pavanbathla / easy-connect

Easily add all supported connectivity methods to your mbed OS project

Easy Connect - Easily add all supported connectivity methods to your mbed OS project

Often you want to give users of your application the choice to switch between connectivity methods. The NetworkInterface API makes this easy, but you'll still need a mechanism for the user to chooce the method, throw in some #define's, etc. Easy Connect handles all this for you. Just declare the desired connectivity method in your mbed_app.json file, and call easy_connect() from your application.

Specifying connectivity method

Add the following to your mbed_app.json file:

{
    "config": {
        "network-interface":{
            "help": "options are ETHERNET,WIFI_ESP8266,WIFI_ODIN,MESH_LOWPAN_ND,MESH_THREAD",
            "value": "ETHERNET"
        }
    },
    "target_overrides": {
        "*": {
            "target.features_add": ["NANOSTACK", "LOWPAN_ROUTER", "COMMON_PAL"],
            "mbed-mesh-api.6lowpan-nd-channel-page": 0,
            "mbed-mesh-api.6lowpan-nd-channel": 12
        }
    }
}

If you choose WIFI_ESP8266 or WIFI_ODIN, you'll also need to add the WiFi SSID and password:

    "config": {
        "network-interface":{
            "help": "options are ETHERNET,WIFI_ESP8266,WIFI_ODIN,MESH_LOWPAN_ND,MESH_THREAD",
            "value": "WIFI_ESP8266"
        },
        "esp8266-tx": {
            "help": "Pin used as TX (connects to ESP8266 RX)",
            "value": "PTD3"
        },
        "esp8266-rx": {
            "help": "Pin used as RX (connects to ESP8266 TX)",
            "value": "PTD2"
        },
        "esp8266-debug": {
            "value": true
        },
        "wifi-ssid": {
            "value": "\"SSID\""
        },
        "wifi-password": {
            "value": "\"Password\""
        }
    }

If you use MESH_LOWPAN_ND or MESH_THREAD you will need to specify your radio module:

    "config": {
        "network-interface":{
            "help": "options are ETHERNET,WIFI_ESP8266,WIFI_ODIN,MESH_LOWPAN_ND,MESH_THREAD",
            "value": "MESH_LOWPAN_ND"
        },
        "mesh_radio_type": {
        	"help": "options are ATMEL, MCR20, SPIRIT1",
        	"value": "ATMEL"
        }
    }

Using Easy Connect from your application

Easy Connect has just one function which will either return a NetworkInterface-pointer or NULL:

#include "easy-connect.h"

int main(int, char**) {
    NetworkInterface* network = easy_connect(true); /* has 1 argument, enable_logging (pass in true to log to serial port) */
    if (!network) {
        printf("Connecting to the network failed... See serial output.\r\n");
        return 1;
    }

    // Rest of your program
}

CR/LF in serial output

If you want to avoid using \r\n in your printouts and just use normal C-style \n instead, please specify these to your mbed_app.json

       "target_overrides": {
        "*": {
            "platform.stdio-baud-rate": 115200,
            "platform.stdio-convert-newlines": true
        }
    }

Extra defines

If you'd like to use Easy Connect with mbed Client then you're in luck. Easy Connect automatically defines the MBED_SERVER_ADDRESS macro depending on your connectivity method (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). Use this address to connect to the right instance of mbed Device Connector.