String to buffer converter API

[gus-ghielec]

There is no way to convert a string to a buffer. An example use is when someone is sending a string over I2C, to a display for example. UART today has the option to take a string directly, I2C does not. We could just send a buffer to I2C but there is no way to convert a string to a buffer.

So, to send a string to an I2C display:

1. There is no I2C API to take strings.
2. There is no API to convert a string to a buffe, to then send the buffer to I2C.

The only way today is to manually loop and create a buffer from the string. This is a difficult use for teachers/students, plus this string to buffer can be used in other cases.

Btw, I believe the system has buffer to string, but not a string to buffer!

[eanders-ms]

As mentioned on the forum here, it looks like we have a gap in our documentation. Buffer has a static method called fromUTF8 that does this.

function stringToBuffer(str: string): Buffer {
    return Buffer.fromUTF8(str);
}

Here is a small example that exposes the function above as a block in the Text category.
https://makecode.microbit.org/63003-32829-24965-36494