How to know the state of input when PushEventButton::CAPTUREBOTH is notified

[J-R-V]

I am using the library to detect transitions in the input using Arduino Nano EVERY by creating the the object as PushEventButton and it works fine, but it's necessary to know how the event has been produced (fall / rise) or, by the way, the actual state of the button after receive the capture event.

Main purpose is to trace the time (correlate) when the user action was done (press for example) and how much time was delayed to the next action (release for example). In both cases, the state is captured but I'm not being able to know, how to get which type of transition (rise or fall) has been done.

So, ... is possible to get the transition type (rise / fall) performed or, by the way, the state of the input (high / low) after the capture?.

Thanks in advance.

[lendres]

It doesn't look like that is currently possible. It should be straightforward to do, though. I'll see what I can do when I get a chance.

[lendres]

Implementation notes:

Possible approaches:

1. Store the event type (push/release) in the PushEventButton class and provide an additional function to retrieve it.
2. Create a new class specific to this use case.
3. Create a new base class for both PushEventButton and a new class.
4. No longer derive PushEventButton from TwoStateButton and modify it to return the event type.

The PushEventButton uses the TwoStateButton interface which may not make sense. That class was meant to have states of pushed or released and both of these classes are about events, not states. The PushEventButton was originally derived from TwoStateButton to allow it to be interchanged with other classes.

TwoStateButton button;
// Allows:
button = new MomentaryButton();
// Or:
button = new PushEventButton();

It was decided to modify the PushEventButton class for the folliwing reasons:

• In order to not disrupt the two classes of buttons, TwoStateButtons and CountingButtons,
• The interface would be nearly identical anyway.
• Ease of implementation.

In the future, it might be worth revisiting to see if there should be a third category of EventButtons. This could help clarify the intent/use cases.

[lendres]

@J-R-V,

I have updated the code on the branch state-of-pusheventbutton-#5. I have not tested it so I cannot release it formally. It is a small change so with a little luck it should work.

To use it:

PushEventButton button = new PushEventButton();
...
if (button.pushed())
{
    PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE event = button.getLastEventType();
}

[J-R-V]

Hi @lendres, Thanks so much for your support.
I can confirm you the last changes you did in PushEventButton files on the branch #5 works fine!.

I have done some changes on the library example (PustEventButton_Demo_03) to be able to test the new functionallity as follows. Changes are:

• Pins for Led (Dx) and Button (Ax) for compatibility with my HW design to be able to test the improvements.
• Serial Baudrate increased to 115200.
• Information sent by serial port will be preceded with the execution time of the sketch to be able to sincronize with my other SW tasks (to be able to log and search some problems, if any).
• Serial information gives the number of hits (Pressed) and the time from Press to Release.

And now the tested code...

/*
  This example demonstrates how the PushEventButton captures each individual
  button press as discrete events.  It does not matter how long the button is
  pressed down or released.  Only the transition between pressed and released
  is captured.

  The button should be wired such that when pressed, the "buttonPin" is
  connected to ground.

  The LED should be wired with the "ledPin" to the positive lead and the
  negative lead should be connected to ground.  A current limiting resistor
  should be used.
*/

#include "PushEventButton.h"

// Change these if your button or LED are on other pins.
int buttonPin = A1;
int ledPin    =  9;

// To store the capture time
float         TimeTEST_Seconds = 0;  //Variable to store the Total time of the sketch execution in seconds
uint32_t      EventCounter     = 0;  //Number of times that Pressed capture was detected.
unsigned long Last_Pressed;          //To store the last time of the event Pressed
char TempStr[80] = "";               //To format strings to send to user by serial port

// The button will automatically configure the button pin.
// Because the "CAPTUREBOTH" option is used, both the down push
// and the release are captured and used to flash the LED.
PushEventButton button(buttonPin, PushEventButton::CAPTUREBOTH);

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial.println("*** Push Event Button Counter Demo 03 ***");

  // Setup the output LED.
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
}

void OutputSerialDataTimeAndInfo(char * Str)
{
  char AuxStrTime[80]="";
  char AuxStrMsg[80]="";
  TimeTEST_Seconds = millis() / 1000.0;
  sprintf(AuxStrTime, "%5d.%04d",  (int) TimeTEST_Seconds,
                                   (int)( (float)(TimeTEST_Seconds - (int) TimeTEST_Seconds) * 10000.0)
         );
  sprintf (AuxStrMsg, "%s | %s", AuxStrTime, Str);
  Serial.println(AuxStrMsg);
}

void loop()
{
  // This will return true once for the button push and once for the button release.
  // This example is triggered on the transition of the button.  The LED will flash briefly on the button
  // push and briefly on the button release.  It is recommended to hold the button down momentarily in order
  // to be able to distinquish between the push and the release events.
  bool buttonPushed = button.pushed();

  // Set the LED to the state of the button press.
  digitalWrite(ledPin, buttonPushed);

  if (buttonPushed)
  {
    PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE event = button.getLastEventType();

    switch (event)
    {
      case PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::PUSH:
            EventCounter++;
            Last_Pressed = millis();
            sprintf(TempStr, "Button [Pin %d] Pressed (%u times)", buttonPin, EventCounter);
            OutputSerialDataTimeAndInfo(TempStr); 
            break;

      case PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::RELEASE:
            sprintf(TempStr, "Button [Pin %d] Released after %u ms", buttonPin, millis()-Last_Pressed);
            OutputSerialDataTimeAndInfo(TempStr); 
            break;

      case PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::NONE:
            sprintf(TempStr, "Button [Pin %d] ... (NONE?)", buttonPin);
            OutputSerialDataTimeAndInfo(TempStr); 
            break;

      default:
            sprintf(TempStr, "Button [Pin %d] ... (UNKNOWN?)", buttonPin);
            OutputSerialDataTimeAndInfo(TempStr); 
            break;
    }
    // We need a brief delay to make sure the LED is on long enough to be seen.
    delay(50);
  }
}

[lendres]

@J-R-V,

Thanks for testing and confirmation. And thanks for the test code. I will take a look at incorporating it into the standard tests next time I do a release. Until that time, I will leave this issue open as a reminder.

I have a use case question. The way the code is currently, once a push or release is triggered, button.getLastEventType() continues to return that event until another event occurs. I am considering resetting the event to PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::NONE once button.getLastEventType() is called. That is, after the value is read, it is cleared. The reasons are

1. It will no long keep indicating an event (push/release) has occurred once the value has been read.
2. This is more inline with how the underlying Bounce2 library works (this is the library used to detect the high/low events).

I believe in your code above, EventCounter might not give the value you expect?

      case PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::PUSH:
            EventCounter++;

The reason being that button.getLastEventType() is going to return PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::PUSH until the button is released.

[J-R-V]

@lendres, The code is working as I expect. The counter is incremented only with the Press event. The loop() is executed always but, inside the switch, It goes to the case only one time per event change. I mean that if the button is pressed and maintained during few seconds, EvenCounter is incremented by one on the initial event (Pressed) and also the event Released will be done at the end of time sending the total time that the button has been maintained pushed. Test by yourself if possible. I did it and it's working. From my point of view, it's better not clear the state of the button because it reflects the actual situation if you need to know how is the state of the button outside the switch block in order to know if in that moment (when checked), it's in the same state than the previous that fired the event change. El lun, 24 mar 2025, 13:03, Lance A. Endres ***@***.***> escribió:

…

@J-R-V <https://github.com/J-R-V>, Thanks for testing and confirmation. And thanks for the test code. I will take a look at incorporating it into the standard tests next time I do a release. Until that time, I will leave this issue open as a reminder. I have a use case question. The way the code is currently, once a push or release is triggered, button.getLastEventType() continues to return that event until another event occurs. I am considering resetting the event to PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::NONE once button.getLastEventType() is called. That is, after the value is read, it is cleared. The reasons are 1. It will no long keep indicating an event (push/release) has occurred once the value has been read. 2. This is more inline with how the underlying Bounce2 library works (this is the library used to detect the high/low events). I believe in your code above, EventCounter might not give the value you expect? case PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::PUSH: EventCounter++; The reason being that button.getLastEventType() is going to return PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::PUSH until the button is released. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALRMUUTMGGOMW5U2457CSI32V7YA3AVCNFSM6AAAAABZS6UZC2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONBXHA4TMOBSGU> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***> [image: lendres]*lendres* left a comment (lendres/ButtonSuite-Arduino#5) <#5 (comment)> @J-R-V <https://github.com/J-R-V>, Thanks for testing and confirmation. And thanks for the test code. I will take a look at incorporating it into the standard tests next time I do a release. Until that time, I will leave this issue open as a reminder. I have a use case question. The way the code is currently, once a push or release is triggered, button.getLastEventType() continues to return that event until another event occurs. I am considering resetting the event to PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::NONE once button.getLastEventType() is called. That is, after the value is read, it is cleared. The reasons are 1. It will no long keep indicating an event (push/release) has occurred once the value has been read. 2. This is more inline with how the underlying Bounce2 library works (this is the library used to detect the high/low events). I believe in your code above, EventCounter might not give the value you expect? case PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::PUSH: EventCounter++; The reason being that button.getLastEventType() is going to return PushEventButton::EVENTTYPE::PUSH until the button is released. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALRMUUTMGGOMW5U2457CSI32V7YA3AVCNFSM6AAAAABZS6UZC2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONBXHA4TMOBSGU> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[lendres]

Ah yes, it is guarded by the check for pressed.

Ok, I will leave it as is then, thanks for the feedback.

[J-R-V]

You're welcome! ... and thanks again for your help. El lun, 24 mar 2025, 13:46, Lance A. Endres ***@***.***> escribió:

…

Ah yes, it is guarded by the check for pressed. Ok, I will leave it as is then, thanks for the feedback. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALRMUUTTB4Z5VUVDQUW5LML2V75CFAVCNFSM6AAAAABZS6UZC2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONBYGAYTKNJTGY> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***> [image: lendres]*lendres* left a comment (lendres/ButtonSuite-Arduino#5) <#5 (comment)> Ah yes, it is guarded by the check for pressed. Ok, I will leave it as is then, thanks for the feedback. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALRMUUTTB4Z5VUVDQUW5LML2V75CFAVCNFSM6AAAAABZS6UZC2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDONBYGAYTKNJTGY> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>