Using the Circuit Playground Express (CPX) Library

The adafruit.circuitplayground library is designed to get you working quickly with easy to use code. It takes up a bit more memory than lower-level calls (also available in the next section). If you are using Crickit with the Circuit Playground Express and are having memory issues, try the code below, otherwise use the following code to get started.

Here is code to read Buttons A, B, and the slide switch.

from adafruit_circuitplayground.express import cpx
 
if cpx.button_a:
    # do something
    pass
    
if cpx.button_b:
    # do something else
    pass
    
if cpx.switch:
    # do more like silence a sound, etc.
    pass

Here is an example which lights certain NeoPixels when the switches are triggered:

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2018 Anne Barela for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

from adafruit_circuitplayground.express import cpx

while True:
    if cpx.button_a:
        cpx.pixels[0] = (0, 30, 0)
    else:
        cpx.pixels[0] = (0, 0, 0)

    if cpx.button_b:
        cpx.pixels[9] = (0, 30, 0)
    else:
        cpx.pixels[9] = (0, 0, 0)

    if cpx.switch:
        cpx.pixels[4] = (0, 0, 30)
        cpx.pixels[5] = (0, 0, 0)
    else:
        cpx.pixels[4] = (0, 0, 0)
        cpx.pixels[5] = (0, 0, 30)

Press Button A and NeoPixel 0 lights up, press B and NeoPixel 9 lights up. If the slide switch is left, NeoPixel 4 is blue, if the switch is to the right, NeoPixel 5 is blue.

Using Lower-Level Library Calls to Save Memory

The following code is very lightweight for reading the switches. It is perfect for when you want to add additional code such as Crickit or other library modules which may require a lot of memory.

Reading keys uses the following libraries:

  • digitalio - we use DigitalInOut, Pull, Direction
  • board - we use board definitions for the switches

The bare code to set up all three switches is as follows. You can comment out or delete any button that you don't plan to use.

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2018 Anne Barela for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Pull, Direction
import board

button_a = DigitalInOut(board.BUTTON_A)
button_a.direction = Direction.INPUT
button_a.pull = Pull.DOWN

button_b = DigitalInOut(board.BUTTON_B)
button_b.direction = Direction.INPUT
button_b.pull = Pull.DOWN

switch = DigitalInOut(board.SLIDE_SWITCH)
switch.direction = Direction.INPUT
switch.pull = Pull.UP

# Get the values of the switches now
last_buttona = button_a.value
last_buttonb = button_b.value
last_switch = switch.value

Here is sample code using the buttons to light the same LEDs as in the MakeCode button example. This requires also adding the neopixel library.

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2018 Anne Barela for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Pull, Direction
import board
import neopixel

# NeoPixel setup and blank out
pixels = neopixel.NeoPixel(board.NEOPIXEL, 10, brightness=1)
pixels.fill((0, 0, 0))

# button setup: A, B, and slide switch
button_a = DigitalInOut(board.BUTTON_A)
button_a.direction = Direction.INPUT
button_a.pull = Pull.DOWN

button_b = DigitalInOut(board.BUTTON_B)
button_b.direction = Direction.INPUT
button_b.pull = Pull.DOWN

switch = DigitalInOut(board.SLIDE_SWITCH)
switch.direction = Direction.INPUT
switch.pull = Pull.UP

# main program - light NeoPixels depending on switches
while True:
    if button_a.value:
        pixels[0] = (0, 30, 0)
    else:
        pixels[0] = (0, 0, 0)

    if button_b.value:
        pixels[9] = (0, 30, 0)
    else:
        pixels[9] = (0, 0, 0)

    if switch.value:
        pixels[4] = (0, 0, 30)
        pixels[5] = (0, 0, 0)
    else:
        pixels[4] = (0, 0, 0)
        pixels[5] = (0, 0, 30)

This guide was first published on Jul 26, 2018. It was last updated on Jul 26, 2018.

This page (CircuitPython) was last updated on Mar 06, 2023.

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