Adafruit IO: New Dashboard Blocks and Block Changes
New Dashboard Blocks – Divider and Battery
We have two new block additions ready for you to use in your IO dashboards.
The first is the Divider Block. This block is a simple way to help you organize your dashboard and break it up a bit. You can stretch the block horizontally or vertically. Basically, just edit the block layout and drag and drop to where you would like the line divided. It allows for a couple of line widths as well.
The second new block is the Battery Block. This block takes a value from 0-100.0 and displays the percentage left in a battery icon. It also allows for the text of the value to be displayed, similar to the options on a phone. This block works particularly well paired with the Adafruit LC709203F Fuel Gauge and Battery Monitor.
Resizable Toggle Switch Block
A change you’ll be seeing soon (or it’s already been made by the time you read this) is that the Toggle Switch Block will be updated to dynamically resize.
It will fit a percentage of the block’s entire size. This may cause some of your existing toggle switches to either jump in size or shrink down a bit. We think the added flexibility is worth the trade-off in having to adjust the existing blocks, and we hope you do as well.
Feedback and Suggestions
As always, if you have any suggestions or bugs to report about these blocks, please let us know in the forums. We have a specific forum for block suggestions that we periodically check as well.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: New Python Releases, an ESP32+MicroPython IDE and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
