View source for Interfacing LED and Switch with PIC16f877a ← Interfacing LED and Switch with PIC16f877a

[[Category:PIC Tutorials]]
In this tutorial we will see how to configure the PIC GPIO's pins and then control the LEDs using the switches..<br>
In this tutorial we will be using PIC16F877A as reference, same will be applicable for other PIC series controllers.<br>
At the end of this tutorial you will be familiar with the PIC GPIO's and the associated registers for configuring and accessing the GPIO's.
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[[FILE:Pic16f877a Switch led.gif]]

=GPIO Registers=
The basic and important feature of any controllers is the number of gpio's available for connecting the peripherals. PIC16F877A has 33-gpio's grouped into five ports namely PORTA-PORTE as shown in the below table. 
{| class="table table-striped table-hover table-condensed table-bordered"
|-class="info"
|PORT|| Direction Register || Number of Pins || Alternative Function
|-
|PORTA|| TRISA || 6 (PA0-PA5) || ADC
|-
|PORTB|| TRISB || 8 (PB0-PB7) || Interrupts
|-
|PORTC|| TRISC || 8 (PC0-PC7) || UART,I2C,PWM
|-
|PORTD|| TRISD || 8 (PD0-PD7) || Parallel Slave Port
|-
|PORTE|| TRISE || 3 (PE0-PB2) || ADC
|}
As shown in the above table many I/O pins have 2-3 functions. If a pin is used for other function then it may not be used as a gpio.<br>

Though the gpio pins are grouped into 8-bit ports they can still be configured and accessed individually. 
<br>Each Port is associated with 2 registers for direction configuration(Input/Output) and for Read/Write.
{| class="table table-striped table-hover table-condensed table-bordered"
|-class="info"
|Register||   Description
|-
|TRISx|| Used to configure the respective PORT as output/input 
|-
|PORTx|| Used to Read/Write the data from/to the Port pins
|}
note: Here 'x' could be A,B,C,D,E so on depending on the number of ports supported by the controller.
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<b>TRISx:</b>TRI-State Register/ Data Direction Register<br>
Before reading or writing the data from the ports, their direction needs to be set. Unless the PORT is configured as output, the data from the registers will not go to controller pins.

This register is used to configure the PORT pins as Input or Output. Writing 1's to TRISx will make the corresponding PORTx pins as Input. Similarly writing 0's to TRISx will make the corresponding PORTx pins as Output.
<syntaxhighlight>
TRISB = 0xff;  // Configure PORTB as Input.

TRISC = 0x00; // Configure PORTC as Output.

TRISD = 0x0F; // Configure lower nibble of PORTD as Input and higher nibble as Output

TRISD = (1<<0) | (1<3) | (1<<6); // Configure PD0,PD3,PD6 as Input and others as Output
</syntaxhighlight>  
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<b>PORTx:</b><br>
This register is used to read/write the data from/to port pins. Writing 1's to PORTx will make the corresponding PORTx pins as HIGH. Similarly writing 0's to PORTx will make the corresponding PORTx pins as LOW.<br>
<b>Before reading/writing the data, the port pins should be configured as InputOutput</b>.
<syntaxhighlight>
PORTB = 0xff;  // Make all PORTB pins HIGH.

PORTC = 0x00;  // Make all PORTC pins LOW..

PORTD = 0x0F;  // Make lower nibble of PORTD as HIGH and higher nibble as LOW 

PORTD = (1<<PD0) | (1<PD3) | (1<<PD6); // Make PD0,PD3,PD6 HIGH,


TRISB = 0x00;  // Configure PORTB as Output
TRISD = 0xff;  // Configure PORTD as Input
PORTD = PORTB; // Read the data from PORTB and send it to PORTD.
</syntaxhighlight>
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=Code=
After knowing how to configure the GPIO ports, its time to write a simple program to read the switch status and turn ON/OFF the LEDs accordingly.
<html>
<script src="https://gist.github.com/SaheblalBagwan/614103c3fa59fa99864bc71a03b99302.js"></script>
</html>
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=Using ExploreEmbedded Libraries=
Below is the sample code to read a switch and turn ON/OFF a LED using ExploreEmbedded libraries.
<html>
<script src="https://gist.github.com/sharanago/0d6c8619bc40351dd7a3d476f7f82840.js"></script>
</html>





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