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Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/PaulStoffregen/XPT2046_Touchscreen/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

XPT2046_Touchscreen is intentionally designed to mirror the API of Adafruit_STMPE610, the library used by Adafruit’s resistive touchscreen breakouts. Sketches written for Adafruit touch controllers can be migrated to XPT2046-based displays by changing only the #include directive and the object constructor — every touch-reading call stays identical.

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Compatible Functions

The following functions are present in both libraries with the same names, parameter types, and return value ranges:
FunctionDescription
touched()Returns true if the screen is currently being touched
getPoint()Returns a TS_Point with x, y, and z fields
readData(x, y, z)Writes current touch coordinates into pointer arguments
bufferEmpty()Returns true when no fresh data is buffered
bufferSize()Returns the number of points in the buffer
Coordinate values are in the range 0–4095 for both x and y in both libraries, so any existing scaling or mapping code requires no changes.

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Migration Steps

1

Replace the include directive

Swap the Adafruit library header for the XPT2046 header:
// Before
#include <Adafruit_STMPE610.h>

// After
#include <XPT2046_Touchscreen.h>
2

Replace the object declaration

Change the class name and remove any I²C address or extra arguments used by the STMPE610 constructor:
// Before
Adafruit_STMPE610 ts = Adafruit_STMPE610(CS_PIN);

// After
XPT2046_Touchscreen ts(CS_PIN);
3

Keep all other touch code unchanged

Every call to touched(), getPoint(), readData(), and bufferEmpty() compiles and behaves identically — no further edits are required.

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Before / After Comparison

// ── BEFORE (Adafruit_STMPE610) ────────────────────────────────────────────
#include <Adafruit_STMPE610.h>

#define CS_PIN 8
Adafruit_STMPE610 ts = Adafruit_STMPE610(CS_PIN);

void setup() { ts.begin(); }

void loop() {
  if (!ts.bufferEmpty()) {
    uint16_t x, y;
    uint8_t  z;
    ts.readData(&x, &y, &z);
  }
}

// ── AFTER (XPT2046_Touchscreen) ───────────────────────────────────────────
#include <XPT2046_Touchscreen.h>   // ← only line 1 changed

#define CS_PIN 8
XPT2046_Touchscreen ts(CS_PIN);   // ← only line 2 changed

void setup() { ts.begin(); }

void loop() {
  if (!ts.bufferEmpty()) {        // ← unchanged
    uint16_t x, y;
    uint8_t  z;
    ts.readData(&x, &y, &z);      // ← unchanged
  }
}

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Behavioural Differences to Be Aware Of

bufferSize() always returns 1. The STMPE610 has a 128-point hardware FIFO, so sketches that loop on bufferSize() to drain multiple queued points will simply read one point per call. In practice this is rarely a problem, as most sketches only read one point per loop() iteration.
bufferEmpty() is time-based. Rather than checking a hardware FIFO, this library returns true when the last successful SPI read occurred fewer than 3 ms ago (MSEC_THRESHOLD). This prevents redundant reads within the same millisecond window and closely mimics the STMPE610 FIFO drain behaviour for typical polling rates.

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XPT2046-Specific Enhancement: IRQ Pin

The interrupt-pin workflow is an XPT2046-specific feature not present in Adafruit_STMPE610, but it is fully additive. Pass a TIRQ_PIN as the second constructor argument to gain interrupt-driven touch detection without changing any of your existing touch-reading code:
#define TIRQ_PIN 2
XPT2046_Touchscreen ts(CS_PIN, TIRQ_PIN);

void loop() {
  // Optional fast guard — no SPI occurs when screen is idle
  if (ts.tirqTouched()) {
    if (!ts.bufferEmpty()) {
      uint16_t x, y;
      uint8_t  z;
      ts.readData(&x, &y, &z);
    }
  }
}
See the Interrupt Pin guide for full details.

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