Displays suitable even for applications, where you´d not count with a display

No doubt, that a graphic display significantly improves a user interface of practically every product. Maybe a little less obvious is the fact, that already a relatively small display with a touch panel is able to replace many buttons, switches, potentiometers and even a keyboard.

Many designers are discouraged by a fact, that for a successful usage of graphic display, it is usually necessary to study a large documentation and it lasts a considerable time till a man reaches usable results. Then, mainly at smaller projects is the development too much time consuming, thus unprofitable.

Anyhow it may sound unbelievably, but for a successful usage of 4D Systems graphic displays, it´s not necessary to know virtually anything about the given graphic processor, about commands, …

For many applications, it´s sufficient to use the VisiGenie graphic editor, which is a part of the Workshop IDE software package (freeware). We already brought you a brief description of this editor in the article - Genially simple and fast programming of 4D Systems displays. The keystone of VisiGenie is, that literally within few minutes it enables to create menu with various buttons, potentiometers, switches, „7-segment displays“, various panel meters, pictures, video, sound, geometric shapes, ...

The second basic feature of the program created in Visi Genie is, that many objects can be “binded” to each other through so called events - for example - by sliding a potentiometer, a value of a display or a panel meter can increase. At the same time it is possible to (very simply) define an event „report message“, when for example at switching on a switch (on a display), the uLCD module sends a message through a serial port. This message can then be used in a microcontroller of your device.
Output of the VisiGenie is a short service program, which will be loaded to EPROM of the graphic module and the main program with data, which will be saved to a uSD card (through a reader of your PC). Inserting a uSD card into the display module we get a fully operating display in such a way as we designed it in the Visi Genie.

Graphic interface, designed by this procedure, is able to send data through a serial port into your microcontroller and also many objects can be controlled by sending simple commands into the module. Neither these commands aren´t necessary to be searched in a documentation, because the 4D Workshop contains a tool GTX - Genie Test eXecutor, able to simulate and test functionality of the programu created in VisiGenie. A great advantage is, that the GTX tool directly shows commands responding to a given activity (for example if we want to set a panel meter to a certain value, or we want to read the displayed value). Note - as the GTX tool communicates directly with a display, it is operating only if a display is connected to a PC.

The best idea about this powerful graphic SW will provide you the attached video. 4D Worshop4 IDE and user guides are free to download from the 4D Systems website.