The PyRuler is basically a Trinket M0 with extra LEDs and capacitive touch pads.

This demo program will let you turn the capacitive touch pads into a little keyboard. Three of the pads have a 'true' capacitive touch hardware interface, with the fourth we DIY a capacitive interface - we recommend using read_caps which will do all the nitty gritty for you.

The HID keyboard library is what emits keypresses. Note that Mac and Windows have different ways of typing special characters so you will have to set a WINDOWS_COMPUTER variable to match the host computer used!

import os
import board
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction
import time
import touchio

# Set this to True to turn the touchpads into a keyboard
ENABLE_KEYBOARD = False

WINDOWS = "W"
MAC = "M"
LINUX = "L"  # and Chrome OS

# Set your computer type to one of the above
OS = WINDOWS

# Used if we do HID output, see below
if ENABLE_KEYBOARD:
    import usb_hid
    from adafruit_hid.keyboard import Keyboard
    from adafruit_hid.keycode import Keycode
    from adafruit_hid.keyboard_layout_us import KeyboardLayoutUS
    kbd = Keyboard(usb_hid.devices)
    layout = KeyboardLayoutUS(kbd)

#print(dir(board), os.uname()) # Print a little about ourselves

led = DigitalInOut(board.D13)
led.direction = Direction.OUTPUT

touches = [DigitalInOut(board.CAP0)]
for p in (board.CAP1, board.CAP2, board.CAP3):
    touches.append(touchio.TouchIn(p))

leds = []
for p in (board.LED4, board.LED5, board.LED6, board.LED7):
    led = DigitalInOut(p)
    led.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
    led.value = True
    time.sleep(0.25)
    leds.append(led)
for led in leds:
    led.value = False


cap_touches = [False, False, False, False]

def read_caps():
    t0_count = 0
    t0 = touches[0]
    t0.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
    t0.value = True
    t0.direction = Direction.INPUT
    # funky idea but we can 'diy' the one non-hardware captouch device by hand
    # by reading the drooping voltage on a tri-state pin.
    t0_count = t0.value + t0.value + t0.value + t0.value + t0.value + \
               t0.value + t0.value + t0.value + t0.value + t0.value + \
               t0.value + t0.value + t0.value + t0.value + t0.value
    cap_touches[0] = t0_count > 2
    cap_touches[1] = touches[1].raw_value > 3000
    cap_touches[2] = touches[2].raw_value > 3000
    cap_touches[3] = touches[3].raw_value > 3000
    return cap_touches

def type_alt_code(code):
    kbd.press(Keycode.ALT)
    for c in str(code):
        if c == '0':
            keycode = Keycode.KEYPAD_ZERO
        elif '1' <= c <= '9':
            keycode = Keycode.KEYPAD_ONE + ord(c) - ord('1')
        else:
            raise RuntimeError("Only number codes permitted!")
        kbd.press(keycode)
        kbd.release(keycode)
    kbd.release_all()

while True:
    caps = read_caps()
    print(caps)
    # light up the matching LED
    for i,c in enumerate(caps):
        leds[i].value = c
    if caps[0]:
        if ENABLE_KEYBOARD:
            if OS == WINDOWS:
                type_alt_code(234)
            elif OS == MAC:
                kbd.send(Keycode.ALT, Keycode.Z)
            elif OS == LINUX:
                kbd.press(Keycode.CONTROL, Keycode.SHIFT)
                kbd.press(Keycode.U)
                kbd.release_all()
                kbd.send(Keycode.TWO)
                kbd.send(Keycode.ONE)
                kbd.send(Keycode.TWO)
                kbd.send(Keycode.SIX)
                kbd.send(Keycode.ENTER)
    if caps[1]:
        if ENABLE_KEYBOARD:
            if OS == WINDOWS:
                type_alt_code(230)
            elif OS == MAC:
                kbd.send(Keycode.ALT, Keycode.M)
            elif OS == LINUX:
                kbd.press(Keycode.CONTROL, Keycode.SHIFT)
                kbd.press(Keycode.U)
                kbd.release_all()
                kbd.send(Keycode.ZERO)
                kbd.send(Keycode.THREE)
                kbd.send(Keycode.B)
                kbd.send(Keycode.C)
                kbd.send(Keycode.ENTER)
    if caps[2]:
        if ENABLE_KEYBOARD:
            if OS == WINDOWS:
                type_alt_code(227)
            elif OS == MAC:
                kbd.send(Keycode.ALT, Keycode.P)
            elif OS == LINUX:
                kbd.press(Keycode.CONTROL, Keycode.SHIFT)
                kbd.press(Keycode.U)
                kbd.release_all()
                kbd.send(Keycode.ZERO)
                kbd.send(Keycode.THREE)
                kbd.send(Keycode.C)
                kbd.send(Keycode.ZERO)
                kbd.send(Keycode.ENTER)
    if caps[3]:
        if ENABLE_KEYBOARD:
            layout.write('https://www.digikey.com/python\n')
    time.sleep(0.1)

This guide was first published on Aug 02, 2019. It was last updated on Aug 02, 2019.

This page (Usage) was last updated on Mar 29, 2023.

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