Datasheet

Once you're happy that the matrix works, you can write your own sketches.

There's a few ways you can draw to the display. The easiest is to just call print - just like you do with Serial

print(

variable,

HEX) - this will print a hexidecimal number, from 0000 up to FFFF

print(

variable,

DEC) or print(

variable

) - this will print a decimal integer, from 0000 up to 9999

If you need more control, you can call writeDigitNum(

location

number

) - this will write the

number

(0-9) to a single

location. Location #0 is all the way to the left, location #2 is the colon dots so you probably want to skip it, location #4

is all the way to the right. If you want a decimal point, call writeDigitNum(

location

number

, true) which will paint the

decimal point. To draw the colon, usedrawColon(

true or false

)

If you want even more control, you can call writeDigitRaw(

location

bitmask

) to draw a raw 8-bit mask (as stored in a

uint8_t) to that location.

All the drawing routines only change the display memory kept by the Arduino. Don't forget to call writeDisplay() after

drawing to 'save' the memory out to the matrix via I2C.

There are also a few small routines that are special to the backpack:

setBrightness(

brightness

)- will let you change the overall brightness of the entire display. 0 is least bright, 15 is

brightest and is what is initialized by the display when you start

blinkRate(

rate

) - You can blink the entire display. 0 is no blinking. 1, 2 or 3 is for display blinking.