Buttons don't seem to respond consistently

Archive
1

I have a new FEZ Spider Starter Kit that I’m trying out, and have a question regarding button handling.

I’ll start by mentioning that the Spider is updated with recent firmware.

I’m trying to simply get the board to emit a message whenever the button is pressed, using this code. I can set a breakpoint in ProgramStarted and control flows through there. Only about 1 out of every 10 button presses causes the “Button Pressed” message to display.


void ProgramStarted()
{
	button.ButtonPressed += new Button.ButtonEventHandler(ButtonPressed);
	Debug.Print("Program Started");
}

void ButtonPressed(Button sender, Button.ButtonState state)
{
	Debug.Print("Button pressed");
}

I’ve checked the obvious things like making sure it’s connected to the correct port, and have swapped to a different button.

Generally things seem to be working – I wrote another program to cycle the LED through colors and that runs successfully:


while (true)
{
	led.TurnBlue();
	Thread.Sleep(500);

	led.TurnGreen();
	Thread.Sleep(500);

	led.TurnRed();
	Thread.Sleep(500);
}
2

The only explanation I have is not having latest firmware. What is the button DLL version?

3

In addition to what Gus said…

There’s also always a possibility of a bad button. Do you have a meter and can test continuity across the button when it’s pressed?

4

Button checks out fine on the meter.

When I run the firmware updater, it is using:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics\GHI NETMF v4.1 SDK\EMX\Firmware\CLR.HEX;C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics\GHI NETMF v4.1 SDK\EMX\Firmware\CLR2.HEX;C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics\GHI NETMF v4.1 SDK\EMX\Firmware\Config.HEX;

for the TinyBooter and firmware from:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics\GHI NETMF v4.1 SDK\EMX\Firmware\TinyBooter\TinyBooter.GHI

After updating, the updater says that I have TinyBooter 4.1.6.0 and Firmware 4.1.7.0.

The project is referencing C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics\GHI .NET Gadgeteer SDK\Modules\Button\NETMF 4.1\GTM.GHIElectronics.Button.dll which is marked with version 4.0.30319.

Here’s the complete set of references:


    <Reference Include="GHIElectronics.Gadgeteer.FEZSpider, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL" />
    <Reference Include="GTM.GHIElectronics.Button, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL" />
    <Reference Include="GTM.GHIElectronics.MulticolorLed, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.SPOT.Graphics" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.SPOT.Hardware" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.SPOT.Hardware.SerialPort" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.SPOT.IO" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.SPOT.Native" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.SPOT.Net" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.SPOT.Net.Security" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.SPOT.TinyCore" />
    <Reference Include="mscorlib" />
    <Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.Http" />
    <Reference Include="System.IO" />
5

Open the release notes file found in the GHI folder in “program files”. Compare it to what you see in release notes on this website.

6

If your firmware is version is 4.1.7.0, you do not have the latest firmware. Try checking the Downloads page for the newest SDK. The SDK and assemblies you have had a problem with the button driver. Once updating to the latest SDK, make sure you either start a new project, or remove and replace all of your assemblies.