconds per frame.
+# Example
+
+```
+using SenseHat
+
+show_message("Hello, World!", 0.2, colorant"purple")
+```
 """
-function show_message(s::String, speed::Real = 0.33, color::RGB565 = RGB565(1.0,1.0,1.0))
-	for c in s
-		if haskey(font, c) == false
-			error("Character font for $c not available \n")
-			return
-		end
-	end
-	convert(::Type{RGB565}, x::Bool) = x ? color : RGB565(0.0,0.0,0.0)
-	led_clear()
-	img = Array{Bool}(8, 16+5*length(s))
-	img[1:8,1:8] = Bool.(zeros(8,8))
-	img[1:8,(8+5*length(s)):(15+5*length(s))] = Bool.(zeros(8,8))
-	for i in 1:length(s)
-		img[1:8, (4 + 5*i):(5*i+8)] = font[s[i]]
-	end
-	for i in 1:(size(img)[2] - 8)
-		frame = convert.(RGB565, img[1:8, i:(i+7)])
-		led_matrix()[:] = permutedims(frame, (2,1))
-		sleep(speed)
-	end
-	led_clear()
-	return	
+function show_message(s::String, speed::Real = 0.2, color::ColorTypes.AbstractRGB = colorant"white")
+    for c in s
+        if haskey(font, c) == false
+            error("Character font for $c not available \n")
+            return
+        end
+        img = Array{Bool}(8, 16 + 5*length(s))
+        img[1:8,1:8] = Bool.(zeros(8,8))
+        img[1:8,(9 + 5*length(s)):(16 + 5*length(s))] = Bool.(zeros(8,8))
+        for i in 1:length(s)
+            img[1:8, (4 + 5*i):(8 + 5*i)] = font[s[i]]
+        end
+        tocolor(b) = b ? color : colorant"black"
+        for i in 1:(size(img,2) - 7)
+            frame = tocolor.(img[1:8, i:(i + 7)])
+            led_matrix()[:] = permutedims(frame, (2,1))
+            sleep(speed)
+        end
+    return
+    end
 end
 
+show_message(s::String, color::ColorTypes.AbstractRGB) = show_message(s, 0.2, color)
+
 font = Dict(' ' => Bool.([0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; ]),
 '+' => Bool.([0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 1 0 0 ; 0 0 1 0 0 ; 1 1 1 1 1 ; 0 0 1 0 0 ; 0 0 1 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; ]),
 '-' => Bool.([0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 1 1 1 1 1 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; 0 0 0 0 0 ; ]),