During this week , i tried to make myself a GUI using Visual C#. It was a really great experience.Although you can make buttons in processing too..but its a lot easier in Visual C# Express.However, it seems not many DIY`ers use C# and its used mainly by hardcore coders and developers..but still i managed to find some cool references via MSDN and a demo(of his work) by my friend to put together a simple and easy way to talk to Arduino on a windows machine!

You can monitor Analog Inputs , control digital pins and connect to the COM Port of your choice.Since i am still building upon it.So i am leaving a gist of how the GUI/program currently looks.

You will see that the Digital Pin 13 is missing. Actually i have used it to indicate an Active Serial Session.This makes it a lot easier while debugging.

ControlCom from Indian Tinker on Vimeo.

Edit: 02 Oct`12 : Thank You Guys for appreciating my work!I gave the same to few of my folks at my college for beta testing. Here is the link to the final executable on Windows Only!

ControlWare.exe

The Arduino Code To be uploaded is :                                                      Source

Some of FAQ`s are:

1. There is no Digital13 on this as it is meant to signify an active Serial Connection.i.e whether the computer is communicating with Arduino or not.
2. You have to find out the correct COM Port from Device Manager and enter that with Caps On
3. This is a VegBurgerWare ( coz i dont drink beer).So if i find u using it.You owe me a burger
4. Its not Cross Compatible..works best on Windows Only

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to create images, animations, and interactions. Initially developed to serve as a software sketchbook and to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context, Processing also has evolved into a tool for generating finished professional work. Today, there are tens of thousands of students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists who use Processing for learning, prototyping, and production.

• » Free to download and open source
• » Interactive programs using 2D, 3D or PDF output
• » OpenGL integration for accelerated 3D
• » For GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows
• » Projects run online or as double-clickable applications
• » Over 100 libraries extend the software into sound, video, computer vision, and more…

Arduino brought me closer to processing as both are infact quite related.

Processing helps you learn programming by visualising it….so instead of writing a 50 line code in C to draw a circle you just write a one line code in processing..

Imagine you can the arrays u created..the variables changing the values..etc thats all possible..

Here one of my wierd looking sketches( you call a program a sketch)

They are very simple and this is all programming…

To know more

http://processing.org/