Getting Encoder Values in the Dashboard

[Kyledoo]

Originally Posted by jhersh

The DashboardDataFormat class in the example is just a way to organize the code. The actual library interface is the Dashboard class which you access via the DriverStation class using GetHighPriorityDashboardPacker() or GetLowPriorityDashboardPacker(). Follow the example you see in the code inside the DashboardDataFormat class.

Thanks to everyone's, especially your help, we were able to get data back to the dashboard last week. Now we are trying to get the actual values of the encoders passed back to the user messages box. We have successfully sent words back to this spot, but cannot figure out how to parse the encoder value to get passed back. Any help?
EDIT:
we have the variable that holds the encoder value declared as an INT32 because that is what the .Get() function returns. We are using the DriverStationLCD class to print the value back to the dashboard (actually the user messages section of the driver station)

Also, we tried setting our loop to only run while the encoder value was less than a specific amount (in this case 500) and it just kept running. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you get it fixed? I noticed something a little strange: When our wheels are turning, the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th light under Digital I/O on the dashboard flash. The first 2 are greyed out. I thought this was strange because our encoders are plugged into ports 11, 12, 13, and 14. I am starting to wonder if this is what is causing the issue because of the way I have the encoders declared/initialized