[PD] constructing ASCII messages

[Derek Holzer]

Hi folks. Been a while.

I'm working on a project where I must construct ASCII messages to the 
microcontroller inside a motor.

It accepts messages in the following format:

NODE COMMAND ARGUMENT CARRIAGERETURN (hereafter CR)

For NODE 0 V 0 CR, in ASCII that would be:

48 86 53 48 13

So, using the following objects:

[num\  <----ARGUMENT GIVEN HERE
|
[spell] <----convert number to ASCII
|
[list prepend 48 86] <---- NODE 0, COMMAND V
|
[list append 13]  <----CR
|
[comport]

I can construct and send ASCII messages where the ARGUMENT is a single 
digit.

All well and good when working with single digits, but the problem is 
that the ARGUMENT is a dynamically changing number of a variable length 
in ASCII characters, and I am banging my head against the keyboard 
trying to work out how to do this. [spell] spits out the ASCII of "666" 
(for example) in a sequence, rather than as a list of three elements.

54
54
54

What kind of object allows me to send a variable number of arguments 
which could be packed into a single message without "padding" (zeros in 
place of "missing" arguments)? It should allow "666" to appear as "54 54 
54", or "1024" to appear as "49 48 50 52", or "44100" to appear as "52 
52 49 48 48", rather than as each individual element at a time.

Other options using objects like [sprintf] could also be considered. I 
am sure I am not the only person to have this problem to solve. Thanks 
for your thoughts!

Pls CC with replies as I am not actively monitoring the list these days.

Thanks!
Derek

-- 
derek holzer
noise.art.technology
http://macumbista.net