We've created this fairly simple program that allows your CPB to connect to an iOS device, Pair and Bond (so they'll auto-reconnect later), and send data between the two devices to display track info and playback commands.
Libraries
First, make sure you have these libraries that you copied over to the board following this guide page
- adafruit_ble
- adafruit_bus_device
- adafruit_circuitplayground
- adafruit_lis3dh.mpy
- adafruit_st7789.mpy
- adafruit_thermistor.mpy
- neopixel.mpy
Then, we'll also add some libraries for dealing with the Apple Media Service, the TFT display, and the Circuit Playground buttons and switch.
From the library bundle you downloaded in that guide page, transfer the following library onto the CPB boards' /lib directory:
- adafruit_bitmap_font
- adafruit_display_shapes
- adafruit_display_text
- adafruit_gizmo
- adafruit_ble_apple_media.mpy
Your CBP should look like the screenshot above.
You'll also need to get the fonts and .bmp images for the project. Click the "Download: Project Zip" link in the code block below to get all the files from the project's GitHub repo.
Then, uncompress the zip file and open the code.py file in Mu, then save it to your CPB's CIRCUITPY drive as code.py.
Text Editor
Adafruit recommends using the Mu editor for using your CircuitPython code with the Circuit Playground Bluefruit boards. You can get more info in this guide.
Alternatively, you can use any text editor that saves files.
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Melissa LeBlanc-Williams for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
"""
This example solicits that apple devices that provide notifications connect to it, initiates
pairing, prints existing notifications and then prints any new ones as they arrive.
"""
import time
import displayio
import terminalio
from adafruit_gizmo import tft_gizmo
from adafruit_display_text.label import Label
from adafruit_display_shapes.rect import Rect
from adafruit_bitmap_font import bitmap_font
import adafruit_ble
from adafruit_ble.advertising.standard import SolicitServicesAdvertisement
from adafruit_ble_apple_media import AppleMediaService
from adafruit_ble_apple_media import UnsupportedCommand
from adafruit_circuitplayground import cp
BACKGROUND_COLOR = 0x49523b # Gray
TEXT_COLOR = 0xFF0000 # Red
BORDER_COLOR = 0xAAAAAA # Light Gray
STATUS_COLOR = BORDER_COLOR
# PyLint can't find BLERadio for some reason so special case it here.
radio = adafruit_ble.BLERadio() # pylint: disable=no-member
radio.name = "Now Playing Gizmo"
a = SolicitServicesAdvertisement()
a.solicited_services.append(AppleMediaService)
radio.start_advertising(a)
def wrap_in_tilegrid(filename:str):
# CircuitPython 6 & 7 compatible
odb = displayio.OnDiskBitmap(open(filename, "rb"))
return displayio.TileGrid(
odb, pixel_shader=getattr(odb, 'pixel_shader', displayio.ColorConverter())
)
# # CircuitPython 7+ compatible
# odb = displayio.OnDiskBitmap(filename)
# return displayio.TileGrid(odb, pixel_shader=odb.pixel_shader)
def make_background(width, height, color):
color_bitmap = displayio.Bitmap(width, height, 1)
color_palette = displayio.Palette(1)
color_palette[0] = color
return displayio.TileGrid(color_bitmap,
pixel_shader=color_palette,
x=0, y=0)
def load_font(fontname, text):
font = bitmap_font.load_font(fontname)
font.load_glyphs(text.encode('utf-8'))
return font
def make_label(text, x, y, color, font=terminalio.FONT):
if isinstance(font, str):
font = load_font(font, "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.,?()")
text_area = Label(font, text=text, color=color)
text_area.x = x
text_area.y = y
return text_area
def set_label(label, value, max_length):
text = "{}".format(value)
if len(text) > max_length:
text = text[:max_length-3] + "..."
label.text = text
def set_status(label, action_text, player):
label.text = "{} on {}".format(action_text, player)
_, _, label_width, _ = label.bounding_box
label.x = display.width - 10 - label_width
display = tft_gizmo.TFT_Gizmo()
group = displayio.Group()
display.root_group = group
while True:
if not radio.connected:
group.append(wrap_in_tilegrid("/graphic_tfts_ams_connect.bmp"))
while not radio.connected:
pass
group.pop()
print("connected")
known_notifications = set()
# Draw the text fields
print("Loading Font Glyphs...")
group.append(wrap_in_tilegrid("/graphic_tfts_ams_loading.bmp"))
title_label = make_label("None", 12, 30, TEXT_COLOR, font="/fonts/Arial-Bold-18.bdf")
artist_label = make_label("None", 12, 70, TEXT_COLOR, font="/fonts/Arial-16.bdf")
album_label = make_label("None", 12, 184, TEXT_COLOR, font="/fonts/Arial-16.bdf")
status_label = make_label("None", 80, 220, STATUS_COLOR, font="/fonts/Arial-16.bdf")
group.pop()
group.append(make_background(240, 240, BACKGROUND_COLOR))
border = Rect(4, 4, 232, 200, outline=BORDER_COLOR, stroke=2)
group.append(title_label)
group.append(artist_label)
group.append(album_label)
group.append(status_label)
group.append(border)
while radio.connected:
for connection in radio.connections:
try:
if not connection.paired:
connection.pair()
print("paired")
ams = connection[AppleMediaService]
except (RuntimeError, UnsupportedCommand, AttributeError):
# Skip Bad Packets, unknown commands, etc.
continue
set_label(title_label, ams.title, 18)
set_label(album_label, ams.album, 21)
set_label(artist_label, ams.artist, 21)
action = "?"
if ams.playing:
action = "Playing"
elif ams.paused:
action = "Paused"
set_status(status_label, action, ams.player_name)
if cp.button_a:
ams.toggle_play_pause()
time.sleep(0.1)
if cp.button_b:
if cp.switch:
ams.previous_track()
else:
ams.next_track()
time.sleep(0.1)
print("disconnected")
# Remove all layers
while len(group):
group.pop()
Page last edited January 22, 2025
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