State machine actions & transitions

[Cliff Pennalligen]

Hi there!

I'm working on software to control industrial machines using state engines.

I was hoping to use Blockly for state actions and transitions between states.

Blockly application #1: At any one time a machine has a specific state (e.g. filling bottle, punch hole in metal sheet, empty sugar out of hopper, etc).  In this state the machine has various actions (e.g. turn on valve, run motor, etc). E.g:

Blockly application #2: To move between states, there are transition conditions, which are just boolean expressions.  The general format for each part of it is [variable] [operator] [variable2 - optional]

Now I am guessing that Blockly can do these things fine.  But ideally what I'd like to do (if possible), is have an interface similar following drop down lists for selecting objects and operators / actions.

For state actions:

... and then the gear symbol opens up a dialogue where additional settings can be specified (not sure if that can be supported....)

For transition conditions:

Can you experienced fellows comment on the suitability or capability of Blockly to achieve these things?

[Beka Westberg]

Hello,

> I'm working on software to control industrial machines using state engines.

That sounds like a fun project :D

It's difficult to say whether Blockly will allow you to create exactly the user experience you're looking for. It seems like you want to add a lot of dynamic-ness to your blocks, which is possible with mutators and extensions, but it definitely takes work to do right.

I think what I would do if I were you is just check out some of the dynamic blocks people have built with blockly, and see if the features they've implemented suit your needs. For example, you could check out:

• Built-in list blocks, if-else blocks, procedure blocks
• Plus/minus blocks
• OpenRoberta's dynamic number of variables
• MakeCode's custom fields

This will give you a better idea of what's possible and what's not. For example, having blocks with dynamic numbers of inputs/fields is pretty common and easy to do. Something like inter-dependent dropdowns (eg a pair of dropdowns whose values depend on each other) is harder, but still possible.

Sorry I can't give a really great answer to this one haha. Other people may have different opinions. It's just tricky to know what's possible and what's not until you try it.

Best of luck on your project! It definitely sounds like a fun one :D

--Beka

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[Koen Van Wijk]

Did you continue to explore this application?

[Cliff Pennalligen]

Yes but not with blockly at this stage. It's a winforms app and I didn't see any improvement on development time or reliability using Blockly vs creating my own controls.

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