Why does Processing send so many signals at once?

[Adilic0]

I am trying to make a Breakout clone game and try to connect the Arduino to control the LED when the ball hit the bricks

and I wrote the codes like this

void checkCollision(){


  if ( ball.x > bar.x && ball.x < bar.x + bar.barWidth ){
    if ( ball.y > bar.y && ball.y < bar.y + bar.barHeight ){
      ball.vY = -ball.vY;
    }
  }

 
  for (int i = 0; i < MAX_BLOCKS; i++){
    if  ( blocks[i].hitFlag == false ){
      if ( ball.x  > blocks[i].x &&  ball.x  <  blocks[i].x + blocks[i].blockWidth ){
        if ( ball.y > blocks[i].y  &&  ball.y  <  blocks[i].y + blocks[i].blockHeight ){
          ball.vY = -ball.vY;            
          blocks[i].hitFlag = true;    
    

this is to realize the function of disappearing after the collision between ball and bar and bricks.

and I want the LED to change color every time the collision happened so I need to send the signal to Arduino, using these codes

import processing.serial.*;

Serial serial;

void Color() {
  
 if ( ball.x > bar.x && ball.x < bar.x + bar.barWidth ){
    if ( ball.y > bar.y && ball.y < bar.y + bar.barHeight ){
      
       serial.write("R");
       
       
    }
  }
   
    
   for (int i = 0; i < MAX_BLOCKS; i++){
      
   
      if ( ball.x  > blocks[i].x &&  ball.x  <  blocks[i].x + blocks[i].blockWidth ){
        if ( ball.y > blocks[i].y  &&  ball.y  <  blocks[i].y + blocks[i].blockHeight ){

          serial.write("L");

but the problem I found is that every time the ball hit the bricks the processing sends a lot of R or L to Arduino instead of a single R or L that I expected.
i mean although it can work and achieve the effect I want, its processing efficiency is too low, because it has to be sent many times in each collision, which leads to the collision being stuck.

I am a beginner. Maybe my mistakes are very basic. I hope someone can help me.

[glv]

Hello,

Welcome aboard!

Take a look at this topic:

Processing to Arduino Serial Library Example

I modified the existing “SimpleWrite” example to: save and check for the state of mouseOverRect() print state to console only writes serial data once a delay() to wait for Arduino to reset once connected to it; in my case, it is an Arduino Mega 2560 R3. I kept the spirit of the original example intact and left it as a “Simple Write” program. My edit of “SimpleWrite” example so it only sends data once: /** * Simple Write. * * Check if the mouse is over a rectangle and writes the status …

If you are using the Processing environment you can also use:
https://processing.org/reference/println_.html

It can be very useful for examining and debugging code.
Only use it only when needed! It can slows things down.

Example:

int counter;

void setup() 
	{
  frameRate(1); //Slows things down for this example
  println("Setup: ", counter, frameCount);
	}

void draw() 
  {
  background(0);
  println("Draw: ", counter, frameCount);
  counter++;
  }

:)

[Adilic0]

I am very grateful for your reply. Thank you for taking your time to answer this may be a very elementary question. I am studying it carefully.
Thank you very much again.

[glv]

@Adilic0

I am a beginner. Maybe my mistakes are very basic.

We were all beginners and learn from our experiences and will be making mistakes. I am still making them!

Mistakes are opportunities to learn from.

Serial communications can be a challenge to new users.

And even a challenge for experienced ones at times!

---

There are resources (tutorials, references, examples, etc.) here:
https://processing.org/

And examples that come with Processing:

Check out the GUI examples!

One example in there may help with your nested if() statements:

Button / Examples

Your code may work as is but can be combined into one if()

:)

[Adilic0]

This is really helpful.
thanks a lot