Bitmap graphics on Adafruit gfx , PROGMEM

Troubleshooting
1

Hi,

I have a display running on photon with the Adafruit ILI_9341 library.

All is working well.

Now I'd like to display some bitmap graphics.

According to Adafruit's documentation, that'll work like this:

void drawBitmap(int16_t x, int16_t y, uint8_t *bitmap, int16_t w, int16_t h, uint16_t color);

The docs also say:

The bitmap data must be located in program memory using the PROGMEM directive. This is a somewhat advanced function and beginners are best advised to come back to this later. For an introduction, see the Arduino tutorial on PROGMEM usage.

I understand that the Photon doesn't have/need PROGMEM and other topics here say I can declare my graphics as const so the compiler puts it in the right memory.

I did this:

  const uint8_t myBitmap [] {
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x07, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x07, 
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x07, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x38, 
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x38, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x38, 
0x0f, 0xbe, 0xf7, 0xc0, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0xc0, 0x02, 0x20, 0x81, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0xc0, 
0x02, 0x3e, 0xf1, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0xc0, 0x02, 0x20, 0x11, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x0e, 0x00, 
0x02, 0x20, 0x11, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x02, 0x3e, 0xf1, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x0e, 0x00, 
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x70, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x70, 0x00, 
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x70, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x03, 0x80, 0x00, 
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x07, 0xfe, 0x03, 0x80, 0x00, 0x0f, 0xfe, 0x00, 0x08, 0x01, 0x03, 0x80, 0x00, 
0x0f, 0xfe, 0x00, 0x14, 0x02, 0x80, 0x70, 0x00, 0x0f, 0xfe, 0x00, 0x12, 0x04, 0x80, 0x70, 0x00, 
0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x11, 0x08, 0x80, 0x70, 0x00, 0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x10, 0xf0, 0x80, 0x0e, 0x00, 
0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x10, 0x90, 0x80, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x10, 0x90, 0x80, 0x0e, 0x00, 
0x0f, 0xfe, 0x00, 0x10, 0xf0, 0x80, 0x01, 0xc0, 0x0f, 0xfe, 0x00, 0x11, 0x08, 0x80, 0x01, 0xc0, 
0x0f, 0xfe, 0x00, 0x12, 0x04, 0x80, 0x01, 0xc0, 0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x14, 0x02, 0x80, 0x00, 0x38, 
0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x08, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x38, 0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x07, 0xfe, 0x00, 0x00, 0x38, 
0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x07, 0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x07, 
0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x07, 0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0x0e, 0x0e, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 
0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 

};
  
 tft.drawBitmap(20, 20, myBitmap, 10, 10, ILI9341_RED);

This compiles, but it doesn't print anything.

Can somebody see what I did wrong?

The function definition wants a pointer to the Bitmap, but whenever I use a pointer, or also reference, it won't compile.

2

PROGMEM only exists on AVR based devices.
For Particle devices there is no distinction between program memory and “data memory”. It’s all one address space. However the flash portion can only hold const data while RAM can hold const and variable data.

Sorry, I missed that you already gathered that :blush:

More reading and thinking for me to do then …

But for additional background:

  • does the display show anything when you are using other functions (e.g. drawLine() or print())?
  • can you show your entire code?
  • the size of the bitmap (512 byte) doesn’t seem to match the command (10x10) - that would only be 100 bit (12.5 byte - without padding). In your first 20 bytes (including padding for byte boundaries) you have only 6 (six!) set bits (and they might end up in the not drawn padding area), all the others are “black”.
  • try filling the first few bytes with 0xAA

BTW, it’s always advisable to chose a bitmap width that’s divisible by 8 to (e.g. 16x10) otherwise you’d waste space for padding.

3 Likes
3

I got it to work.

There was something wrong with my bitmap-bytes, as suggested.

I have also re-sized to 16x16.

Thank you!

2 Likes