The intelligent EA eDIPTFT57-A  display from  ELECTRONIC ASSEMBLY is the ideal candidate for implementing interactive controls in mechanical engineering or industrial electronics applications. The screen, which measures 5.7” in the diagonal and has LED background illumination, offers a crisp, colorful resolution of   640x480 pixels. Its most important feature, however, is the built-in intelligence that greatly facilitates developers who want to integrate the display modules in their applications. The device also provides acoustic feedback in addition to outputting information on screen, thanks to the integrated sound module that can play start-up tones, confirm keyboard inputs and issue warning messages. A virtual on-screen keyboard rounds off the list of convenient features of the EA eDIPTFT57-A. 

The intelligence of the display unit makes it easy to program interactive user interfaces. In conjunction with the optional touch panel, developers can create a virtual keyboard in just a few steps. Keyboard inputs are processed directly on the display in an “edit box.” This allows operators to use standard text formatting commands without placing a large workload on the programmer. 

A high-level language macro programming facility is an important aspect of the integrated intelligence of this display and represents an elegant way of developing applications. Lines, bar charts and areas can be defined using a single command and displayed on screen. Developers can also quickly and conveniently define and activate the appearance, size, arrangement and function of keys and buttons. This dramatically boosts the productivity of application development and slashes the time that elapses from the moment an order is placed to the day the project is completed.

The EA eDIPTFT57-A offers many additional features that facilitate programming so that complex content can also be displayed with ease. Application developers can save fonts, images, animation sequences and function macros in an integrated flash memory. 8 fonts are supplied and can be scaled and varied as required. TrueType fonts, which are commonplace in the PC world, are easily imported. 

A programming library contains a variety of predefined, virtual rotary and pointer instruments that can be used to output analog readings, for example. Macro pages and string tables help to design content in multiple languages – an important feature for companies looking to adapt their products for foreign markets. 

An evaluation kit is the perfect way to familiarize yourself with the EA eDIPTFT57-A and can be connected to any PC via a USB interface. A straightforward and very versatile editor that is installed on the PC is used to develop all graphics. 

Integrating the display in device or system controls is simple, and 3 industry standard interfaces (RS-232, I2C and SPI) are available for communicating with the application log. A single voltage supply is all that is required for operation. 

Other characteristics: 
– TFT graphics display with LED background illumination
– 640x480-pixel resolution, 16-bit (65,536 colors)
– 8 predefined fonts; TrueType fonts can be imported
– Control via high-level language commands
– Virtual keyboard included in the instruction set 
– Convenient development environment
– Analog touch panel with variable grid arrangement
– 8 digital inputs and outputs (16 in total)
– 2 analog inputs