micropython-esp-wifi-manager 1.7.0

MicroPython WiFi Manager to configure and connect to networks

ESP WiFi Manager

MicroPython WiFi Manager to configure and connect to networks

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Setup

The esptool is required to flash the micropython firmware onto the device.

For interaction with the filesystem of the device the Remote MicroPython shell can be used.

Installation

Install both python packages with the following command in a virtual environment to avoid any conflicts with other packages installed on your local system.

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

pip install esptool
pip install rshell

Test both tools by showing their man/help info description.

esptool.py --help
rshell --help

Flash firmware

To flash the micropython firmware as described on the micropython firmware download page, use the esptool.py to erase the flash before flashing the firmware.

esptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART erase_flash
esptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART --baud 460800 write_flash -z 0x1000 esp32-20210623-v1.16.bin

If the Micropython board is equipped with an external PSRAM chip, the esp32spiram-20210623-v1.16.bin can also be used for ESP32 devices. If there is no external PRSAM only the non SPIRAM version is working.

Upload files to board

Install package with pip

Connect to a network

import network
station = network.WLAN(network.STA_IF)
station.connect('SSID', 'PASSWORD')
station.isconnected()

and install this lib on the MicroPython device like this

import upip
# may use the latest test version of it, by adding test.pypi.org as the first
# location to search for the package
# upip.index_urls = ["https://test.pypi.org/pypi", "https://micropython.org/pi", "https://pypi.org/pypi"]
upip.install('micropython-esp-wifi-manager')
# its dependencies will be installed alongside

# if test.pypi.org is added to the index urls, required depencendies won't be
# installed if they are not available from test.pypi.org, may install them
# manually
# upip.index_urls = ["https://micropython.org/pi", "https://pypi.org/pypi"]
# upip.install('picoweb')
# upip.install('micropython-ulogging')
# upip.install('utemplate')

Manually

Upload files to board

Copy the module(s) to the MicroPython board and import them as shown below using Remote MicroPython shell

Open the remote shell with the following command. Additionally use -b 115200 in case no CP210x is used but a CH34x.

rshell -p /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART --editor nano

Create compressed CSS and JS files as described in the simulation static files README to save disk space on the device and increase the performance (webpages are loading faster)

mkdir /pyboard/lib/
mkdir /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/
mkdir /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/static/
mkdir /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/static/css
cp static/css/*.gz /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/static/css
# around 24kB compared to uncompressed 120kB

# optional, not used so far
# mkdir /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/static/js
# cp static/js/*.gz /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/static/js
# around 12kB compared to uncompressed 40kB

mkdir /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/templates/
cp templates/* /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/templates/
# around 20kB

cp wifi_manager/wifi_manager.py /pyboard/lib/wifi_manager/
cp main.py /pyboard
cp boot.py /pyboard
# around 40kB

Install additional MicroPython packages

As this package has not been installed with upip additional modules are required, which are not part of this repo. To install these modules on the device, connect to a network and install them via upip as follows

import upip

upip.install('picoweb')
upip.install('utemplate')
upip.install('micropython-ulogging')
upip.install('micropython-brainelectronics-helper')

Usage

After all files have been transfered or installed open a REPL to the device.

The device will try to load and connect to the configured networks based on an encrypted JSON file.

In case no network has been configured or no connection could be established to any of the configured networks within the timeout of each 5 seconds an AccessPoint at 192.168.4.1 is created.

A simple Picoweb webserver is hosting the webpages to connect to new networks, to remove already configured networks from the list of connections to establish and to get the latest available networks as JSON.

This is a list of available webpages

URL	Description
/	Root index page, to choose from the available pages
/select	Select and configure a network
/configure	Manage already configured networks
/scan_result	JSON of available networks

To leave from the Webinterface, just press CTRL+C and wait until all threads finish running. This takes around 1 second. The device will return to its REPL