Screen

Introduction

The VEX AIR Controller’s screen provides blocks for displaying text, managing the cursor, drawing shapes, and handling touch interactions.

Below is a list of all available blocks, grouped by functionality:

Cursor Print - Manage text display using a row-and-column cursor system.

• print – Displays text on the screen at the current cursor position.

• set cursor to row column – Moves the cursor to a specific row and column.

• set cursor to next row – Moves the cursor to column 1 of the next row.

• clear row – Clears a specified row of text.

• screen cursor column – Returns the column number where text will be printed.

• screen cursor row – Returns the row number where text will be printed.

XY Print - Print text at pixel-based coordinates.

• print at – Displays text at a specified x and y coordinate.

• set screen origin – Changes the origin (0, 0) used for drawing and printing.

Settings - Customize text formatting and screen display.

• clear screen – Erases all text and drawings from the screen.

• wait for screen to render – Wait for drawing and print commands to render on the screen.

• fill screen – Erases all text and drawings from the screen, then sets the screen’s background color.

• set font – Changes the font type and size for text display.

• set print precision – Adjusts the amount of decimal places for printed numbers.

• set pen width – Adjusts the thickness of drawn lines.

• set pen / font color – Changes the color for text and drawings.

• set fill color – Defines the fill color for shapes.

Draw - Create graphics and visual elements.

• show image file – Displays a user-uploaded image on the screen.

• draw pixel – Draws a single pixel at a specified coordinate.

• draw line – Draws a line between two points.

• draw rectangle – Draws a rectangle with specified dimensions.

• draw circle – Draws a circle with a given radius.

Touch - Detect screen interactions.

• screen pressed? – Returns whether the screen is currently being pressed.

• screen position – Retrieves the x and y coordinates where the screen was last touched.

• when screen event – Triggers when the screen is pressed or released.

Cursor Print

print

The print block displays text on the controller’s print area at the current cursor position and font.

print stack block

    print [VEXcode] on screen ▶

Parameters	Description
value	The text, number, or variable value to display on the screen.
expanding arrow	Expand the block to read and set cursor to next row and make the cursor move to the next row after this block.

Example

Example coming soon!

set cursor to row column

When using the set cursor to row column block, the cursor is placed at a specific row and column on the print area. How many rows and columns can comfortably fit depends on the selected font. With the default monospaced medium font, up to 11 rows and 53 columns can be displayed clearly. Text placed beyond this range may be cut off or become difficult to read.

Monospaced fonts have characters that are all the same width, making text placement consistent. In contrast, proportional fonts vary in character width, so some letters take up more space than others. However, regardless of which type is used, the set cursor to row column block positions the cursor based on row and column size, not font style. The font size can be adjusted using the set font block.

Set cursor stack block

    set cursor to row [1] column [1] on screen

Parameters	Description
row	The row of the cursor.
column	The column of the cursor.

Examples

Example coming soon!

set cursor to next row

The set cursor to next row block moves the cursor to column 1 on the next row on the controller’s print area.

set cursor to next row stack block

    set cursor to next row on screen

Parameters	Description
	This block has no parameters.

Example

Example coming soon!

clear row

The clear row block clears a row of text on the controller’s print area.

Clear row stack block

    clear row [1] on screen

Parameters	Description
row	The row number to clear.

Example

Example coming soon!

screen cursor column

The screen cursor column returns the value of the column where text will be printed as an integer.

screen cursor column reporter block

    (screen cursor column)

Parameters	Description
	This block has no parameters.

Example

Example coming soon!

screen cursor row

The screen cursor row block returns the value of the row where text will be printed as an integer.

screen cursor row reporter block

    (screen cursor row)

Parameters	Description
	This block has no parameters.

Example

Example coming soon!

XY Print

print at

The print at block displays text on the robot’s screen at a specific (x, y) position in pixels, using the currently set font. x sets how far from the left side the text begins, and y sets where the bottom of the letters sit. This method disregards the current cursor position.

print at stack block

    print [VEXcode] at x:[80] y:[120] on screen

Parameters	Description
value	The text, number, or variable value to display on the screen.
x	The x-coordinate in pixels (0 to 640, where 0 is left and 640 is right).
y	The y-coordinate in pixels (0 to 480, where 0 is top and 480 is bottom).

Example

Example coming soon!

set screen origin

The set screen origin sets the origin (0, 0) used for drawing or printing on the controller’s print area. By default, drawing or printing blocks consider the top left corner of the screen as the origin. This block can reset the origin to an alternate (x, y) screen coordinate location.

set screen origin stack block

    set screen origin x: [0] y: [0]

Parameters	Description
x	The x-coordinate in pixels to set the new origin to.
y	The y-coordinate in pixels to set the new origin to.

Example

Example coming soon!

Settings

clear screen

The clear screen block clears the controller’s print area of all drawings and text.

clear screen block

    clear screen

Parameters	Description
	This block has no parameters.

Example

Example coming soon!

wait for screen to render

The wait for screen to render block prevents any following blocks from running until all previous drawing and print commands on the screen have finished rendering.

    wait for screen to render

Parameters	Description
	This block has no parameters.

Example

Example coming soon!

fill screen

The fill screen block clears the controller’s print area of all drawings and text, then changes the background to a specified color.

The fill screen block

    fill screen with [red v]

Parameters	Description
color	The color to change the background to: red green blue black white yellow orange purple cyan

Example

Example coming soon!

set font

The set font block sets the font and size used for displaying text on the controller’s print area. This font will apply to all subsequently printed text.

set font stack block

    set font to [monospaced v] [super small v] on screen

Parameters	Description
type	The font type: monospaced proportional
size	The font size (shown below): super small extra small small medium large extra large super large

monospaced super small	monospaced extra small	monospaced small
monospaced medium	monospaced large	monospaced extra large
monospaced super large	proportional small	proportional medium
proportional large	proportional extra large	proportional super large

Example

Example coming soon!

set print precision

The set print precision block sets the precision formatting used for displaying numbers on the controller’s print area. This print precision will apply to all subsequently printed numbers.

Documentation Coming Soon

set pen width

The set pen width block sets the pen width used for drawing lines and shapes.

set pen width block

    set pen width to [10] on screen

Parameters	Description
width	The pen width in pixels.

Example

Example coming soon!

set pen / font color

The set pen / font color block sets the pen color used for drawing lines, shapes, and text on the controller’s print area.

set pen font color

    set pen / font color to [red v] on screen

Example

Parameters	Description
color	Sets the pen color to: red green blue black white yellow orange purple cyan transparent

Example coming soon!

set fill color

The set fill color block sets the fill color used when shapes are drawn.

set fill color stack block

    set fill color to [red v] on screen

Parameters	Description
color	Sets the fill color to: red green blue black white yellow orange purple cyan transparent

Examples

Example coming soon!

Draw

show image file

The show image file block draws a custom user-uploaded image on the controller’s print area.

show user image stack block

    show image file [1 v]

Parameters	Description
image slot number	The custom image to use, number 1 to 10. The image number aligns with the number shown in the AIR control panel.

Example

Example coming soon!

draw pixel

The draw pixel block draws a pixel at the specified (x, y) screen coordinate in the current pen color.

draw pixel stack block

    draw pixel [0] [0] on screen

Parameters	Description
x	The x-coordinate to draw the pixel, ranging from 0 to 640.
y	The y-coordinate to draw the pixel, ranging from 0 to 480.

Example

Example coming soon!

draw line

The draw line block draws a line from the first specified screen coordinate (x1, y1) to the second specified screen coordinate (x2, y2) using the current pen width and pen color.

draw line stack block

    draw line [0] [0] [10] [10] on screen

Parameters	Description
x1	The x-coordinate in pixels of the start of the line, ranging from 0 to 640.
y1	The y-coordinate in pixels of the start of the line, ranging from 0 to 480.
x2	The x-coordinate in pixels of the end of the line, ranging from 0 to 640.
y2	The y-coordinate in pixels of the end of the line, ranging from 0 to 480.

Example

Example coming soon!

draw rectangle

The draw rectangle block draws a rectangle using the current pen width, pen color, and fill colors.

draw rectangle block

    draw rectangle [0] [0] [10] [10] on screen

Example

Parameters	Description
x	The x-coordinate in pixels of the top-left corner of the rectangle, ranging from 0 to 640.
y	The y-coordinate in pixels of the top-left corner of the rectangle, ranging from 0 to 480.
width	The width of the rectangle in pixels, ranging from 0 to 640.
height	The height of the rectangle in pixels, ranging from 0 to 480.

Example coming soon!

draw circle

The draw circle block draws a circle using the current pen width, pen color, and fill colors.

draw circle stack block

    draw circle [0] [0] [10] on screen

Parameters	Description
x	The x-coordinate in pixels of the center of the circle, ranging from 0 to 640.
y	The y-coordinate in pixels of the center of the circle, ranging from 0 to 480.
radius	The radius of the circle in pixels, ranging from 0 to 480.

Example

Example coming soon!

Touch

screen pressed?

The screen pressed? block reports if the controller’s screen is currently being pressed or not pressed. This block returns a Boolean value:

• True - Screen is currently being pressed

• False - Screen is not being pressed

screen pressed boolean block

    <screen pressed?>

Parameters	Description
	This block has no parameters.

Example

Example coming soon!

screen position

The screen position block returns an integer showing the x- and y-coordinate (in pixels) where the screen was pressed. The return value for x is between 0 (left) and 640 (right). The return value for y is between 0 (top) and 480 (bottom).

screen position reporter block

    (screen [x v] position)

Parameters	Description
coordinate	The coordinate of the last screen press in pixels: x - The horizontal position y - The vertical position

Example

Example coming soon!

when screen event

The when screen event block is to be called when the controller’s screen is pressed or is no longer being pressed.

When screen event hat block

    when screen [pressed v] :: hat events

Parameters	Description
action	Determines when the attached stack of blocks will execute: pressed released

Example

Example coming soon!