How do I turn a number of pins to high and then off after 5 seconds based on a serial command

Question

I have an Arduino sketch where I'm sending commands over serial, and as a result turning pins from low to high. What I'm looking to do is have those pins turn high for 5 seconds and then turn back to low. I was looking for a time or scheduling library for Arduino that allows multiple timers at once and lets you pass a parameter (at least I think that's what I need).

In other words, I would like to implement a "doAfter" method and pass the function it is calling a pin number.

Answer 1

Have you tried the delay() function? Try putting this in the loop() function for pin 3.

digitalWrite(3, HIGH);
delay(1000); // time in milliseconds as parameter
digitalWrite(3, LOW);

Answer 2

You can use the Timer library to achieve this:

#include "Timer.h"
[...]
digitalWrite(3, HIGH);
int afterEvent = t.after(5000, doAfter);
[...]
void doAfter() {
  digitalWrite(3, LOW);
}

As you can see, you cannot pass a parameter to the timer, just a callback. I suggest that you implement either a bunch of doAfter functions, from doAfter3 to doAfter9` for instance, and call the right one in the callback.

There are probably other timer libraries, but this one is simple and complete enough for your needs.