ESPUI/README.md

# ESPUI

![ESPUI](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/blob/master/docs/ui_complete.png)

ESPUI is a simple library to make a web user interface for your projects using
the **ESP8266** or the **ESP32** It uses web sockets and lets you create,
control, and update elements on your GUI through multiple devices like phones
and tablets.

ESPUI uses simple Arduino-style syntax for creating a solid, functioning user
interface without too much boilerplate code.

So if you either don't know how or just don't want to waste time: this is your
simple solution user interface without the need of internet connectivity or any
additional servers.

I completely rewrote the EasyUI Library created by ayushsharma82
[Here](https://github.com/ayushsharma82/) Now it uses ESPAsyncWebserver and is
mainly to be used with the ESP32 Processor.

# Important notes

THIS IS THE 2.0.0 development branch

**Roadmap for 2.0.0:**

- ArduinoJSON 6.10.0 Support
- Tabs by engerlingi ISSUE #45
- OptionList by engerlingi
- Better returnvalues
- Min Max on slider
- Accelerometer Widget
- Cleanup Example
- New Documentation

## Dependencies

This library is dependent on the following libraries to function properly.

- [ESPAsyncWebserver](https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncWebServer)
- [ArduinoJson](https://github.com/bblanchon/ArduinoJson) **(VERSIONS 5.x only
  currently)**

**Plus for ESP8266**

- [ESPAsyncTCP](https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncTCP)

**Additionally necessary for ESP32**

- [AsyncTCP](https://github.com/me-no-dev/AsyncTCP)

## How to Install

Make sure all the dependencies are installed, then install like so:

#### Directly Through Arduino IDE (_recommended_)

You can find this Library in the Arduino IDE library manager Go to Sketch >
Include Library > Library Manager > Search for "ESPUI" > Install

#### Manual Install

For Windows: Download the
[Repository](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/archive/master.zip) and extract the
.zip in Documents>Arduino>Libraries>{Place "ESPUI" folder Here}

For Linux: Download the
[Repository](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/archive/master.zip) and extract the
.zip in Sketchbook/Libraries/{Place "ESPUI" folder Here}

For macOs: Download the
[Repository](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/archive/master.zip) and extract the
.zip in ~/Documents/Arduino/libraries/{Place "ESPUI" folder Here}

#### Manually through IDE

Download the [Repository](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/archive/master.zip),
Go to Sketch>Include Library>Add .zip Library> Select the Downloaded .zip File.

## Getting started

ESPUI serves several files to the browser to build up its webinterface. This can
be achieved in 2 ways: _PROGMEM_ or _SPIFFS_

_When `ESPUI.begin()` is called the default is serving files from Memory and
ESPUI should work out of the box!_

But if this causes your program to _use too much memory_ you can burn the files
into the SPIFFS filesystem on the ESP. There are now two ways to do this: you
can either use the ESP file upload tool or you use the library function
`ESPUI.prepareFileSystem()`

#### Simple filesystem preparation (_recommended_)

Just open the example sketch **prepareFileSystem** and run it on the ESP, (give
it up to 30 seconds, you can see the status on the Serial Monitor), The library
will create all needed files. Congratulations, you are done, from now on you
just need to to this again when there is a library update, or when you want to
use another chip :-) Now you can upload your normal sketch, when you do not call
the `ESPUI.prepareFileSystem()` function the compiler will strip out all the
unnecessary that is already saved in the chip's filesystem and you have more
programm memory to work with.

#### Manual way (mainly for development)

To do this download and install me-no-devs wonderful
[ESP32 sketch data uploader](https://github.com/me-no-dev/arduino-esp32fs-plugin)
or for ESP8266
[ESP8266 sketch data uploader](https://github.com/esp8266/arduino-esp8266fs-plugin)

Then open the **gui** example sketch and select "Upload Sketch Data" from the
Tools menu for your processor. Now you are set to go and use any code you want
to with this library

## User interface Elements

- Label (updateable)
- Button
- Switch (updateable)
- Control pad
- Control pad with center button
- Slider
- Text Input (updateable)
- Numberinput (updateable)

Checkout the example for the usage

## Available colors:

- COLOR_TURQUOISE
- COLOR_EMERALD
- COLOR_PETERRIVER
- COLOR_WETASPHALT
- COLOR_SUNFLOWER
- COLOR_CARROT
- COLOR_ALIZARIN
- COLOR_NONE

## Roadmap :

- ~~Setup SPIFFS using values in program memory~~
- ~~ESP8266 support~~
- ~~PlattformIO Integration~~
- ~~Multiline Labels~~
- ~~GZip Files and serve from memory~~
- Datagraph output -> _WIP_
- ~~Number input ~~
- ~~Text input ~~
- Dokumentation for Text and number widget
- Number min and max value
- proper return value (as int and not as string) for slider
- Maybe a slider range setting, meanwhile please use _map()_

## Documentation

The heart of ESPUI is
[ESPAsyncWebserver](https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncWebServer). ESPUI's
frontend is based on [Skeleton CSS](http://getskeleton.com/) and jQuery-like
lightweight [zepto.js](https://zeptojs.com/) for Handling Click Events Etc. The
communication between the _ESP32_ and the client browser works using web
sockets. ESPUI does not need network access and can be used in standalone access
point mode. All assets are loaded from the internal SPIFFS filesystem of the
ESP32.

This section will explain in detail how the Library is to be used from the
Arduino code side. As of now the Facilino blocks are not implemented. In the
arduino setup() routine the interface can be customised by adding UI Elements.
This is done by calling the corresponding library methods on the Library object
ESPUI. Eg: `ESPUI.button(“button”, &myCallback);` creates a button in the
interface that calls the “myCallback” function when changed. All buttons and
items call their callback whenever there is a state change from them. This means
the button will call the callback when it is pressed and also again when it is
released. To separate different events an integer number with the event name is
passed to the callback function that can be handled in a `switch(){}case{}`
statement. Here is an overview of the currently implemented different elements
of the UI library:

#### Button

![Buttons](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/blob/master/docs/ui_button.png)

Buttons have a name and a callback value. They have one event for press and one
for release.

#### Switch

![Switches](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/blob/master/docs/ui_switches.png)

Switches sync their state on all connected devices. This means when you change
their value they change visibly on all tablets or computers that currently
display the interface. They also have two types of events: one for turning on
and one for turning off.

#### Buttonpad

![control pads](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/blob/master/docs/ui_controlpad.png)

Button pads come in two flavours: with or without a center button. They are very
useful for con-trolling all kinds of movements of vehicles or also of course our
walking robots. They use a single callback per pad and have 8 or 10 different
event types to differentiate the button actions.

#### Labels

![labels](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/blob/master/docs/ui_labels.png)

Labels are a nice tool to get information from the robot to the user interface.
This can be done to show states, values of sensors and configuration parameters.
To send data from the code use `ESP.print(labelId, “Text”);` . Labels get a name
on creation and a initial value. The name is not changeable once the UI
initialised.

Labels automatically wrap your text. If you want them to have multiple lines use
the normal `<br>` tag in the string you print to the label

#### Slider

![labels](https://github.com/s00500/ESPUI/blob/master/docs/ui_slider.png)

The Slider can be used to slide through a value from 1 to 100. Slides provide
realtime data, are touch compatible and can be used to for example control a
Servo. The current value is shown while the slider is dragged in a little bubble
over the handle.

#### Initialisation of the UI

After all the elements are configured you can use `ESPUI.begin(“Some Title”);`
to start the UI interface. (Or `ESPUI.beginSPIFFS(“Some Title”);` respectively)
Make sure you setup a working network connection or AccesPoint **before** (See
example). The web interface can then be used from multiple devices at once and
also shows an connection status in the top bar. The library is designed to be
easy to use and can still be extended with a lot of more functionality.

# Notes for Development

If you want to work on the HTML/CSS/JS files, do make changes in the
`examples/gui/data` directory. When you need to transfer that code to the ESP,
run `tools/prepare_static_ui_sources.py -a` (this script needs python3 with the
modules htmlmin, jsmin and csscompressor). This will generate a) minified files
next to the original files to be uploaded with the ESP32 sketch data uploader
mentioned above and b) the C header files in `src` that contain the minified and
gzipped HTML/CSS/JS data (which are used by the **prepareFileSystem** example
sketch or when they are served from PROGMEM; see above in the section "Getting
started"). Alternatively, you can duplicate the `examples/gui` directory and
work on the copy. Then specify the `--source` and `--target` arguments to the
`prepare_static_ui_sources.py` script (run the script without arguments for
help).

If you don't have a python environment, you need to minify and gzip the
HTML/CSS/JS files manually. I wrote a little useful jsfiddle for this,
[see here](https://jsfiddle.net/s00500/yvLbhuuv/).

If you change something in HTML/CSS/JS and want to create a pull request, please
do include the minified versions and corresponding C header files in your
commits.

# Contribute

Liked this Library? You can **support** me by sending me a :coffee:
[Coffee](https://paypal.me/lukasbachschwell/3).