PIDController, Counter Class, Speed Controls

[sircedric4]

We are starting to figure out how we want to control the speed of our shooter wheel and we are trying to figure out which sensor to use.

We are looking at a simple encoder that uses an LED and detector to give the number of pulses a wheel turns. This is all we really need and would be easier for us to use hardware wise than a quadrature encoder which is overkill for this application.

All we want is speed, and we want to use PIDController to tell the motor what to do to maintain that speed.

I am stuck at the usual complete lack of examples available in the WPI Users Guide. I believe I want to use the Counter class, but I don't know if its a PIDSource. Can PIDController control speed based or is it only for distance?

Does anyone have a sample bit of code that uses Counter and PIDController to control speed they can share please? Are we barking up the wrong tree?