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Our new MicroBlocks library can display monochrome images on an inexpensive 128x64 pixel display connected to a microcontroller. But we had a problem: tiny microcontrollers such as the micro:bit lack a file system, so there is no place to store image files! Our solution was to embed the image data directly in the program as code.

We will show how Snap! can be used to prepare an image for display and then compile it into a textual form of MicroBlocks code. When pasted into the MicroBlocks IDE, that textual code is converted into graphical blocks that can be run to draw the image.

In addition to solving our image storage problem, this talk will show how Snap! can be used to generate code for MicroBlocks. That is, we're using a Snap! program to write a MicroBlocks program. This is a powerful computer science technique that has many applications.

SNAP To MicroBlocks - Image & Code Transfer