The LEGO SPIKE App sees the Ranger 8-Way as a Color Sensor. So you do not import a library: you read it with the Color Sensor blocks and then split the numbers into the distances of sensors 1–8. Follow the steps on the left and the blocks on the right grow with you. These block pictures were built and exported straight from the official web app (spike.legoeducation.com), so they look just like your app.
The sensor has to be read again and again. Start with the yellow "when program starts", attach "forever" under it, and put "wait 0.1 seconds" inside, so it reads every 0.1 s.
The official app reads the Ranger 8-Way with five Color Sensor blocks. Each block starts with a port drop-down; pick the port the Ranger is plugged into. The 8 distances (cm) are spread over these five blocks, and the last three blocks hold two sensors each, so you have to split them:
| Official block | What it reads | How to split it |
|---|---|---|
| color (in Sensors) | sensor 1 (straight left) | use it as it is |
| reflected light (in Sensors) | sensor 2 (front-left 60°) | use it as it is |
| raw red (in the "More Sensors" extension) | sensor 3 + sensor 4 × 256 | the remainder after dividing by 256 = sensor 3; ÷ 256 rounded down = sensor 4 |
| raw green | sensor 5 + sensor 6 × 256 | remainder = sensor 5; rounded down = sensor 6 |
| raw blue | sensor 7 + sensor 8 × 256 | remainder = sensor 7; rounded down = sensor 8 |
To use raw red / green / blue, first click the extension button at the bottom left of the app and add "More Sensors". For the "remainder" use "… mod …" in Operators; for "rounded down" wrap "… / 256" in "floor of …".
In "Variables", make a new variable (for example "sensor 4") and store the split value in it with "set … to …". This gives the value a name; after that, use the variable to show it or to make decisions. Click a function and the blocks and result change to its example.
The simulation is only a sketch: direction and distance come from a simple position-based estimate, so a real sensor may differ by a step or two. Red sector = that sensor sees something; grey sector = it reads 120 (nothing that way). Sensors 4 and 5 both face straight ahead.
Every function the official app can read, each with blocks you can copy (port C). Click "Try it" to jump to step 3.
What the official app cannot read: the official app only reads the sensor's "combined data" (the 8 distances in cm). So for the Ranger's nearest direction / distance and most open direction you compare the sensors one by one with blocks, as in the examples above. Each sensor OK / faulty, distances in mm, sensor ID, firmware version and sensor connected cannot be read at all. To use these directly, switch to the MBC SPIKE Blocks website or Pybricks (the hub needs Pybricks firmware).