Software Overview

Phidgets’ philosophy is that you do not have to be an electrical engineer in order to do projects that use devices like sensors, motors, motor controllers, and interface boards. All you need to know is how to program.

We have developed a complete set of Application Programming Interfaces (API) that are supported for many different operating systems, and which can be used through many different programming languages.

We suggest starting with the Getting Started guide for your device. This will help you get a basic example running to check your hardware and drivers.

The next step would be to choose your operating system below, and from there choose a language, learn about how to write code for your Phidget, and get API references for your programming language.

The APIs are covered in more detail in the API common to all devices and the API that pertains to your specific device.

Operating System Support

This section describes how to set up your operating system to write and run code for Phidgets. Getting your operating system ready is the first step toward writing code.

On the pages linked below, you will find the core drivers and libraries for using your Phidget either directly through USB or remotely via the Phidget Webservice.

The Webservice controls a Phidget by connecting to a host computer and its Phidget over a network. So, the host computer must be able to run a Phidget directly.

The Windows and Mac OSX pages also include a graphical program to view and run basic tests on your Phidget. On other operating systems, only code is available, although ready-to-compile examples are provided for every language.

Phidgets can run directly or be driven remotely on these operating systems:

• Windows
• Mac OSX
• Linux (Kernel 2.6+)
• Windows CE ??
• Android (3.1 and above)
• Phidget SBC

Phidgets can be only driven remotely by these operating systems:

• IPhone iOS
• Android (3.0 and earlier)

Language Support

This section outlines what languages you can write code in for Phidgets and how to set them up.

We provide a variety of supported languages for using Phidgets. Each language has its own libraries, which may be found on the language pages below. Many languages also depend on the core drivers being installed as well. These drivers can be found on the operating system pages above.

Phidgets can be controlled using our high level API which allows for either an event driven style of code design, or by traditional logic code. All languages below support logic code. Most - but not all - languages support our complete API, which includes support for event-driven design.

If you are flexible on what language you can use, we suggest choosing a language which supports event-driven code.

When you visit the page below for your language, make sure you download:

1. Software libraries
2. Example code
3. The specific API

Phidgets have libraries to support event driven design in the following languages:

• Language - Adobe Director
• Android Java
• Language - Applescript
• Language - AutoIt
• C/C++
• C Sharp
• C Sharp (.NET)
• Language - Cocoa
• Language - Cocoa Touch
• Language - Delphi
• Language - Flash AS3
• Language - Flex AS3
• Language - iOS
• Java
• Language - LabVIEW
• Language - LiveCode
• Language - Max/MSP
• Language - Microsoft Robotics Studio
• Python
• Language - REALBasic
• Language - Simulink
• Language - Visual Basic .NET
• Language - Visual Basic 6.0
• Language - Visual Basic for Applications
• Language - Visual Basic Script

Phidgets have libraries to support only logic code in the following languages:

• MATLAB
• ...