Visual Studio Code

For advanced developers and more complex projects, an advanced IDE can be beneficial. Visual Studio Code (VS Code) offers features like GIT control, code completion, and a variety of useful extensions to streamline the development process. By combining VS Code with PlatformIO, a powerful setup for Thinger.io projects is obtained.

Benefits of Using Visual Studio Code with PlatformIO:

• GIT Control: Version control can be easily managed with integrated GIT support.

• Code Completion: Enjoy enhanced code completion for faster and more accurate coding.

• Extensions: Access a wide range of extensions to add functionality and improve productivity.

To get started, download and install Visual Studio Code and the PlatformIO extension.

Install Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is a free source-code editor developed by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS. It can be extended via extensions, available through a central repository to add language support, new programming languages, themes, and debuggers, or perform static code analysis. It can be downloaded for free from the official website.

Download Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code

Install PlatformIO

PlatformIO is a cross-platform, cross-architecture, multi-framework professional tool for embedded systems engineers and software developers working on embedded products. It can be installed as an extension in Visual Studio Code.

Steps to Install PlatformIO:

1. Open Extensions in Visual Studio Code:

   • Press Ctrl + Shift + X on Windows or Command + Shift + X on Mac to open the Extensions view.

2. Search for PlatformIO:

   • In the Extensions view, type "PlatformIO" in the search bar.

3. Install PlatformIO:

   • Click on the PlatformIO IDE result.

   • Click the Install button.

Once installed, PlatformIO provides powerful features to enhance the development process for Thinger.io projects.

Starting a Project

Once Visual Studio Code with PlatformIO is installed, it is possible to create a new project for our specific board. For this purpose, we can access the PIO Home and click on the New Project button:

Create a new Project from PIO Home.

For this example, we will be using the ESP32 board, so in the Project Wizard pop-up, we enter a Project Name, select the Espressif ESP32 Dev Module, as a generic ESP32 board, and the Arduino Framework. Once done, click on Finish and wait for PlatformIO to download the required toolchains for the device.

PlatformIO project Wizard

After the project initialization is done, PlatformIO generates a file structure:

PlatformIO default project structure

As shown in the above picture, each PlatformIO project has a configuration file named platformio.ini in the root directory of the project. This is an INI-style file.

platformio.ini has sections (each denoted by a [header]) and key/value pairs within the sections. Lines beginning with ;are ignored and may be used to provide comments.

In our default ESP32 project:

[env:esp32dev]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino

Now, to start working with Thinger.io, it is required to add the Thinger.io client library using the lib_deps property:

[env:esp32dev]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
lib_deps = thinger.io

After this configuration is done, it is possible to start compiling for our device. A basic example for our ESP32 device:

main.cpp

#define THINGER_SERIAL_DEBUG

#include <ThingerESP32.h>
#include "arduino_secrets.h"

ThingerESP32 thing(USERNAME, DEVICE_ID, DEVICE_CREDENTIAL);

void setup() {
  // open serial for debugging
  Serial.begin(115200);

  pinMode(16, OUTPUT);

  thing.add_wifi(SSID, SSID_PASSWORD);

  // digital pin control example (i.e. turning on/off a light, a relay, configuring a parameter, etc)
  thing["GPIO_16"] << digitalPin(16);

  // resource output example (i.e. reading a sensor value)
  thing["millis"] >> outputValue(millis());

  // more details at http://docs.thinger.io/arduino/
}

void loop() {
  thing.handle();
}

arduino_secrets.h