[P073] Improve display of periods in 7dtext

[tonhuisman]

• Optionally display periods in 7dtext command as dots on display, default disabled (= backward compatible)
• Adds command 7ddt,<left temp>,<right temp> for dual temperature display (includes degree symbol) (removed in memory-tight configurations, only applicable to MAX7219 8-digit display)
• Minor code optimizations (Disabling debug leaves that code out)
• Adds option for not showing the degrees symbol with 7dt and 7ddt commands, allowing higher and lower temperatures to be displayed (>1000° and < -100°)
• Adds option to right-align output for 7dt command (only applicable to MAX7219 8-digit display, though that may in fact be a bug)
• Adds fonts Siekoo, Siekoo with additional uppercase 'CHNORUX' support (no support for 'ÄÖÜß' in Siekoo set) and dSEG7
• Adds optional support for scrolling text if longer than display width can show
• Adds support for 7dbin,<bytes>... to send any shape possible to the display. Also optionally supports scrolling if length exceeds display width
• Settings storage redone since last beta's, so configuration has to be redone if a previous beta has been installed

Resolves #3459

Todo:

• Extend 7dtext improvement to other display types (rework)
• Documentation
• Add extra supported characters like http://fakoo.de/siekoo.html (aiming for this set)

[TD-er]

Is this also ready for merge? Or is it one for a next build?

[tonhuisman]

I'm still working on a few extra options, mentioned in the linked issue

[tonhuisman]

Last commit has a typo, P037 should be P073 😊

[TD-er]

Last commit has a typo, P037 should be P073 😊

How could you mess up such a perfect numer ;)

[tonhuisman]

I've added the requested Siekoo font, and added an extra font dSEG7 (linked in top message). For Siekoo I added uppercase versions for 'CNORUX', and left out the 'ÄÖÜß' characters, as it is very hard to send them to the unit because of character set conversion issues (UTF-8 vs ISO)

Also implemented text scrolling, where it starts with the display filled, then scrolls it off to the left until the display is empty, then restarts.

Added the 7dbin,<bytes>... command, where a set of values, matching with the bits in the display, can be sent to directly address the segments in the display, f.e. 7dbin,0B01001001,0B01100001 would display 3 horizontal lines and a small reversed c in the top half of the digit.
Mapping of the bits:

to the binary bitmap: 0Bhabcdefg
The values here shown in binary writing can also be passed as hex (0x prefixed, above would be 0x49,0x61) or decimal.
If the provided set of bytes exceeds the width of the display, and the scroll option is enabled, scrolling is supported here as well.

Updated device settings:

And the Font selection:

NB: Some settings have changed storage positions in the configuration file since previous betas, so have to be reviewed/corrected when upgrading a previous beta. Or remove and re-add the task 😃 When updating from the standard ESPEasy release only settings are added, so nothing to correct.

@fly74:
A beta build is here:
(See below for an updated beta)

[fly74]

@tonhuisman great I'll test it right now. Another issue I've recognized is when you use:

[7SEG1].7dtext,OUT [BLK#Temperature#d2.1]^

in a rule, the display show sometimes -0.0 or 0.0 (caused of the values I guess eg. -0.01, 0.02) is there a function for round the values?

[fly74]

@tonhuisman First test, looks good but h,H and u,U is not possible in one font set.

I would like HU. For humidity.

[fly74]

@tonhuisman Stop this do the job

[7SEG3].7dtext,Xv. [BLK#Humidity#d2.1]^o

Perfect let's put it in.

[tonhuisman]

[7SEG3].7dtext,Xv. [BLK#Humidity#d2.1]^o

That ^o combo does indeed look better than the Siekoo % sign:

Are you saying I should add the H to the list of uppercase exceptions, so uppercase CHNORUX instead of CNORUX? (Even if that duplicates a character, or 2, it wouldn't be a problem)

the display show sometimes -0.0 or 0.0 (caused of the values I guess eg. -0.01, 0.02) is there a function for round the values?

Have you set the number of decimals for that temperature to 1? Or do you need extra decimals sending the value to a controller?
You could copy the temperature to a Dummy device set to 1 decimal, just for this reason, but first you should try to see if changing the nr. of decimals works as intended.

[tonhuisman]

NB: @fly74 can you also test the Scroll text feature? It will only start scrolling when the effective text length (periods calculated correctly according to that setting) doesn't fit on the display (also calculated for TM1637 display types, though yet untested as the TM1637 4 and 6 digit units haven't yet arrived from my 'special friend' Ali 😃)
I can think of a few small improvements there, but first I'm curious if you have similar ideas

[fly74]

@tonhuisman I think we can duplicate the X and H to the same output (CHNORUX) X=H and U=V :)

The rule for the decimals is [7SEG1].7dtext,0VT [BLK#Temperature#d2.1]^ but the measure is .2 from a different esp with P2P, so rounding would be nice.

I checked the scrolling and it is nice, but I have a lot of displays, so that point to another question. Are all of the gpio ports usable for the displays? That means 2 ports shared and 14 ports (serial and i2c off) = 14 displays (I have 12 left :)) with one esp? In the tasks are not all 16 ports selectable.

Alternatively I ordered here https://www.amazon.de/MakerHawk-MAX7219-Digital-Segment-Display/dp/B07CKSKNGW ,
but what was the ALI price?

good work so far

[tonhuisman]

Are all of the gpio ports usable for the displays?

You can use an ESP32, that has more GPIO pins available (32 total, 6 reserved for Flash, 4 input-only, a couple to avoid, effectively ~20 usable). On an ESP8266 there are ~9 usable GPIO's (17 total, 6 reserved for Flash and a few to avoid using).

but what was the ALI price?

I payed $0.83 for my single item, excl. freight cost, $1.46 incl. but I had to wait a few weeks before it arrived.

good work so far

Thank you.

[tonhuisman]

but the measure is .2 from a different esp with P2P, so rounding would be nice.

Or choose to display 2 decimals on temperature display? (though I think that's not really a great solution)

[fly74]

Are all of the gpio ports usable for the displays?

You can use an ESP32, that has more GPIO pins available (32 total, 6 reserved for Flash, 4 input-only, a couple to avoid, effectively ~20 usable). On an ESP8266 there are ~9 usable GPIO's (17 total, 6 reserved for Flash and a few to avoid using).

but what was the ALI price?

I payed $0.83 for my single item, excl. freight cost, $1.46 incl. but I had to wait a few weeks before it arrived.

good work so far

Thank you.

Esp32 I could never flashed with the how to.

In the task are 13 io selectable so 11 displays?

[tonhuisman]

Fixed a few code issues, implemented PROGMEM optimization, and added a 'Scroll text in from right' option.

A new beta:
(See below for an updated beta)

[fly74]

but the measure is .2 from a different esp with P2P, so rounding would be nice.

Or choose to display 2 decimals on temperature display? (though I think that's not really a great solution)

It's not a solution the measure esp provide the value to a database and p2p. And the display should show only .1

[tonhuisman]

In that case I'd use an extra Dummy Device (named Dummy and first variable named Temperature and set to 1 decimal) and change [7SEG1].7dtext,0VT [Dummy#Temperature#d2.1]^
In rules you'd have to add something like this:

on BLK#Temperature do
  TaskValueSet,12,1,%eventvalue% // Assume the Dummy is on task 12
endon

[fly74]

Oh, and I think it would be 'nice', at least for the ppl using these, to do some actual tests on 4 and 6 digit TM1637 displays, but I haven't received them yet.

@tonhuisman A basic 4 digit test can I provide.

@tonhuisman 4 digit shows no clock

But maybe the hw module is broken

[tonhuisman]

I don't think you can combine those TM1637 displays, at least not on the same GPIO's, as they seem to use some kind of I2C(-like) protocol.
Normally dashes are shown by the plugin when the value is out of range.

[fly74]

I don't think you can combine those TM1637 displays, at least not on the same GPIO's, as they seem to use some kind of I2C(-like) protocol.

Normally dashes are shown by the plugin when the value is out of range.

The have separate GPIO's

[tonhuisman]

First part of optimization is done (string handling during scrolling), had to disable all extra features, including fonts, for 'test' builds because of build-size issues (and still some won't fit...).
After arrival of TM1637 modules testing and further cleanup will be done.

Next task: Documentation 🤔

[tonhuisman]

@fly74 I fixed the bug that caused the TM1637 modules to show only a few segments. (Finally received the first of a couple of TM1637 modules)
@TD-er I think that this one is ready to merge now. All TODO tasks are completed.

[fly74]

@fly74 I fixed the bug that caused the TM1637 modules to show only a few segments. (Finally received the first of a couple of TM1637 modules)

@TD-er I think that this one is ready to merge now. All TODO tasks are completed.

@tonhuisman @TD-er
👍 let's start the party

[TD-er]

@fly74 You compile one for your own testing?

[fly74]

@tonhuisman @TD-er I'm not able to build but maybe ton?

[tonhuisman]

I've made a build for ESP8266 (normal) and ESP32 (test) on this PR.

ESPEasy_20210213_normal_ESP8266_4M1M_test_ESP32_4M316k-P073.zip

[fly74]

I've made a build for ESP8266 (normal) and ESP32 (test) on this PR.

ESPEasy_20210213_normal_ESP8266_4M1M_test_ESP32_4M316k-P073.zip

@tonhuisman looks good but wifi can't be connected or new set.

750 : Info : ACT : timerSet,1,1
ets Jun 8 2016 00:22:57

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DOUT, clock div:1
load:0x3fff0018,len:4
load:0x3fff001c,len:1044
load:0x40078000,len:8896
load:0x40080400,len:5816
entry 0x400806ac
▒U28 : Info :

INIT : Booting version: (ESP32 SDK v3.2.3-14-gd3e562907)
28 : Info : INIT : Free RAM:290888
29 : Info : INIT : Cold Boot - Restart Reason: CPU0: Vbat power on reset CPU1: for APP CPU, reseted by PRO CPU
29 : Info : FS : Mounting...
66 : Info : CRC : SecuritySettings CRC ...OK
141 : Info : INIT : Free RAM:285424
142 : Info : INIT : SPI not enabled
404 : Info : INFO : Plugins: 87 [Normal] [TEST ESP32] (ESP32 SDK v3.2.3-14-gd3 e562907)
405 : Info : EVENT: System#Wake
524 : Info : WIFI : Set WiFi to STA
615 : Error : UNKNOWN EVENT: 0
616 : Error : UNKNOWN EVENT: 15
617 : Error : UNKNOWN EVENT: 2
617 : Error : UNKNOWN EVENT: 2
725 : Info : WIFI : Start network scan
729 : Info : Webserver: start
734 : Info : OTA : Arduino OTA enabled on port 3232
747 : Info : EVENT: System#Boot
751 : Info : ACT : timerSet,1,1
865 : Info : EVENT: TaskInit#7SEG1=6,1
945 : Info : EVENT: TaskInit#7SEG2=7,1

[tonhuisman]

looks good

As said before, it helps if I have the hardware available (and working) so I can do actual tests 😆

but wifi can't be connected or new set

That is most likely not directly related to the changes I did, but I'd expect it could be related to the many fixes (already merged into mega and included in this build) that have been done to resolve WiFi connection issues, see this issue #2931
You may have either an AP that doesn't like the changes in WiFi signal/response, or a (strange) D1 mini that doesn't positively react to these changes. So far I've only seen improvements in the response and stability of the WiFi signal on my D1 mini's and ESP32's. There is useful info in that issue (at the end of the thread, it has a lot of comments) that might help you resolve your WiFi issues.

[fly74]

@tonhuisman @TD-er So what's the timeline to get it in normal builds?

[TD-er]

@tonhuisman Are you done with this PR?

[tonhuisman]

Yes, all good to go 🚀

[fly74]

@tonhuisman Good work, works in the actual normal release!

Good Job