'''
things we should know
----------------------
the screens max width without scrolling is 20 chars
if a word is longer than 20 chars it will scroll
if a string is longer than 20 chars it will alternatve
back and fourth displaying 20 chars at a time
give the screen apropriate time to draw before sending more data
The sign will chop messages up at spaces. So if you send a long
message with no spaces it will scroll forever but if you add spaces
 it will show each block one at a time.

 ser.write adds a carrage return at the end
 use bytearray and append char or extend strings
'''
 #!/usr/bin/env python


import time
import serial
ser = serial.Serial(
    port='/dev/ttyAMA0',
    baudrate = 4800,
    parity=serial.PARITY_NONE,
    stopbits=serial.STOPBITS_ONE,
    bytesize=serial.EIGHTBITS,
    timeout=1
)
#counter=0
print("begining loop")
while 1:
    print("----------loop begin----------")
    #print("attempting serial comms")
    #ser.write('Write counter')
    #print("serial comms successfull")

    #counter += 1
    print("sending data")

    packet = bytearray()

    packet.append(0x00)
    packet.append(0x00)
    packet.append(0x00)
    packet.append(0x00)
    packet.append(0x00)

    packet.append(0x00)
    packet.append(0x00)
    packet.append(0x00)
    packet.append(0x00)
    packet.append(0x00)

    packet.append(0x01)
    packet.append(0x5A)
    packet.append(0x30)
    packet.append(0x30)
    packet.append(0x02)
    packet.append(0x41)
    packet.append(0x41)
    packet.append(0x1b)
    packet.append(0x22)
    packet.append(0x62)
    packet.append(0x1c)
    packet.append(0x33)
    packet.append(0x10)
    packet.append(0x44)
    packet.append(0x04)

    ser.write(packet)

    packet2 = bytearray()

    packet2.append(0x00)
    packet2.append(0x00)
    packet2.append(0x00)
    packet2.append(0x00)
    packet2.append(0x00)

    packet2.append(0x00)
    packet2.append(0x00)
    packet2.append(0x00)
    packet2.append(0x00)
    packet2.append(0x00)

    packet2.append(0x01)
    packet2.append(0x5A)
    packet2.append(0x30)
    packet2.append(0x30)
    packet2.append(0x02)
    packet2.append(0x47)
    packet2.append(0x44)
    packet2.append(0x1c)
    packet2.append(0x33)
    packet2.extend("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST")
    packet2.append(0x04)


    ser.write(packet2)


    print("data send completed")

    print("----------loop end----------")
    time.sleep(60)