Q. pigpio Callbacks and reading OTHER pin values

Question

Newb alert !

In the C API doco for gpioSetAlertFunc there is a comment "Do not use gpioRead. ".

Does this mean for the GPIO trigger that caused to callback to be called ? That makes sense as the data is already in the parameters, and pin state may have subsequently changed. Or does it mean don't use it at all (specifically I need to read other GPIO pins) ?

I am restoring an old computer control panel that has 24 lamps, 7 buttons, and 22 switches. There are a few complicated use cases, in particular when the RUN button is pressed, you need to read the bank of "instruction" switches (all 18 of them).

I did try an experiment of this in Python, with a button and a few switches wired to GPIO pins, but the gpioRead (of the switches) didn't appear to work, I totally accept that a wiring error on my part may be the most likely cause.

I've since moved on and am implementing in C now as there are a lot of libraries to call (for the panel operations), and want to be sure what is the best approach.

Should I exit the callback as soon as possible, and say set a Global button-pressed variable and then inside a main loop State Machine read the 18 switches (now on I2C) ? or is there a way I can do this within the callback function (mainly to simplify the logic of my program) ?

(I have read the pigpio doco, examples and posts here)

Answer 1

To make sure you have a consistent switch state have all the GPIO you are interested in generate a callback.

E.g.

GPIO_of_interest = [2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 15]
GPIO_level = [0]*32

def my_callback(GPIO, level, tick):
   GPIO_level[GPIO] = level
   # now do anything else needed for that GPIO

# set up callback for all GPIO I want to read

for g in GPIO_of_interest:
   pi.callback(g, pigpio.EITHER_EDGE, my_callback)

# set the initial level of each GPIO I want to read

init_level = pi.read_bank_1()
for i in range(32):
   if init_level & (1<<i):
      GPIO_level[i] = 1