PFx Brick Python API
This repository contains a python package API for developing python scripts and applications which communicate with the PFx Brick. This package supports both USB and Bluetooth LE connections to the PFx Brick and is supported for Windows, macOS and linux.
Getting Started
OS Requirements
- Supports Windows 10, version 16299 (Fall Creators Update) or greater
- Supports Linux distributions with BlueZ >= 5.43
- OS X/macOS support via Core Bluetooth API, from at least OS X version 10.11
Package Requirements
Installation
Pre-install System requirements for linux
The pfxbrick package will require some packages to be installed suport access to USB and Bluetooth hardware drivers. Use your preferred package manager to install these packages:
- libhidapi-dev
- libudev-dev
- libusb-1.0-0-dev
- bluez
- bluetooth
- libbluetooth-dev
Pre-install System requirements for macOS
It is recommended to use the brew package manager to install the packages for USB hardware access. (Hardware support for Bluetooth will automatically be installed with pfxbrick setup.py
install script which installs the bleak package with its dependency to pyobjc-framework-CoreBluetooth
).
$ brew install hidapi
Installation with pip
The pfxbrick package can be installed with pip:
$ pip install pfxbrick
Install from source
Install directly from the source code with the setup.py
script:
$ git clone https://github.com/fx-bricks/pfx-brick-py.git
$ cd pfx-brick-py
$ python setup.py install
Conda Virtual Environment
You can also use the package in a standalone conda virtual environment. To create a conda environment named pfxtest
:
$ git clone https://github.com/fx-bricks/pfx-brick-py.git
$ cd pfx-brick-py
$ conda env create -f environment.yml
$ conda activate pfxtest
$ pip install -r requirements.txt
$ python setup.py install
Basic Usage
After installation, the package can imported:
$ python
>>> import pfxbrick
>>> pfxbrick.__version__
An example of the package can be seen below
import time
from pfxbrick import *
# Open a PFx Brick session instance
brick = PFxBrick()
brick.open()
# Get the PFx Brick configuration settings
brick.get_config()
brick.print_config()
# Get the user defined name of the PFx Brick
brick.get_name()
print(brick.name)
# Change the user defined name
brick.set_name('My Cool Brick')
# Turn on some lights for 5 sec
brick.light_on([1, 2, 7, 8])
time.sleep(5)
brick.light_off([1, 2, 7, 8])
# Set motor channel A to 50% speed gradually
for speed in range(50):
brick.set_motor_speed([1], speed)
time.sleep(0.1)
brick.stop_motor([1])
# Play an audio file with indefinite repeat
brick.repeat_audio_file("LongBeep1")
time.sleep(5)
brick.stop_audio_file("LongBeep1")
# End the session
brick.close()
Utility Scripts
The pfxbrick package will install some useful command line script applications in your python environment's path. These include:
-
pfxcat
- dumps the raw contents of a file on the PFx Brick to your console. -
pfxdir
- shows the directory listing of the PFx Brick file system -
pfxget
- gets a file from the PFx Brick -
pfxput
- copies a local host file on to the PFx Brick -
pfxrm
- delete a file from the PFx Brick -
pfxrename
- renames a file on the PFx Brick -
pfxdump
- dumps raw contents of PFx Brick flash memory -
pfxinfo
- discovers and shows information on all attached PFx Bricks -
pfxmonitor
- shows real time operational status of a PFx Brick -
pfxtest
- PFx Brick self test utility -
pfxplay
- plays an audio file on the PFx Brick -
pfxrun
- runs a script a file on the PFx Brick -
pfxscan
- scans for Bluetooth PFx Bricks and shows each brick's information
After installing the pfxbrick package, you should be able to use any of these utilities directly from the command line as follows:
$ pfxinfo
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
โ A216 PFx Brick 16 MB โ
โกโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโฉ
โ Serial Number : AF716069 โ
โ ICD Version : 03.38 โ
โ Firmware Version : 01.50 build 0555 โ
โ USB vendor ID : 0x04D8 โ
โ USB product ID : 0xEF74 โ
โ Status : 0x00 Normal โ
โ Errors : 0x00 None โ
โ Name : My PFx Brick โ
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
$ pfxdir
ID Name Size Attr User1 User2 CRC32
0 sin150Hz.wav 132.3 kB 0000 000204CE 0000002C A712A54E
1 pink6dB.wav 132.3 kB 0000 000204CE 0000002C E6AACE61
2 files, 270.3 kB used, 16490.5 kB remaining
To find out more information on how to use each utility, use without arguments or with the -h
argument.
$ pfxinfo -h
usage: pfxinfo [-h] [-c]
Show information for all attached PFx Bricks
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-c, --config Show configuration details
Documentation
- PFx Brick Interface Control Document (ICD) v.3.39 describes details of PFx Brick operation and communication protocol
- Python API Reference Documentation
If you want to learn more about PFx Brick, check out our website.