The outcome of this project includes an ambient calendar alert using Particle Argon, Neopixels, and IFTTT. The Particle Argon in connected to Google Calendar through IFTTT. The Neopixels display bright white color by default, and change to red 15 minutes prior to the start of an event saved on the calendar.
I started my process by soldering the 3 required wires to the Neopixel strip. I then connected my Neopixels to my circuit, and made sure they were working by testing a few sample lines of code. I created particle functions for the 3 main colors to be able to test my Neopixels and my functions throughout the design and coding process even though this was not a requirement. I also created variables at the beginning of my code to reference them easily.
Wiring and setting up the circuit was not challenging for this project as the Neopixels only needed 3 connections. I simply needed to solder the 3 wires to Neopixels before starting the project. Setting up IFTTT was not complicated, but was hard to verify due to the lag on the platform. There was usually a 10 to 15 minutes delay for the Neopixels to get the input from IFTTT, but after testing the calendar alert a few times, I was able to establish that my code, circuit, and IFTTT integration were working correctly. Learning how to use the libraries and leveraging proven functional code were also very useful for the future class and personal projects.
