RFM69HW library programming manual or reference guide

[mstrJohn]

Hi

I am a total newbie but interested in micro controller like Arduino, Pi ...
I am trying to understand the code used for libraries rfm69.h etc.
Is there a reference guide/manual for the objects in these libraries?

One example: the function "radio" I want to know what methodes and parameters they take etc.

Thanks /John

[perky]

As a general point, one of the most useful tools out there is Doxygen. Combine that with Graphviz and you get a massively powerful tool that can generate a graphical function tree, you can see in a flow diagram form which functions call other functions and which functions are called by other functions. This is really good for reverse engineering other people's code to understand what's going on and the levels of code they've used. If the code has been written with Doxygen in mind it gets even better. I'm a big fan of this software!
Mark.

Edit: I'll give you an example of how useful this was. As a contractor I was given the task of speeding up a grahical user interface on a product that itself was originally written by a subcontractor. They had made several failed attempts at it. I ran Doxygen with Graphviz, it showed me all the paths to a small subset of low level routines called by multiply higher level paths. I simply sped all those up significantly and ultimately got 10 times speed increase in the whole system. It's really good stuff!

[DonpK]

Is there a summary somewhere describing the basic RFM69 functions and their parameters? I'm thinking of functions like Serial.begin(SERIAL_BAUD);radio.initialize(FREQUENCY,NODEID,NETWORKID), radio.ACKRequested(), radio.sendACK(), (radio.sendWithRetry(GATEWAYID, payload, sendSize), radio.receiveDone() and others used in the RFM69 library Examples. The summary would also include some discussion about what the functions do and the required parameters and their proper formatting. I'm thinking of something like the documentation provided for assembler instructions which give a description of the instruction, syntax and examples.

Searching throughout this Forum comes up with threads about individual functions and their use, but having a single reference source would be helpful for those of use just getting started with the great LowPowerLabs products.

[Ashertova]

If anyone has one please ask. I want the same.

[brolly759]

Isnt the list of functions in the C files?

[Felix]

FYI folks, I merged these 2 topics since they are asking the same thing.
There is no detailed description of everything in the library but each function is named intuitively to what it does, plus there are many examples and code comments.
The examples and their descriptions/code comments in the library along with the library definition and comments should provide a decent reference.
For arduino specific functions see the arduino libraries and reference at arduino.cc

[DonpK]

Thanks, Felix, for moving my question. It wasn't getting much response in the other location.

The Arduino.cc site is, of course, a good source for Arduino-specific information, as are the many excellent C++ reference and tutorial sites.

I certainly don't mean to single out the RFM69 library, since many libraries I've worked with don't seem to have the kind of documentation I'm thinking of. The RFM69.cpp and RFM69.h files and examples contain thousands of lines of code. Sorting through that to understand how a specific function works can be a bit daunting for someone with limited experience. But perhaps these products are appropriate for such people.

[Felix]

There's always going to be a large gap between any documentation and what each line of code does in a function.
A good number of functions in the library are also internal, not really meant for casual use.
The useful functions are a handful and are exposed in examples.