Component: WIFI (BL0136) (E-blocks 2)

Author	Matrix Ltd.
Version	2.1 (Release)
Category	E-blocks 2

WIFI (BL0136) component

Wireless LAN component designed to work with the ESP-12S module. Provides a very simple interface to allow webpages to be hosted from hardware or simulation. Also available in the form of the BL0136 WIFI E-block.

This component can be used for connecting a system to a wifi network, by using the ‘ScanForSSID’ component macro. Then different macros can be used to read the encryption mode, the signal strength or the specific SSID of one of the networks picked up in the scan. There is also a ‘ConnectToSSID’ macro which allows you to connect your program to a wifi network (as long as you have a sufficient password) and another macro you can use to disconnect from the network again.

As well as connecting to a wifi network, there is a component macro called ‘CreateAccessPoint’ which creates an access point (with a chosen SSID, password, channel, and encryption) for other people to connect to.

Examples

The examples below are all done using a EB091 board as the host

The EB069 ESP8266 Wifi E-block is connected to PORTD 0-7 with the patch setting set to B.

The EB005 LCD E-block is connected to PORTB 0-7 with the patch setting set to Default.

Other host boards are compatible with the examples, simply change the target chip and component connection properties.

Firmware Test

This example collects the firmware version from the ESP8266 module and displays it on an LCD. Tested working with firmware version 00150900.

FirmwareTest

Wireless Scanner

This example scans for wireless networks in range and prints the network IDs to the LCD along with the signal strength and security type.

WifiScan

Creating An Access Point

This example creates an access point you can connect your phone or laptop to named Flowcode_ESP8266. The password to connect to the access point is flowcode6.

Note this example simply creates an access point, no data is transferred.

CreateAP

Joining An Access Point

This example joins an existing access point. The network ID and Password must be altered to match your local WIFI network settings.

Note this example simply joins an access point, no data is transferred.

JoinAP

TCP Client

This example joins an existing access point. The network ID and Password must be altered to match your local WIFI network settings.

Once joined to the network the example connects to the MatrixTSL website and requests a file which is printed out on the LCD.

TCPClient

TCP Server

This example creates an access point you can connect your phone or laptop to named Flowcode_ESP8266. The password to connect to the access point is flowcode6.

Once the access point is created the example shows the server IP address on the LCD. Connecting to the wireless network on your phone or laptop and visiting the IP address shown on the LCD using a web browser allows you to switch LED outputs on and off.

TCPServer

Network Comms

Here are some examples using the Network Communication component linked to the ESP8266 component.

NetworkComms ESP8266 Client

NetworkComms ESP8266 Webserver

Downloadable macro reference

DisconnectFromSSID

Disconnects from the current SSID.

Returns 1 if the command was accepted and returned an "OK"

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

BYTE

SendString

Sends the given Text.

Appends a CR to the end of the string it SendCR is greater than 0.

Parameters

<- STRING Text

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

BYTE SendCR

Return value

This call does not return a value

ClientConnect

Creates a TCP or UDP connection to a remote server.

Returns the state of the connection.

0=Connection failed

1=Connection active

Parameters

BYTE Type

0 = TCP, 1 = UDP

<- STRING IPAddress

e.g. "192.168.1.20"

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

UINT Port

Remote port number to connect to, HTTP comms = Port 80

Return value

BYTE

ControlTCPServer

Allows a TCP web page server to be switched on and off on the selected port.

Returns 1 if the command was completed correctly.

Parameters

BYTE Enable

0 = Stop Server, 1 = Start Server

UINT Port

Server port to listen for incoming TCP/IP data requests

Return value

BYTE

GetFirmwareVersion

Collects the firmware version from the ESP8266 module and returns it as a string.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

STRING

CheckForPageRequests

To be called periodically. Returns non-zero if a request has been processed

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

BYTE

ClientSendRequest

Sends out a request for data

Parameters

<- STRING Request

e.g. "GET / HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n"

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

Return value

This call does not return a value

ReadSSIDFromScan

Collects one of the SSID name strings from the last SSID Scan.

The ScanForSSID macro must be called first.

Parameters

BYTE Index

SSID Index

Return value

STRING

CreateAccessPoint

Sets up the wireless LAN module into AP mode to host a wireless network.

Other WIFI enabled devices can then connect to the module.

Returns 1 for success.

Parameters

<- STRING SSID

Name of the wireless network to create

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

<- STRING Password

Password used to gain access to the network

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

BYTE Channel

802.11 Channel Range 1-14

BYTE Encryption

0=Open, 1=WEP, 2=WPA_PSK, 3=WPA2_PSK, 4=WPA_WPA2_PSK

Return value

BYTE

SetOutValue

Set the value of an outbound substitution string

Parameters

BYTE index

Range 0-4

<- STRING value

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

Return value

This call does not return a value

ReadSignalStrengthFromScan

Collects the signal strength from the last SSID Scan.

The ScanForSSID macro must be called first.

Value returned is in negative dB, smaller value = better signal

Parameters

BYTE Index

SSID Index

Return value

BYTE

ReadEncryptionModeFromScan

Collects one of the encryption modes from the last SSID Scan.

The ScanForSSID macro must be called first.

0=Open, 1=WEP, 2=WPA_PSK, 3=WPA2_PSK, 4=WPA_WPA2_PSK

Parameters

BYTE Index

SSID Index

Return value

BYTE

GetByteWithTimeout

Attempts to receive a byte from the circular buffer.

If nothing is available then waits up to 20 ms for data to become available.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

BYTE

GetInValue

Returns the string value of a Request parameter

Parameters

BYTE index

Index of the request paramter, starting at zero Range 0-2

Return value

STRING

ConnectToSSID

Attempts to connect to the given SSID and Key values.

Returns 1 if the SSID has been connected.

Parameters

<- STRING SSID

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

<- STRING Key

This parameter may be returned back to the caller

BYTE Timeout

Number of seconds to wait for the connection, default 2

Return value

BYTE

ScanForSSID

Checks for wireless networks in the local area which are broadcasting their SSID.

Must not be connected to a network to allow this to function.

Returns the number of wireless networks found, max 8.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

BYTE

Initialise

Initialise the device with the property data.

Returns 1 if "ready" message successfully received

Returns 0 if no reply from module

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

BYTE

CheckTCPServerIP

Collects the local IP address of the active TCP server.

Parameters

This macro has no parameters

Return value

STRING

Simulation macro reference

This component does not contain any simulation macros

Property reference

Receive Buffer Size

This property is of type Unsigned integer and can be referenced with the variable name RxBufferSize.

Buffer used to store incoming data ready for processing.

Default 128 Bytes.

Scan Buffer Size

This property is of type Unsigned integer and can be referenced with the variable name ScanBufferSize.

Buffer used to hold SSID names when performing a SSID network scan.

Default 100 Bytes.

Reset Mode

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name ResetMode.

The initialise automatically resets the WIFI module before establishing communications.

Software reset uses an AT command to preform the reset

Hardware reset uses an extra I/O pin to toggle the signal to the reset pin on the module.

Command Termination

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name Termination.

Older versions of the firmware require \r to terminate a AT command string.

Newer versions of the firmware have changed to use \r\n termination.

Channel

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::CHANNEL.

UART Channel selector

Software channels are bit banged using generic I/O pins but are not as reliable as hardware channels.

Hardware channels use the selected peripheral on-board the target microcontroller.

Baud Options

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::BAUD_LIST.

Baud rate option selector

Baud Rate

This property is of type Signed integer and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::BAUD.

No additional information

TX

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::TX.

Pin to be used for Transmit data

TX Remap Pin

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::OutputPins.

Allows the hardware transmit pin to be configured from a list of available pins based on your target device,

RX

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::RX.

Pin to be used for Receive data

RX Remap Pin

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::InputPins.

Allows the hardware receive pin to be configured from a list of available pins based on your target device,

Reset

This property is of type Single digital pin and can be referenced with the variable name RESET.

WLAN module reset pin connection

Use Flow Control

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::FLOWEN.

Flow Control (Handshake) enable or disable.

   On: Two I/O pins are used to control the flow of data in and out of the device.

   Off: Flow control is disabled.

Max Web Pages

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name PAGES.

Maximum number of individual webpages we can serve up with the component.

Web Page Timeout

This property is of type Unsigned integer and can be referenced with the variable name TIMEOUT.

Number of cycles to try and send / receive a webpage before timing out.

Line Delay

This property is of type Unsigned integer and can be referenced with the variable name LineDelay.

Fixed delay in microseconds sent in between sending a HTML line when running as a web page server.

Name Page 1

This property is of type Line of text and can be referenced with the variable name name1.

HTML name of webpage 1

HTML Page 1

This property is of type Multiple lines of text and can be referenced with the variable name html1.

HTML content for webpage 1

Name Page 2

This property is of type Line of text and can be referenced with the variable name name2.

HTML name of webpage 2

HTML Page 2

This property is of type Multiple lines of text and can be referenced with the variable name html2.

HTML content for webpage 2

Name Page 3

This property is of type Line of text and can be referenced with the variable name name3.

HTML name of webpage 3

HTML Page 3

This property is of type Multiple lines of text and can be referenced with the variable name html3.

HTML content for webpage 3

Name Page 4

This property is of type Line of text and can be referenced with the variable name name4.

HTML name of webpage 4

HTML Page 4

This property is of type Multiple lines of text and can be referenced with the variable name html4.

HTML content for webpage 4

Count

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name Outgoing_Count.

Maximum number of outbound string substitutions

Length 0

This property is of type Unsigned integer and can be referenced with the variable name Out_Len_0.

Number of bytes to reserve for data string.

Count

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name Incoming_Count.

Maximum number of inbound string substitutions

Length 0

This property is of type Unsigned integer and can be referenced with the variable name In_Len_0.

Number of bytes to reserve for data string.

Label

This property is of type Line of text and can be referenced with the variable name label.

Text label used to help identify the component on the panel.

Simulation Method

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name SimMethod.

Decides how to handle the simulation of the component.

TCP Base - Allows simulation of the network communications using the TCP Base component and DLL.

COM/Injector - Allows the simulation to connect to real hardware or injectors.

Scope Traces

This property is of type True or false and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::ScopeTraces.

Selects if the scope traces are automatically added to the data recorder window or not.

   Simulation - draws an approximation of the UART data onto the scope trace.

   ICT - sets up the scope trace for incoming data and adds UART packet decoding at the correct BAUD.

Console Data

This property is of type True or false and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::ConsoleData.

Selects if the console data is automatically generated or not

Console Columns

This property is of type Unsigned integer and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::ConsoleColumns.

Number of characters that can be displayed on a single line of the console.

Data Source

This property is of type Fixed list of ints and can be referenced with the variable name group1::cal_uart1::DataSource.

Simulation data source used to allow the component to connect to various remote devices

   Nothing - Simulation data is ignored

   COM port - Routes the communication data to and from a physical or virtual COM port 

   Injector - Routes the communication data via a data injector component on the Panel.