THIS IS A LEGACY VERSION. PLEASE GO TO GETTING STARTED WITH BLOCKLYPROP SOLO [1] INSTEAD.
The original BlocklyProp system is being replaced by BlocklyProp Solo, which requires no login. You will need to replace your Client utility with an updated Launcher.
Need HELP??? If you get stuck, contact Parallax Tech Support: email support@parallax.com. The BlocklyProp Solo Launcher & FAQ for Schools [2] may also be of help.
The Propeller microcontroller is the tiny computer chip brain on the Activity Board, Propeller FLiP module, and Hackable Electronic Badge. It can be programmed to make decisions, turn things on and off, read sensors, and do calculations. It is what makes your inventions come to life.
BlocklyProp is a fun, graphical way to build those Propeller programs, piece by piece, using blocks. It is an adaptation of Google's open-source Blockly tool.
If you have some experience with programming, robotics, or Blockly, that's great! But if you don't, do not worry, it is not required here. Either way, it's best to go through this introduction before moving on to other BlocklyProp tutorials or projects.
THIS IS A LEGACY VERSION. PLEASE GO TO GETTING STARTED WITH BLOCKLYPROP SOLO [1] INSTEAD.
The original BlocklyProp system has been eing replaced by BlocklyProp Solo, which requires no login. You will need to replace your Client utility with an updated Launcher.
Need HELP??? If you get stuck, contact Parallax Tech Support: email support@parallax.com. The BlocklyProp Solo Launcher & FAQ for Schools [2] may also be of help.
Registration is free and allows you to save your projects. Once you have registered, you will log in each time you return to continue saved projects or create new ones.
Once you have entered all of the necessary information, you should see this message:
NOTE: If you are a teacher and your students are using a school email address, please ask your IT Department to white-list the plxmail.com domain. The accounts are confirmed and activated through the email provided at registration. See the BlocklyProp FAQ for Schools [2] for more tips and details.
The next thing you will need to do is install the BlocklyProp-client.
A page will open with download links for your detected operating system. You can also click "Show options for all operating systems" to view more choices.
The FTDI USB drivers are required to download code to your Propeller board. You may need to restart your computer for the USB drivers to work.
Congratulations! You are now ready to return to the BlocklyProp homepage. Time to connect your hardware and try some programming!
You will now be ready to learn and program with BlocklyProp!
THIS IS A LEGACY VERSION. PLEASE GO TO GETTING STARTED WITH BLOCKLYPROP SOLO [1] INSTEAD.
The original BlocklyProp system is being replaced by BlocklyProp Solo, which requires no login. You will need to replace your Client utility with an updated Launcher.
Need HELP??? If you get stuck, contact Parallax Tech Support: email support@parallax.com. The BlocklyProp Solo Launcher & FAQ for Schools [2] may also be of help.
If you are here, you should have registered for a BlocklyProp account and installed the BlocklyProp Client. If not, please go back to the previous page. [5]
In BlocklyProp, programs are often referred to as projects.
The BlocklyProp workspace starts out blank. To the left of the workspace is a category menu of BlocklyProp blocks (note that these are updated periodically). Clicking items with an arrow will open a sub-category menu.
To build a program, you will click, drag, and drop these blocks into your workspace in the order they need to run. Blocks placed near each other that are meant to fit together will snap into place with an audible click. You can click, drag, and drop to separate them again if needed. Many blocks have entry fields and drop-down menus you will use to choose how the blocks behave. Some blocks are designed to fit inside other blocks and work together.
Special formatting is applied to some words to make our Learn site's BlocklyProp tutorials easier to read:
The BlocklyProp Client is needed to download programs to the Propeller microcontroller. If it is not connected, you will see the message "Looking for BlocklyProp Client" or "BlocklyProp Client is not running" in the toolbar above the round buttons. If all is well, you will instead see the message "Select the correct port, then click...."
You have some choices for running your program.
After a download progress message, the Terminal should appear and print your “Hello World!” message.
If the Terminal does not open, and you see a message like the one below, it means that BlocklyProp cannot find your Propeller board:
Try these fixes:
THIS IS A LEGACY VERSION. PLEASE GO TO GETTING STARTED WITH BLOCKLYPROP SOLO [1] INSTEAD.
The original BlocklyProp system is being replaced by BlocklyProp Solo, which requires no login. You will need to replace your Client utility with an updated Launcher.
Need HELP??? If you get stuck, contact Parallax Tech Support: email support@parallax.com. The BlocklyProp Solo Launcher & FAQ for Schools [2] may also be of help.
After completing the previous page, you should know how to write, save, and load a simple "Hello World!" program to your Propeller board's RAM or EEPROM using BlocklyProp. You also learned to save a copy of a program with a new name. What’s next? The best way to learn is by experimenting with new blocks in other tutorials. But before you go, let's explore a few more features of the BlocklyProp environment.
Some blocks are relatively straightforward to use. Others might need a bit of explanation to figure out what they are for, and how to use them.
Try finding the Help information for your Hello World program block.
The Help option will take you directly to the page inside the Block Reference which provides details for that specific block, including an explanation for each of the block's fields. Pay attention to any Info or Warning boxes you come across - it will save you trouble later! (Note: You can also navigate to the Activity Board WX Block Reference under Support > Reference.)
Let's explore the additional block options available from the right-click drop-down menu.
When you right-click in the workspace, there is a Delete ... Blocks option in the drop-down menu that comes up. This selection will delete ALL the blocks in the workspace! A pop-up menu asks you to confirm this is what you want before the delete. If necessary, right-click in the workspace a second time to select Undo.
If you have been following this tutorial from the beginning, you should have two Blockly programs, the second one made with the Save Project As option from the toolbar's drop-down menu. Let's look at some other options in this same menu. Most of them cause you to navigate away from your workspace. You will see a pop-up asking if you want to do that, reminding you to click Stay and save your changes first.
The SVG file stamps your project with your username, the project's title, its Project ID (also used in the SVG file name) and the Propeller board that is the project's target. From the SVG file, you won't be able to edit the project or program your Propeller with it. But it does have two useful purposes for advanced users:
User libraries: BlocklyProp has a define function block that creates a named wrapper around a custom set of blocks that you would like to re-use frequently. You might create a group of related functions in a custom "library" project and download the SVG file. Then, you can later upload and append this "library" to your future projects to access your favorite functions. Kind of like making your own BlocklyProp Bookmobile, if you will.
Lessons plans and handouts: If you are a teacher, the SVG files give you an option for organizing and archiving your lesson plans and assigning template projects to your students without making them community projects.
Demo if you dare: If you want to participate in the ongoing development of the open-source community project that is BlocklyProp, you may find yourself at demo.blockly.parallax.com. This site is where new blocks for various Parallax devices and new features are tested and tried before being promoted to blockly.parallax.com. Note, however, that if you create a project on the demo site, it stays there in the demo universe. If you save your demo projects as SVG files, then you may be able to upload them to the production site if/when their blocks go "live."
Enough of this! Go program!
Links
[1] https://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/blocklyprop/getting-started-blocklyprop-solo
[2] https://learn.parallax.com/support/download/1741/blocklyprop-faq-schools
[3] http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/robot/scribbler-robot/getting-started-blocklyprop-s3
[4] http://blockly.parallax.com
[5] https://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/blocklyprop/getting-started-blocklyprop-activity-board-wx/setting-blocklyprop
[6] http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/propeller-c/propeller-c-set-simpleide
[7] http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/blocklyprop