Virtual Panel: Arduino UI for experiments and prototyping

Arduino® Nano ESP32

Arduino Leonardo with Headers

Arduino Mega 2560 Rev3

Arduino Due

Windows 10

Wemos D1 Mini ESP32

Arduino Zero

Arduino® UNO R4 Minima

Arduino Uno Rev3

Arduino IDE

Wemos D1 Mini

Arduino Nano

<html><body><p><strong>September 2024 </strong>- <strong>Version 2.0.0 Available! </strong><em>see below </em></p><p>Virtual Panel is a UI toolbox for experiment control and display. It is a combination of a Windows application and two small Arduino libraries. </p><p>Writing <strong><em>only Arduino code, </em></strong>it is easy to set up control over experiments and display results on the panel application on your PC. </p><p>The panel allows to select controls from an existing set of displays, LEDs, buttons, sliders and more. </p><p>A button click or slider change causes an event in the Arduino code. </p><p>This way you can set up control and output with a minimum of easy understandable extra code. </p><h3>Experiment</h3><p>The first intended purpose of the panel is to support experiments, making it quick to setup control and display output. Either as text or as graph. </p><h3>Prototype</h3><p>The second purpose is to support prototyping. The panel lets you figure out quickly what controls you need and how they should work. Making the step to a hardware implementation easier. I find, however, that in many cases the VirtualPanel Implementation "will do" and is convenient enough to serve it's purpose. </p><h3>New Version(s)</h3><p>After the initial publication of this project several new versions have been created. These add a number of new features including <em>reading and writing files </em>from the  Arduino on the PC, Graph inputs, PanelColor and a lot of smaller inprovements.  In the latest version (V2.0.0) VirtualPanel was adapted to be used with Arduino Zero, Arduino Uno R4 and Arduino Nano ESP32, The ArduinoPort protocol enhanced to beter detect faults and a large number of fixes wer made.  For a complete list see: <em>ReleaseNotes. </em>To get a quick overview if all functions supported see the <em>Quick Reference Guide . </em>There is quite a lot there, but don't be intimidated. VirtualPanel  requires just a few lines of code (see Minimal code) to start working. Most experiments require only little more code than this. </p><h3>Walktrough</h3><p>Walkthroug based on version 1.0.3 and before. See New Version(s) for newer features. </p><figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tcgwVKu87mk"></iframe></figure><h3>Features</h3><p>Generic functions: (Unix)Time, Beep, Reset, File-IO </p><p>The VirtualPanel application features 5 panels with different functions: </p><ol><li><em>Main Panel </em></li></ol><p>Basic set of Buttons, Displays, Led's and Sliders. This panel is always visible. </p><ol><li><em>Monitor Panel </em></li></ol><p>Additional display space (for instance for debugging) and a scroll box for logging. </p><ol><li><em>Graph Panel </em></li></ol><p>Graph and draw functionality. </p><ol><li><em>Info-Panel </em></li></ol><p>Informational text on your experiment. Including possibility to link to documentation web pages. </p><ol><li><em>Message Log Panel </em></li></ol><p>Messages log of communication between Arduino and VirtualPanel. </p><ol><li>File Controls </li></ol><p>From the Arduino you can read an write files. </p><p>The Main Panel and Graph Panel feature a predefined set of controls that can be selected from the Arduino. The Monitor- and Info Panel have a defined appearance where the Arduino controls only the content. The Message Log Panel simply log all messages. </p><h3>Tutorial</h3><p>In the VirtualPanel examples you find a sequence of examples show how to use the different features. </p><p>These examples can easily be adapted or combined to meet your requirements. </p><p>In addition you find a set of showcases(only for AVR/Uno, Nano, Mega) turning your Arduino into an oscilloscope, logic analyzer, frequency counter and more. </p><h3>Programming VirtualPanel</h3><p>A code example from the tutorial set. This example sets up a panel with just a button a led and a display. </p><pre><p>#include "VirtualPanel.h"  <br/></p></pre><h3>Auto Connect</h3><p>On startup the panel automatically looks for a Virtual Panel enabled Arduino board and connects to it when found. </p><h3>Tested On</h3><p>The panel library has been tested on UNO, NANO, MEGA, MEGA2560, DUE, Micro, Leonardo, ESP8266 and ESP32. </p><h3>Download / Documentation</h3><p>In the VirtualPanel Library - examples you find a set of tutorial sketches. </p><p>Download: <a href="https://github.com/JaapDanielse/VirtualPanel/releases">https://github.com/JaapDanielse/VirtualPanel/releases </a></p><p>Documentation: <a href="https://github.com/JaapDanielse/VirtualPanel/wiki">https://github.com/JaapDanielse/VirtualPanel/wiki </a></p></body></html>

VirtualPanel GitHub

VirtualPanel GitHub Wiki

VirtualPanel Github Releases

Virtual Panel: Arduino UI for experiments and prototyping

Writing only Arduino code, it is easy to set up control over experiments and display results on the VirtualPanel Windows application.