Issues creating light sequence with pause button ARDUINO - c++

Question

So I am trying to create a program that runs various light sequences using an Arduino board. I am not very familiar with C++ so I feel that my lack of syntax knowledge is preventing me from accomplishing my goal.
My idea is to have various light sequences that are played depending on what button is pressed on an infrared remote. The amount of time that a light is on or off may or may not be the same as that of another light. Unfortunately, the sequences do not seem to be working which indicates that the issue is likely with the toggleLight function.
I also wanted there to be a button that allows the user to pause the sequence (no matter where along the sequence it is). And once the button is pressed again, then the sequence continues where it left off. I read something about an interrupter and sleep mode using C++ but I am unfamiliar with this so it is not included in my code.
The rest of my goals I have included within my code. I created an object "light" because I was trying to create the sequence without using the delay function as the interrupt does not work well with the delay function (as far as I am aware). Then I am able to call the function toggleLight on the specific light object. However, as I previously stated the sequences are not working.
I am more familiar with OOP languages so perhaps creating an object is not the best for Arduino. If anyone has any ideas for how I can accomplish my goal it would be much appreciated.
unsigned long previousMillis = 0;
unsigned long currentMillis = millis();
//sets up the Infrared receiver for the remote controller
const int RECV_PIN = 1;
IRrecv irrecv(RECV_PIN);
decode_results results;
//Sets up the LED's pin number and light status
class light{
private:
int _pinNumber;
byte _Lstatus;
public:
//function that creates the objects with the parameters
light(int pinNum, byte Lstat){
_pinNumber = pinNum;
_Lstatus = Lstat;}
void toggleLight(long interval){
//ensures that the "interval" amount of time has passed between the last LED blink
if ((currentMillis - previousMillis) >= interval) {
// if the LED is off turn it on and vice-versa:
if (_Lstatus == LOW) {
_Lstatus = HIGH;
} else if (_Lstatus == HIGH) {
_Lstatus = LOW;
}
// set the LED with the ledState of the variable:
digitalWrite(_pinNumber, _Lstatus);
// save the last time you blinked the LED
previousMillis = currentMillis;
}
}
};
//creating four light objects with the pins and initial status of off.
light J1(13, LOW);
light J2(11, LOW);
light P1(12, LOW);
light P2(10, LOW);
void setup()
{
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
}
//Sequence 1 is a mock sequence. It will probably be longer and the intervals would not all be 1000
void seq1(){
currentMillis = millis();
J1.toggleLight(1000);
P1.toggleLight(1000);
J1.toggleLight(1000);
P1.toggleLight(1000);
J2.toggleLight(1000);
P2.toggleLight(1000);
}
void seq2(){
currentMillis = millis(); //I found that placing currentMillis = millis() here allows the lights to at least turn on
J1.toggleLight(2000);
J1.toggleLight(10);
P1.toggleLight(1000);
P1.toggleLight(0);
J2.toggleLight(1500);
J2.toggleLight(1);
P2.toggleLight(2000);
P2.toggleLight(1);
}
void loop()
{
/* So once i get the sequences working, my idea is to have different sequences play
depending on what button on the remote is pressed. However, first I want to get the sequences and
interrupter
For now I have just tried running sequence #2 but it does not work.. Neither does Sequence #1. */
seq2();
//I MADE THESE LINES OF CODE COMMENTS FOR NOW. UNTIL I GET THE REST OF THE PROGRAM WORKING
/*if (irrecv.decode(&results))
{
switch (results.value) {
case : 0xf00000 // When button #1 sequence one plays
seq1();
break;
case : 0xf00000 // when button #2 is pressed, sequence two plays
seq2();
break;
*/
}

Answer 1

I can see that you haven't yet got around to understanding the flow of code inside the Arduino. Here's a quick tutorial to get you up and running.
Basically, your code is not being processed sequentially. So when the processor is moving through seq() and gets to the first if statement in 'J1.toggleLight(2000);' and finds that the condition is not met (i.e. the 2000 milliseconds have not yet passed,) it immediately moves on to the second line in seq(). The issue with this is that when it does meet the condition at the second line it will reset the 'previousMillis' value which all the lights depend on.
Thus you should dedicate a clock for each light by moving in 'previousMillis' into the class as a member.
class light{
private:
int _pinNumber;
byte _Lstatus;
unsigned long previousMillis = 0;
This way each light will be able to keep track of its own time without conflicting with the other lights. This will lead to your lights flickering at a frequency of 1/interval which I doubt is what you want.(it wont even do that with each light getting toggled twice in the seq() functions. Try removing the second calls and see hat happens) This brings me to the second issue.
The second issue is with the way you set up your sequences. Since you want to the lights to operate sequentially you'll need to find the accumulated time which crosses out the chance of using a class, unless you're willing to implement a scheduling mechanism that takes account the interval and arrangement of each instance. Seems a bit impractical imo.
I think you should ditch the class and use a simple function that that accepts the eight values that each sequence requires. Then you could utilize if statements to manipulate the states of the lights.
I hope the answer made some sense.
Good luck.