Again, that double For loop

I am creating a stepper motor controller which has a stepper motor and a LED.

-- When the stepper motor moves, I want to flash the led. To flash the LED, I need to first send a "1" and then a delay of some second, and then a "0".

-- When the motor is moving -- it is in a loop -- I want to flash the led.

--I have created a function for the delay that looks like this



code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For delaytime = 1 to 40000
Next
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


--Now If I put this code:


code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do
(Here is all the code to rotate the motor in a loop which is too long so I did not put it here)

portn = PortIn(888)
Call PortOut(888, portn + 16)
delay
Call PortOut(888, portn + 0)
delay
Loop
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



(PortOut, PortIn are just two functions to send and retrieve a value to and from the parallel port. "16" is just the value which lights the led, and 0 turns the led off. I retrived the value from the parallel port first because I wanted the motor to keep rotating)

The problem is that when the delay is used, it stop the led flashing and also the stepper motor. I want the stepper motor to keep doing its work but the led should stop for the time which is given the loop.

If you dont understand anything then please ask me

I don't really understand the complexities of the I/O here, but you could try putting a DoEvents in the middle of the delay loop.

(As an aside, if you want to make your code more general and compatible with different speeds of processor you could use the timer function in the loop)

Code:

---

private sub Delay
    dim lTimer as long

    lTimer=timer
    while timer<ltimer+1
        doevents
    wend

end sub

---

I hope this helps,

SD

Firstly, I should apologise and point out that my previous code is wrong and ltimer should have been dTimer and defined as double,

apart from that let me see if I can get this straight.

You increment the stepper motor continuosly and flash the led at the same time (with intervals of a second).

To do this I would put a timer on the form (let's call it timer1). Leave it with an .interval property of 1000 (1 second). Then put the following code into the timer event

Code:

---

static bLEDOn as boolean

bLEDOn=not bLEDOn '// This toggles the value between true and false each time the timer is fired

if bLEDOn = true then
    Call PortOut(888, portn + 16)
else
    Call PortOut(888, portn + 0)
end if
timer1.enabled=true

---

when you wish to start the LED flashing use the line

Code:

---

timer1.enabled = true

---

When you wish to stop it flashing use

Code:

---

timer1.enabled=false

---

This way you don't need to use the delay function, but can continue to step the stepper motor and the timer event should take care of the LED flashing.

So you would end up with

Code:

---

Do

Timer1.enabled=true    '// Start LED flashing

DriveCar

Loop Until Car.Fuel = 0

Timer1.enabled=false    '// Stop LED from flashing

---

I think I understand what you want. Hopefully this will help,

SD