Important Methods to Know

XboxController

The Xbox Controller is in the wpilib library. This means that to initialize an instance of an Xbox, the syntax is this:

self.EXAMPLENAME = wpilib.XboxController(channel), where EXAMPLENAME refers to a name that you name the xbox controller, wpilib refers to the base library, and channel refers to the channel in the Driver Station

Later on, to access certain Buttons or Joysticks from the XboxController, accessor methods are used. Some examples are these:

• self.EXAMPLENAME.getAButton() gets a boolean, representing the value of the “A” button.
• self.EXAMPLENAME.getLeftY() gets a double, from -1 -> 1, represented by the Left Joystick’s “Y” (also known as the Left Vertical Axis)
• self.EXAMPLENAME.getPOV(degree) gets a boolean of the numerical DPAD, from 0-360. Integers that aren’t divisible by 45 will not work.
• self.EXAMPLENAME.getRightTriggerAxis() gets a double, from 0 -> 1, representing how much you pull the Right Trigger.

There are many more methods, here’s a link to the documentation

TalonSRX Method

Tip

In every usage of EXAMPLEMOTOR on this page, the name is not actually locked to EXAMPLEMOTOR. It can be any name you want, as long as it is not a reserved keyword.

The TalonSRX motor controllers are a part of the Phoenix5 library. To initialize an instance of a TalonSRX, the syntax is this:

self.EXAMPLEMOTOR = phoenix5.TalonSRX(channel), where EXAMPLEMOTOR refers to a name of the motor, phoenix5 refers to the base library, and channel refers to the channel assigned in Phoenix Tuner.

To make the example motor work, in this case of a “Percent Output” of a motor, the code is as follows:

self.EXAMPLEMOTOR.set(phoenix5.ControlMode.PercentOutput, percent), where EXAMPLEMOTOR is the name of the motor, pheonix5.ControlMode is a type of way to control a motor, PercentOutput is the name of the Mode, and percent is from -1 -> 1, where 1 is highest speed forward, and -1 is highest speed backward.

To invert a motor, the code is: self.EXAMPLEMOTOR.setInverted(True) , where EXAMPLEMOTOR is the name of the motor, and True is whether or not the motor is inverted.

There are other methods that can be explored, a link is here

CANSparkMAX Method

A CANSparkMAX is a different type of motor with built in encoders.

Note

The following is all one line.

To initialize one, the code is:

self.EXAMPLESPARK = rev.CANSparkMax(ID,rev.CANSparkLowLevel.MotorType.kBrushless), where EXAMPLESPARK is the name of the motor, CANSparkMax is the motor controller, the ID is the unique id that is given in Rev Hardware Client, and the MotorType is either kBrushed or kBrushless.

To set a CANSparkMAX to a speed (from -1 -> 1), this code is used:

self.EXAMPLESPARK.set(SPEED), where EXAMPLESPARK is the name of the spark, and SPEED is the speed, from -1 -> 1