Hello everyone!
This is my 4th contribution , though my 3rd contribution was not approved. I hope you already read my first & second contribution. In this contribution, it’s quite different from the previous one because I will show you how to program the basic 7 segment display for a common cathode.
Let’s start with the materials and software that we will be using in this topic

Materials

♦ Push button
♦ Capacitor
♦ Crystal oscillator
♦ Seven segment
♦ PIC16F84A
♦ Resistor

#Software
◘ Fritzing
◘ MikroC compiler for PIC

Desired Output Display

Our desired output is to show the 7-segment display (common cathode) from 0-9.
But for the sake of originality, I will include “RFECE143” as an output.

Part 1: MikroC compiler for PIC

Step 1. Open mikroC

Step 2. Click the “New Project” for us to create our third tutorial. Input our project name , example “rfecetutor3”, project path is the folder path we like to save our project. The device we will use, the PIC16F84A. Check the necessary configuration as you can see in the picture below. Click “save” then click “ok”.

Step 3. New window will pop up. With the project name “rfecetutor3”. In this window, we will program our codes. So here, I have created my own program. Programming is an art, so you can create or program with your own strategy. The shorter the codes the better, because it can only consume small memory size.

Step 4. For this topic, we will focus on the output of the seven segment display. So we need to decode the hex value of each display we want to see. Because we need to know each hex value for our program codes. Click on “Tools” then click on “seven segment decoder”.

Step 5. New window will appear , the 7 segment display decoder. Click on each rectangle to form the display you want to see. Choose hex value for the decode in.

For example, the letter “R”. The hex value is 77.

Step 6. We will start our program codes.

Step 7. Click build project to see if we have errors. In this activity, it’s a success. So it means, our codes were correct.

These are codes that I had program for this tutorial

void main ()
{
trisb=0x00;
portb=0x00;
while (1)
{
     portb=0x77;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x71;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x79;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x39;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x79;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x06;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x66;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x4F;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x3F;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x5B;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x6D;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x7D;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x07;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x7F;
     delay_ms(1000);
     portb=0x6F;
     delay_ms(1000);
}
}

Part II. Circuit design using Fritzing PCB layout

1. Schematic diagram of our activity

In pcb layouting, you can design your own style. Or you can use the breadboard in designing.

Application of this activity

In our daily life, we already experience using this 7 segment display, like when we use alarm clock, when we go shopping at the counter area or even when we process documents we have to see priority number display.
In most digital systems, we need to display the output of our chip for example clock & calculation results on an external hardware. One conventional method of doing this is using an array of 7-segment displays.

The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.

Brian Herbert

Thanks for dropping by everyone! :-) :-) :-)

Yours truly

RFECE143