Creating Compass in Qt and WP7

This article demonstrates how to create a Compass in Qt and WP7.

Article Metadata

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Code Example

Source file: Media: CompassQML.zip Media: CompassWp7.zip

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Tested with

SDK: Windows Phone SDK 7.1, Qt SDK v1.2

Devices(s): N8 (Nokia Belle), Windows Phone

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Compatibility

Platform(s): WP7.1, Symbian^3

Device(s): All with compass sensors in platform

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Platform Security

Signing Required: Self-Signed

Capabilities: sensors

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Article

Keywords: Compass, Sensors

Created: somnathbanik (16 Apr 2012)

Last edited: hamishwillee (19 Apr 2012)

Introduction

In this article we will create a Compass in QML using QML Compass Element which is a part of QtMobility 1.x and for WP7 we will use Compass Class. This is a magnetic compass used to determine the direction of the earth's magnetic north pole.

Compass using QML

Implementation

Let’s create an empty project for both Qt and WP7. First we will work on Qt project and then will move on to WP7 project.

Qt Project (MainPage.qml)

Let’s first create a circle using Rectangle Element as shown in the above figure. This circle will determine the compass outline.

Rectangle
    {
    id:circle
    width: 250
    height: 250
    color: "transparent"
    border.color: "green"
    border.width: 3
    radius: width*0.5
    anchors.centerIn: parent
    }

We add an Image to create the compass needle and rotate the Image with its degrees (angle) and orientation.

Image {
        id: arrowImage
        anchors.bottom: circle.verticalCenter
        anchors.horizontalCenter: circle.horizontalCenter
        height: circle.paintedHeight / 2
        fillMode: Image.PreserveAspectFit
        source: "upload.png"
        rotation: -degree - orientationAngle
        transformOrigin: Item.Bottom
    }

QML Compass Element is used to get the change in magnetic north reading in the Compass.

Compass {
        id: compass
        active: true
        onReadingChanged: {mainPage.degree = compass.reading.azimuth; }
    }

A Text element is being added to display the magnetic north value of the compass change on the device screen.

Text {
        id:degreeText
        text: degree + " °N"
        color: platformStyle.colorNormalLight
        font.pixelSize: 35
        anchors.top: parent.top
        anchors.topMargin: 60
        anchors.right: parent.right
        anchors.rightMargin: 30
    }

WP7 Project (MainPage.xaml)

To build a similar interface like Qt, let’s first create a circle using Ellipse Class which defines the outline of the compass.

<Ellipse StrokeThickness="2" x:Name="circle" Width="400" Height="400" 
                  Margin="0,90,0,0" Fill="Black">
                <Ellipse.Stroke>
                    <SolidColorBrush Color="{StaticResource PhoneAccentColor}" />
                </Ellipse.Stroke>
</Ellipse>

To create the compass needle we used Line Class.

<Line  x:Name="line" X1="240" Y1="350" X2="240" Y2="270"  Stroke="{StaticResource  PhoneForegroundBrush}" StrokeThickness="4"></Line>

Now we add the reference Microsoft.Devices.Sensors to initialize and detect the compass presence in the device.

Compass compass; 
if (Compass.IsSupported)
            {
                compass = new Compass();
                compass.TimeBetweenUpdates = TimeSpan. FromSeconds(1);
                compass.CurrentValueChanged += new EventHandler<SensorReadingEventArgs<CompassReading>>(compass_CurrentValueChanged);
                compass.Start();
            }
            else
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Device doesn't suport compass");
            }

TimeBetweenUpdates property will update the compass data in every second. CurrentValueChanged event handler will give the compass value each time there is any change in the compass needle position. And then we call the Start() method to start the compass. The change in compass value is then passed to the compass_CurrentValueChanged() method. Which then pass to a separate thread using Dispatcher.BeginInvoke() method.

void compass_CurrentValueChanged(object sender, SensorReadingEventArgs<CompassReading> e)
        {
            Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() => UpdateLine(e.SensorReading));
        }

private void UpdateLine(CompassReading e)
        {
            degreeText.Text = e.MagneticHeading.ToString("0");
            line.X2 = line.X1 - (200 * Math.Sin(MathHelper.ToRadians((float)e.MagneticHeading)));
            line.Y2 = line.Y1 - (200 * Math.Cos(MathHelper.ToRadians((float)e.MagneticHeading)));
        }

The MagneticHeading gives the magnetic north pole value of the compass and is displayed in a TextBlock. We also add Microsoft.Xna.Framework reference into our project to find out the needle direction using MathHelper class.

Source Code

• The full source code of Qt example is available here: File:CompassQML.zip
• The full source code of WP7 example is available here: File:CompassWp7.zip