ESPShaker

ESP8266 interactive serial command processor via Arduino core.
MQTT client and EEPROM access are available in version 1.1 or later.

It is implemented several APIs provided by ESP8266 arduino core so that they can be executed with interactive commands. You can control esp8266 interactively with the command via serial interface. With ESPShaker you can investigate the behavior of ESP8266, without having to write program code every time.
Since ESPShaker does not use the AT SDK provided by Espressif Systems, it can examine the pure behavior by ESP8266 arduino core.

Features

• Implemented a commonly used basic WiFi API to the command
• Supports WIFI_AP, WIFI_STA, WIFI_AP_STA mode
• Supports SmartConfig with ESP-TOUCH
• GPIO port I/O
• SPIFFS file system handling
• Supports EEPROM read and write
• Built in Web server with http GET/PUT handling and DNS server, mDNS service
• It can build simple web pages interactively for http response
• MQTT message publish/subscribe providigation(Depends on PubSubClient library)
• Batch execution for a series of commands

Works on

It has tested on NodeMCU v1.0 module (ESP-12E). Other ESP8266 modules will also work, but its sketch size exceeds 370KB. It may not work on prior modules such as ESP-01.
Required Arduino IDE is current upstream at the 1.8 level or later, and also ESP8266 Arduino core 3.0.0.

Installation

Download ESPShaker file as a zip from this repository, and extract the resulting folder into your Arduino sketch folder and build it with Arduino IDE. In addition to this file, following external libraries are required.

• ESP8266Ping: For the ping command.
• PageBuilder: For html page dynamic creation.
• PseudoPWM: For LED blinking.
• PubSubClient: For subscribing and publishing messages according to the MQTT protocol.

Then open the serial monitor and reset the ESP8266 module. If ESPShaker is working properly the current WiFi status will be displayed on the serial monitor. The serial monitor's baudrate is 115200 bps.

Usage

What you need to recognize is that the API sequence is important for proper communication with ESP8266. In other words, you can explore the error caused by the wrong sequence of the owned code. It will also be useful for analysis of unexpected return codes.
Usage is simple. Connect ESP8266 module to PC and start the serial monitor. Then enter the following command. A specific API is called and its response is displayed on the serial monitor. ESPShaker also works with other serial terminal utilities. Local echo setting is needed.

General commands sequence

• AP

  mode ap
  apconfig 192.168.4.1 192.168.4.1 255.255.225.0
  softap myssid mypassword
  ...here, you will connect the access point named myssid from your wi-fi client device.
  http on /hello Hello, world!
  start web
  ...here, you can access the web server in ESPShaker at http://192.168.4.1/hello
  start mdns mywebserver http tcp
  ...here, you can access the web server in ESPShaker at http://mywebserver.local/hello
  

• STA

  mode sta
  begin anyssid password
  -> some connection status response
  http get http://some.where.url/
  -> some response from server
  

• AP_STA

  mode apsta
  begin anyssid password
  -> WiFi.Status(WL_CONNECTED)
  apconfig 192.168.4.1 192.168.4.1 255.255.225.0
  softap myssid mypassword
  http on /hello Hello, world!
  start web
  start mdns mywebserver http tcp
  ... 
  

Commands

Syntax

command [operand [...]]

Enter command and operand separated by blanks. Depending on the command, it may need to specify more than one operand. The command terminated by LF code (\n). Therefore, it is necessary to terminate the serial monitor transmission with LF by ENTER key.

Command summary

Command	Description	Used Arduino core's API
apconfig	Set IP addresses of AP mode	WiFi.softAPConfig
autoconnect	Set auto connect validity	WiFi.setAutoConnect
begin	Begin WiFi communication	WiFi.begin
config	Change IP configuration settings disabling the dhcp client	WiFi.config
delay	Delay milliseconds	delay
discon	Disconnect WiFi	WiFi.disconnect
eeprom	read and write eeprom data	EEPROM.read, EEPROM.write
event	Notify WiFi event occurrence	WiFi.onEvent
fs	SPIFFS file system handling	SPIFFS
gpio	GPIO access	deigitalRead, digitalWrite
http	Issues HTTP GET method or Register web page	HTTPClient.begin and get, ESP8266WebServer.addHandler
hostname	Sets or Gets host name	WiFi.hostname
mode	Set Wi-Fi working mode	WiFi.mode
mqtt	MQTT message publish/subscribe	Depends on PubSubClient library
ping	Let ICMP Ping a remote host.	ESP8266Ping
persistent	Set whether to store WiFi working mode in flash memory	WiFi.persistent
reset	Reset esp8266 module	ESP.reset
scan	Scan all available APs	WiFi.scanNetworks
show	Display the current IPs the module has	WiFi.localIP and Others
sleep	Set sleep type or enter a deep sleep	WiFi.setSleepMode or ESP.deepSleep
smartconfig	Configure new SSID with ESP-TOUCH	WiFi.beginSmartConfig
softap	Start SoftAP operation or stops it	WiFi.softAP
start	Start Web server or DNS server	ESP8266WebServer.begin or DNSServer.start
station	Display number of stations current connected SoftAP	WiFi.softAPgetStationNum
status	Display current connection status of station	WiFi.status
stop	Stop server	ESP8266WebServer.close or DNSServer.stop
wps	Begin WPS configuration	WiFi.beginWPSConfiguration

The WiFi object is an exported instance of ESP8266WiFiClass described in ESP8266WiFi.h. The HTTPClient is defined in ESP8266HTTPClient.h. ESP8266WebServer is defined in ESP8266WebServer.h and DNSServer class is declared in DNSServer.h.
Enter help or ? will display commands list.

Command specifications

1. apconfig
   Configure IPs of AP mode operation.

   apconfig [AP_IP] [GW_IP] [NETMASK]
   

   AP_IP : AP's local IP address. If not specified, 192.168.4.1 is assumed as the default.
   GW_IP : Gateway IP address. If not specified, 192.168.4.1 is assumed as the default.
   NETMASK : Subnet mask. If not specified, 255.255.255.0 is assumed as the default.

2. autoconnect
   Set the ESP8266 Station to connect to the AP (whose ID is cached) automatically or not when powered on.

   autoconnect on | off
   

   on : Auto-connect on.
   off : Auto-connect off.

3. begin
   Connect to the AP and starts working the WiFi station. Specified SSID and PASSPHRASE would be saved to the flash in ESP8266 module.

   begin [SSID [PASSPHRASE]] [#wait]
   

   SSID : SSID that should be connected.
   PASSPHRASE : Passphrase.
   #wait : Wait for WiFi connection status changed.
   If SSID or PASSPHRASE omitted, the previous value in the flash will be used.
   For #wait option is specified, it waits for the next command processing until WiFi connection status transition. This option is useful when storing a series of commands in a file and executing as batch process. For batch processing, refer to Batch process.

4. confg
   Change IP configuration settings disabling the dhcp client with STA mode.

   config IP GW [NETMASK] [DNS1] [DNS2]
   

   The config command assigns a static IP address to ESP8266 with STA mode. This command is invalid in AP mode.
   DHCP is enabled while this command not used and an IP address will be assigned by DHCP server with WiFi.begin.

   IP : An IP address to be assigned to ESP8266.
   GW : Gateway address.
   NETMASK : Sub netmask. The default value is 255.255.255.0.
   DNS1 : A primary DNS address. If this parameter missed the gateway address will be assumed.
   DNS2 : A secondary DNS address. The default value is 0.0.0.0.

5. delay
   Pauses the program for the amount of time in milliseconds.

   delay MILLISECONDS
   

   MILLISECONDS : The amount time to delay in milliseconds uint.
   'delay' command is almost for batch processing.

6. discon
   Disconnects Wi-Fi.

   discon [ap]
   

   ap : Disconnect station from ESP8266 in SoftAP mode by WiFi.softAPdisconnect. If this operand is not specified, it disconnects ESP8266 from the access point by WiFi.disconnect.

7. eeprom
   Read and write to EEPROM.

   eeprom addr [ADDRESS]
   eeprom clear BYTE LENGTH
   eeprom write DATA
   eeprom read LENGTH
   

   • eeprom addr [ADDRESS] : Display current EEPROM address, If ADDRESS is specified then the current address changed to it.
   • eeprom clear BYTE LENGTH : Fill the area of LENGTH size from the current address with BYTE.
   • eeprom write DATA : Writes DATA to the current address of EEPROM.
   • eeprom read LENGTH : Display data with LENGTH size from the current address of EEPROM.

   The each parameter as ADDRESS, LENGTH, BYTE and DATA are hexadecimal. BYTE is 2-digits hexadecimal is actually. DATA can be specified with continuous long hexadecimal digit like as 68656c6c6f2c20776f726c64. The clear, write and read commands automatically increment the current EEPROM address. ADDRESS ranges from 0 to FFF are valid and if the address reached at end of EEPROM, it rounds to 0.

8. event
   Detects events with WiFi.onEvent method and displays events.

   event on | off
   

   on : Displays that an event has occurred.
   off : No happens at events, but the callback on onEvent remains yet.
   When an event occurs, its message would be displayed as the below.

   > softap esp8266ap 12345678
   > event on
   [event]:7 (WIFI_EVENT_SOFTAPMODE_PROBEREQRECVED)
   [event]:7 (WIFI_EVENT_SOFTAPMODE_PROBEREQRECVED)
   ... WiFi client was connected.
   [event]:5 (WIFI_EVENT_SOFTAPMODE_STACONNECTED)

9. fs
   Handles SPIFFS file system.

   fs start
   fs dir | info
   fs format
   fs file PATH
   fs remove PATH
   fs rename PATH NEW_PATH
   

   • fs start : Mounts SPIFFS file system and starts FS API. Just launching ESPShaker does not mount SPIFFS. It is necessary to mount it with fs start command before starting FS operation.
   • fs dir | info command displays the information of directory or file system.
     • dir : Display directory list.
     • info : Display the file system information.
   • fs format : Formats the file system.
   • fs file PATH : Reads from file specified PATH and displays read data.
   • fs remove PATH : Remove file specified PATH.
   • fs rename PATH NEW_PATH : Rename file specified PATH to NEW_PATH.

10. gpio
    Gets or sets GPIO port value.

gpio get PORT_NUM
gpio set PORT_NUM low | high

'gpio' command operates on the specified GPIO. It is available 0 (GPIO0) to 16 (GPIO16) but there are limitations. The following is a quote from ESP8266 Arduino Core's documentation:

The diagram below shows pin mapping for the popular ESP-12 module. Digital pins 6—11 are not shown on this diagram because they are used to connect flash memory chip on most modules. Trying to use these pins as IOs will likely cause the program to crash.

So 6 to 11 can not be specified for safety reasons.

• get PORT_NUM : Reads the status of GPIO specified PORT_NUM. The port value is read digitally and is either LOW or HIGH. At that time the pinMode is not changed.
• set PORT_NUM low | high : Sets the specified PORT_NUM to low or high.

11. hostname
    Sets or Gets host name.

hostname [HOSTNAME]

A hostname command gets the DHCP hostname assigned to ESP station or sets to hostname with specified HOSTNAME parameter.
HOSTNAME : A host name of station to be set. This parameter missing, show the current hostname.

12. http
    Issues the GET method to specified Web site or define web page as plain texts.

http get URL
http on URI PAGE_CONTENT

• 'http get' command issues a GET method to the URL and displays the response of the content including the header from server.
  URL : Specify url to GET like http://www.example.com/bar.html.

• 'http on' command dynamically creates a simple web page consisting only of text with the following operands.
  URI : Specify uri of the simple web page to be created.
  PAGE_CONTENT : A page content text. However, it can include simple HTML tags. It is also possible to specify content files on SPIFFS. Specify by appending the prefix file: to the file name, it will automatically read that file.

• e.g.

  • http get http://www.google.com/ will display the response from the Google server. At this time, ESP8266 module must be connected to Internet via the other AP with STA mode or AP_STA mode.
  • http on /hello Hello, world! creates 'Hello, world!' page in the embedded Web server of ESPShaker. When a client such as a smartphone accesses the uri that is running the ESPShaker embedded web server, its web page prepared by http on is available.

  
  
  
  In the above, switch to SoftAP mode and register /hello page contents with 'http on' command. Then start and access the embedded Web server with 'start web' command. A response from /hello looks like as below. If not registered page is accessed a response of 404 will appear.
  
    

13. mode
    Set Wi-Fi working mode to Station mode (WIFI_STA), SoftAP (WIFI_AP) or Station + SoftAP (WIFI_APSTA), and save it in flash. Immediately after resetting, the default mode is SoftAP mode.

mode ap | sta | apsta | off

ap : Set WIFI_AP mode.
sta : Set WIFI_STA mode.
apsta : Set WIFI_APSTA mode.
off : Shutdown Wi-Fi working.

14. mqtt
    Publish/subscribe messages between ESP8266 and a server using the MQTT protocol. The actual execution of this command is based on the PubSubClient library. The mqtt command does not definitely the native support for MQTT over Websockets.

    mqtt server SERVER [PORT]
    mqtt con CLIENT_ID USER PASSWORD
    mqtt pub TOPIC PAYLOAD [#r]
    mqtt sub TOPIC [QoS] | stop
    mqtt close
    

    • mqtt server SERVER [PORT] : Sets the MQ Telemetry Transport message broker address as the server and specifies used port.
      • SERVER : The mqtt broker address. It can be specified domain or IP address.
      • PORT : Port used for MQTT protocol. Default port is 1883. To use encrypted communication with TLS, specify 8883. ESPShaker does not supported client certificate with port 8884.
    • mqtt con CLIENT_ID USER PASSWORD : Connects ESP8266 as a CLIENT_ID to the server along with specified USER and PASSWORD.
      • CLIENT_ID : The identifier string that identifies a MQTT client. Each identifier must be unique to only one connected client at a time.
      • USER : Specify the user name to connect to the server.
      • PASSWORD : Specify the password to connect to the server.
    • mqtt pub TOPIC PAYLOAD [#r] : Publishes a message described in PAYLOAD to the specified TOPIC.
      • TOPIC : The message topic.
      • PAYLOAD : The message payload.
      • #r : Retains the message in the server and pass it to the new subscriber.
    • mqtt sub TOPIC [QoS] : Subscribes to messages.
      • TOPIC : Specify the topic to subscribe.
      • QoS : Subscribe at 0 or 1. Default is 0.
    • mqtt sub stop : Stops subscriptions for recently specified topic.
    • mqtt close : Stops all subscriptions and close the connection with the server. However, the server information set by mqtt server is retained.

    To send and receive messages with the mqtt command, first specify the server with the mqtt server. Then connect as client with the mqtt con. For example, the MQTT message using Watson IoT on IBM Bluemix is as follows.

    > mqtt server YOUR_ORG.messaging.internetofthings.ibmcloud.com 8883
    > mqtt con d:YOUR_ORG:DEVICE_TYPE:DEVICE use-token-auth DEVICE_TOKEN
    > mqtt sub iot-2/cmd/+/fmt/json
    > mqtt pub iot-2/evt/eid/fmt/json {"d":{"GPIO2":false}}
    [info] mqtt topic:iot-2/cmd/cid/fmt/json
    [info] mqtt payload(13):
    000 7b 22 52 53 54 22 3a 22 ef bc 90 22 7d {"RST":"０"}

    This procedure publish an evt event as {"d":{"GPIO2":false}} while subscribing to cmd topic. When cmd as ** {"RST":"０"}** coded by UTF-8 is published to the server, its payload is displayed automatically.

15. ping
    Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts.

    ping REMOTE_HOST
    

    REMOTE_HOST : A remote host that should be let a pinged. It is IP address or domain can be specified.

    ICMP packet sends 5 times. If Ping succeeds, its average response time is displayed.

16. persistent
    Set whether to store WiFi working mode in flash memory.

    persistent on | off
    

    on : Store WiFi working mode in ESP8266's flash memory.
    off : WiFi current working mode is not stored. It would be restored previously after reset.
    The working mode at the time when persistent is on is not memorized. It would be memorized from after setting on.

17. reset
    Reset the module.

    reset
    

    This command invokes ESP.reset() function.

18. scan
    Scan all available APs.

scan

19. show
    Display current module saved values as follows.

show

The show command allows displaying the following information.

• Auto-connect setting.
• Host name.
• SoftAP MAC Address.
• SoftAP IP address.
• Local MAC Address.
• Station local IP address.
• Gateway IP address.
• Subnet mask.
• Saved SSID.
• Saved PSK.
• BSSI.
• RSSI.
• Chip configuration.
• Free heap size.

20. sleep
    Set sleep mode or embarks a deep sleep.

    sleep none | light | modem
    sleep deep SLEEP_TIME
    

    • sleep command sets wifi sleep type for power saving.
      • none : Disable power saving.
      • light : Enable Light-sleep mode.
      • modem : Enable Modem-sleep mode.
    • 'sleep deep' command invokes ESP.deepSleep API. It automatically wakes up when SLEEP_TIME out.
      Upon waking up, ESP8266 boots up from setup(), but GPIO16 and RST must be connected. For reference, GPIO16 is assigned to D0 on ESP-12 (NodeMCU) and is not connected to external pin with ESP-01.
      • SLEEP_TIME : Time from deep sleep to waking up (in microseconds unit).

21. smartconfig
    Start or stop Smart Config by ESP-TOUCH.

smartconfig start | stop | done

The Smart Config is based on the ESP-TOUCH protocol developed by Espressif Systems. It is seamlessly configure Wi-Fi devices to connect to the router.
ESP-TOUCH Apps for smartphone are released iOS and Android both. ESP8266 SmartConfig for iOS is here and for Android is here. So it can be established ESP8266 to the new AP which is connected with smartphone already.

• start : Start Smart Config. Transits to this mode, then turns on the SmartConfig Apps on a smartphone manually.
• stop : Stop Smart Config.
• done : Inquiry a status of Smart Config.

22. softap
    Start SoftAP operation.

softap SSID PASSPHRASE CHANNEL

SSID : Specify SSID for SoftAP.
PASSPHRASE : Specify Passphrase for the SSID. CHANNEL : Specify the channel.

23. start
    Start Web server, DNS server, mDNS service.

    start web
    start dns [DOMAIN]
    start mdns HOST_NAME SERVICE PROTOCOL [PORT]
    

    • 'start web' command starts web server inside ESPShaker. The http port assumed #80.
    • 'start dns' command starts DNS server inside ESPShaker. The dns port assumed #53.
      To start the DNS server, the domain name is needed in the operand. It domain's IP address would be assumed SoftAPIP. At DNS server started, the error reply code would be set to DNSReplyCode::NoError.
      • DOMAIN : Specify domain name. It assumes * if specified DOMAIN is missing.
    • 'start mdns' command starts mDNS responder.
      • HOST_NAME : Specify mDNS host name. Actual host name would be resolved as 'HOST_NAME.local'.
      • SERVICE : Specifies the service name to which mDNS responds. Like http for example.
      • PROTOCOL : Specifies the protocol like tcp.
      • PORT : Specifies the port of the service. When service is http, The port operand could be omitted and assumed #80.

24. station
    Display number of connected stations for SoftAP.

    station
    

25. status
    Display current Wi-Fi status.

    status
    

    Display Wi-Fi connection status via WiFi.status() function. The return value described wl_status_t enum.

26. stop
    Stop ESPShaker's internal server.

    stop web | dns
    

    web : Stop Web server.
    dns : Stop DNS server.

27. wps
    Begin WPS configuration.

    wps
    

Batch process

If you use a ordinary terminal emulator instead of the Arduino IDE serial monitor for interactive operation, you can process the commands in batches. In one example, TeraTerm as emulator can upload text file and can be used to continuously process commands.

Prepare consecutive commands in a text file. Include LF in the line feed code. Output it to the port using transmission function for dumb text file such as "Send file" of the serial terminal emulator.

Executed as follows.

ESP8266 UART RX buffer size is 128 bytes also ESPShaker has 128 bytes command buffer. The USB Serial bridge interface fetches the contents of the received packet to the hardware buffer all at once. But ESP8266 SDK does not support hardware flow control and RX interrupt can not be properly controlled from the sketch. So at this way, a whole sending data may not be received.

Change log

[1.4.3] 2021-05-20

• Suppors ESP8266 arduino core 3.0.0.

[1.4.2] 2021-01-26

• Suppors LittleFS filesystem

[1.4.1] 2021-01-20

• Suppors ESP8266 Arduino core release 2.5.0 later

[1.4] 2019-09-03

• Suppors erase operand with config command.

[1.3.3] 2018-11-28

• Suppors ESP8266 Arduino core release 2.4.2

[1.3.2] 2018-05-05

• Fixed help text.

[1.3.1] 2018-04-22

• Fixed to Arduino core 2.4.1

[1.3] 2018-03-22

• Supports config command.
• Supports ping command.

[1.2] 2018-02-17

• Supports hostname command.

[1.1] 2018-01-31

• Supports eeprom command.
• Supports mqtt command.
• Added Arduino core version to show command output.
• Added Chip ID to show command output.
• Added Free heap size to show command output.
• Added RSSI to show command output.
• Added SPIFFS file system size to show command output.
• Added start offset of EEPROM to show command output.
• Suppressed compiler diagnostic as -Wdeprecated-declarations for onEvent method.

[1.04] 2017-12-27

• Changed DOMAIN operand default of start dns command.

[1.03] 2017-12-21

• Supports delay command.
• Supports persistent command.
• Supports file: option in http on command.
• Added #wait option to begin command.
• Added ap option to discon command.
• Modified serial command parser for batch process.

[1.02] 2017-12-08

• Supports fs command.
• Supports gpio command.
• Fixed crash when apconfig command's IP address was not specified.
• Changed apconfig's IP address default value.

[1.01] 2017-12-06

• Supports event command.
• Supports sleep command.
• Supports smartconfig command.
• Supports wps command.
• Added sleep mode status in show command.

[1.0] 2017-11-23

• First Release.

License

ESPShaker is licensed under the MIT License. Copyright © 2017-2018 [email protected]
Arduino-SerialCommand by kroimon licensed under the GNU General Public License.