birt barcode generator Figure 2-21. Files in the Legacy Block library in Font

Printing QR in Font Figure 2-21. Files in the Legacy Block library

In the Tools pull-down menu, select Block Import and Export Wizard, as shown in Figure 2-22.

Figure 2-22. Selecting the Block Import and Export Wizard tool A Wizard window will appear (see Figure 2-23).

Browse to the folder that contains the Legacy Blocks, and the window will look like Figure 2-24. You should stop at this level, but you could also navigate to the individual blocks as well.

Figure 2-24. Browsing to the Legacy Blocks folder You can select multiple blocks or just import one block at a time. Figure 2-25 shows both Light* and Temperature* Sensors selected. By default, new blocks go into the Advanced palette. Because both of these blocks are sensors, it makes more sense to add them to the Sensor palette. You select that from the palette list. After selecting the blocks and the palette, click Import.

Figure 2-25. Selecting the Light* and Temperature* Sensor blocks When you open the Sensor palette in the programming environment, you will now see the new Light* and Temperature* sensors. Figure 2-26 shows the Sensor palette for a second generation NXT-G environment that also contains the Color sensor. You use these imported blocks exactly like the ones that came with the original software.

Figure 2-26. Appearance of the Sensor blocks palette after import The nxtasy.org web site maintains the repository of non LEGO NXT-G blocks that individuals have contributed (http://nxtasy.org/repository/nxt-g-blocks/). There are custom blocks for specialized

input, output, and data operations. These blocks extend NXT-G and fill in missing functions to make it a more complete language

NXT-G is a graphical language, as opposed to more traditional text-based computer languages such as C or Java. It is generally thought that graphical languages are easier to learn and use because they eliminate much of the tedious syntax required in text-based languages. The curious name Not eXactly C is derived from a C-like language called Not Quite C (NQC) developed by Dave Baum for the original RCX and the name NXT. Bricx Command Center (BricxCC) is the integrated development environment (IDE) for NXC and several other languages (see Figure 2-27). It is a powerful tool that not only facilitates general program development but also includes a suite of useful direct controls of the NXT.

One of the greatest attractions for NXC and BricxCC is that they are freeware. The primary developer, John Hansen, provides them through a web site called Source Forge. He has published an entire book, NXT Power Programming (Variant Press, 2007) that is very helpful if you intend to develop a lot of programs in NXC. We will not duplicate the vast amount of information and tutorials already available online for NXC. However, we will provide a quick start guide because several of the example programs in this book depend on using it. The place to start is Source Forge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bricxcc/). Download the files as shown in Figure 2-28 (the exact appearance of these pages might change along with versions and dates).

Figure 2-28. Bricx Command Center on SOURCEFORGE.NET This should take you to the Download screen shown in Figure 2-29. There are several packages you can download, but you only want to select to BricxCC. NXC is automatically included in the BricxCC release, and I doubt you want to see the source code used to program the environment.

Figure 2-29. Downloading BricxCC Select the file bricxcc_setup.exe (see Figure 2-30) because it will install everything you need to your computer in one step.

Figure 2-30. Download Setup executable Just clicking the name will bring up the window shown in Figure 2-31, in which you click Run. You can also just save the file and run it later if you want.