Code Walk-Through

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Run Once Then Sleep

This project code does not contain a main loop section. Instead it's written such that it will run once, fetch the data, show it on the eInk display and then put the MagTag into deep sleep for either one hour or one day. If there is any problem during the data fetching it will restart the MagTag after a few seconds to try everything once again.

When the MagTag wakes up from deep sleep, it will execute the script again from the beginning. For more information about sleeping see this guide: Deep Sleep with CircuitPython.

Fetching Data

To fetch the current information about the Webb Telescope we use the adafruit_requests library. The script will make an HTTP GET request and receive back a string that contains the current JSON data.

Displaying the Data

The data is displayed with displayio using Labels. The Labels containing units and other information are given a background color to contrast them from the Labels containing the data. All Labels are placed using anchored positioning. For more information about Labels and positioning see this guide: CircuitPython Display_Text Library

Refresh Carefully

The EInk display on the MagTag has a limit to how quickly it can be updated multiple times in succession. If an attempt to refresh too soon occurs the device will raise an exception. The project code guards against this by catching the error and trying again after waiting a suitable length of time.

Further Detail

The project source code is commented thoroughly to explain what each portion of the code does. Read through the code and comments to gain more insight into how it operates.

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# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022 Tim C, written for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Unlicense
"""
MagTag status display for James Webb Telescope
"""
import time
import json
import ssl
import board
import displayio
import terminalio
import supervisor
from adafruit_bitmap_font import bitmap_font
from adafruit_display_text import bitmap_label
import wifi
import socketpool
import alarm
import adafruit_requests as requests

try:
    from secrets import secrets
except ImportError:
    print("WiFi secrets are kept in secrets.py, please add them there!")
    raise

# Update once per hour
SLEEP_TIME = 60 * 60  # seconds

# Update once per day
# SLEEP_TIME = 60 * 60 * 24 # seconds

# URL to fetch the data from
JSON_GET_URL = (
    "https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/flightCurrentState2.0.json?unique={}"
)

# Whether to fetch live data or use cached
TEST_RUN = True
# Cached data, helpful when developing interface
# pylint: disable=line-too-long
FAKE_DATA = '{"currentState": {"STEPS": "MirrorAlignSteps, TempBlurb, MirrorBlurb, ArraysForPlots, Plots", "launchDateTimeString": "2021-12-25T12:20Z", "currentDeployTableIndex": 34, "tempWarmSide1C": 37.1, "tempWarmSide2C": 12.0, "tempCoolSide1C": -229.1, "tempCoolSide2C": -233.0, "---INST TEMPS IN KELVIN----": "", "tempInstNirCamK": 42.7, "tempInstNirSpecK": 39.9, "tempInstFgsNirissK": 47.3, "tempInstMiriK": 108.7, "tempInstFsmK": 37.1, "tempsShow": true, "last": ""}}'

# Background Color for the label texts
LBL_BACKGROUND = 0x444444


def try_refresh():
    """Attempt to refresh the display. Catch 'refresh too soon' error
    and retry after waiting 10 seconds.
    """
    try:
        board.DISPLAY.refresh()
    except RuntimeError as too_soon_error:
        # catch refresh too soon
        print(too_soon_error)
        print("waiting before retry refresh()")
        time.sleep(10)
        board.DISPLAY.refresh()


# Get the display object
display = board.DISPLAY

if not TEST_RUN:
    print("Connecting to AP...")
    try:
        # wifi connect
        wifi.radio.connect(secrets["ssid"], secrets["password"])

        # Create Socket, initialize requests
        socket = socketpool.SocketPool(wifi.radio)
        requests = requests.Session(socket, ssl.create_default_context())
    except OSError:
        print("Failed to connect to AP. Rebooting in 3 seconds...")
        time.sleep(3)
        supervisor.reload()


def get_time_str():
    return str(time.monotonic()).replace(".", "")


def make_name_text(text, anchor_point, anchored_position, bg_color=LBL_BACKGROUND):
    """
    Create label object for labeling data values.
    It will get a background color box and appropriate padding.

    :param text: Text to show
    :param anchor_point: location anchor_point
    :param anchored_position: location anchored_position
    :return bitmap_label.Label: the Label object
    """
    return bitmap_label.Label(
        font,
        text=text,
        anchor_point=anchor_point,
        anchored_position=anchored_position,
        background_color=bg_color,
        padding_left=4,
        padding_right=4,
        padding_bottom=3,
        padding_top=3,
        line_spacing=1.0,
    )


def make_value_text(
    anchor_point,
    anchored_position,
    custom_font=True,
    bg_color=0x000000,
    font_color=0xFFFFF,
):
    """
    Create label object for showing data values.

    :param anchor_point: location anchor_point
    :param anchored_position: location anchored_position
    :param bool custom_font: weather to use the custom font or system font
    :return bitmap_label.Label: the Label object
    """
    if custom_font:
        _font = font
    else:
        _font = terminalio.FONT
    return bitmap_label.Label(
        _font,
        text="",
        anchor_point=anchor_point,
        anchored_position=anchored_position,
        line_spacing=1.0,
        padding_top=3,
        background_color=bg_color,
        color=font_color,
        padding_right=4,
        padding_left=4,
        padding_bottom=4,
    )


# main_group to show things
main_group = displayio.Group()

# initialize custom font
font = bitmap_font.load_font("fonts/LeagueSpartan-Light.bdf")

# value text initializations

# top left. Hot side | Cold side temperature values
top_left_value = make_value_text(
    anchor_point=(0, 0),
    anchored_position=(0, 6),
    bg_color=0xBBBBBB,
    font_color=0x000000,
)

# top right. Instrument temperature values
top_right_value = make_value_text(
    anchor_point=(1.0, 0),
    anchored_position=(display.width - 6, 6),
)

# bottom left timestamp
timestamp_val = make_value_text(
    anchor_point=(0, 1.0), anchored_position=(0, display.height - 6), custom_font=False
)

main_group.append(top_left_value)
main_group.append(top_right_value)

main_group.append(timestamp_val)

# label text initialization

# middle left. Hot side | Cold side temps label
middle_left_name = make_name_text(
    text="Temperature", anchor_point=(0.0, 0), anchored_position=(0, 51)
)

# center. Instrument temp labels
inst_temp_labels = "NIRCam Bench\nNIRSpec Bench\nFGS Bench\nMIRI Bench\nFSM"
top_center_name = make_name_text(
    text=inst_temp_labels,
    anchor_point=(1.0, 0.0),
    anchored_position=(top_right_value.x - 2, 6),
)

main_group.append(middle_left_name)
main_group.append(top_center_name)

if not TEST_RUN:
    try:
        print("Fetching JSON data from {}".format(JSON_GET_URL.format(get_time_str())))
        response = requests.get(JSON_GET_URL.format(get_time_str()), timeout=30)
    except (RuntimeError, OSError) as e:
        print(e)
        print("Failed GET request. Rebooting in 3 seconds...")
        time.sleep(3)
        supervisor.reload()

    print("-" * 40)
    print(response.headers)
    json_data = response.json()
    _time_parts = response.headers["date"].split(" ")
    _time_str = "{}\n{}".format(" ".join(_time_parts[:4]), " ".join(_time_parts[4:]))

    print("JSON Response: ", json_data)
    print("-" * 40)
    response.close()
else:
    json_data = json.loads(FAKE_DATA)
    _time_parts = ["Mon,", "28", "Feb", "2022", "17:17:54 GMT"]
    _time_str = "{}\n{}".format(" ".join(_time_parts[:4]), " ".join(_time_parts[4:]))

# Date/Time
timestamp_val.text = _time_str

# instrument temps
top_right_value.text = "{}K\n{}K\n{}K\n{}K\n{}K".format(
    json_data["currentState"]["tempInstNirCamK"],
    json_data["currentState"]["tempInstNirSpecK"],
    json_data["currentState"]["tempInstFgsNirissK"],
    json_data["currentState"]["tempInstMiriK"],
    json_data["currentState"]["tempInstFsmK"],
)

# hot side | cold site temps
top_left_value.text = "{}C | {}C\n{}C | {}C".format(
    json_data["currentState"]["tempWarmSide1C"],
    json_data["currentState"]["tempCoolSide1C"],
    json_data["currentState"]["tempWarmSide2C"],
    json_data["currentState"]["tempCoolSide2C"],
)

# Set the name position after the instrument temps are in the value
# label, so that it's x will be in the proper position.
top_center_name.anchored_position = (top_right_value.x - 2, 6)

# show the group
display.show(main_group)

# refresh display
try_refresh()

# Create a an alarm that will trigger to wake us up
time_alarm = alarm.time.TimeAlarm(monotonic_time=time.monotonic() + SLEEP_TIME)

# Exit the program, and then deep sleep until the alarm wakes us.
alarm.exit_and_deep_sleep_until_alarms(time_alarm)
# Does not return, so we never get here.
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This guide was first published on Jan 12, 2022. It was last updated on Jan 12, 2022.

This page (Code Walk-Through) was last updated on Mar 08, 2023.

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