Build and update from Visual Studio Code using PlatformIO

This page summarizes all you need to compile and deploy Espurna on Windows 10 with Visual Studio Code (VSCode). VSCode is a free, open source, light IDE from Microsoft.

Install main components

Git for Windows

Download it from https://git-scm.com/download/win (choose appropriate version).

Ensure that it modifies the path variable.

Visual Studio Code

Download it from https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/?dv=win

Ensure that it updates the PATH variable (default option).

Node.js and npm

Download it from https://nodejs.org/en/download/ (more convenient with the Windows Installer (.msi) version)

NPM gets installed with node.js

Restart your computer.

Launch Visual Studio Code. It should detect git (displaying a message in a git pane at the bottom of the window).

Gulp

From VSC, open a terminal (CTRL+SHIFT+` OR CTRL+SHIFT+P and search for Terminal: Create New Integrated Terminal) and run

npm install --global gulp-cli

Install main extensions

From the extensions pane of Visual Studio Code install the following extensions.

Mandatory :

• Platformio IDE

Optionally :

• Python
• GitLens (to show modifications history)

Get the code

Clone https://github.com/xoseperez/espurna.git

For example into C:\Users\{user}\Documents\PlatformIO\Projects\xoseperez-espurna

With VSCode, open xoseperez-espurna\code folder. PlatformIO IDE will start and detect platformio project.

Build and update

Now you can build espurna, including web files, directly from Visual Studio Code.

To build / upload firmware for a specific board, use "Tasks / Run Task..." (CTRL+ALT+T by default) and search for "Build (...)" / "Upload (...)" tasks.

PlatformIO: Build and button on the bottom bar builds 'default' environment specified in 'code/platformio.ini' (wemos-d1mini-relayshield at the time of writing this)

Environment variables for OTA uploads

OTA parameters are now picked up from environment variables.

You need to set them up for every Upload (...) task you want to use. Here's how to do it:

• Press F1 (on Mac it's usually Fn+F1)
• Switch PlatformIO Project Environment from the bottom bar (Optional. Otherwise, default environment from the platformio.ini is used)
• Select Tasks: Configure Task (type a part of the name and click it when it appears)
• Select Upload (...) task you need to use (type a part of the name and click it when it appears)
• An editor for a JSON config opens. You'll see a section added with your task name, ex.:

"type": "PlatformIO",
"task": "Upload (itead-sonoff-th)",
"problemMatcher": [
    "$platformio"
]

• Add the options section before the problemMatcher, so you have this:

"type": "PlatformIO",
"task": "Upload (itead-sonoff-th)",
"options": {
    "env": {
        "ESPURNA_IP": "192.168.4.1",
        "ESPURNA_AUTH": "fibonacci"
    }
},
"problemMatcher": [
    "$platformio"
]

• If you have custom IP or password, put them here. Otherwise, use 192.168.4.1 and fibonacci
• If you have Zeroconf configured, you can use Zeroconf names here, ex: sonoff-kitchen.local
• Save and close the file. Now you can OTA upload this target successfully

To reuse the same environment (like itead-sonoff-th) you will need to manually specify platformio command as a "shell" task. The pro is you can seamlessly support several devices with different IPs and passwords right from the VSCode (ref: Platform.IO documentation).

The example below uses special hardware environment, however it is encouraged to use esp8266-<size>-base environments instead and provide hardware flags via ESPURNA_FLAGS environment variable (e.g. "ESPURNA_FLAGS": "-DITEAD_SONOFF_BASIC")

Here we are declaring "Arbol1" and "Light1" tasks that use the same itead-sonoff-basic environment:

{
    "label": "PlatformIO: Arbol1",
    "type": "shell",
    "command": "platformio run -e itead-sonoff-basic -t upload",
    "options": {
        "env": {
            "ESPURNA_IP": "192.168.1.100",
            "ESPURNA_AUTH": "---"
        }
    },
    "problemMatcher": [
        "$platformio"
    ]
},
{
    "label": "PlatformIO: Light1",
    "type": "shell",
    "command": "platformio run -e itead-sonoff-basic -t upload",
    "options": {
        "env": {
            "ESPURNA_IP": "192.168.1.200",
            "ESPURNA_AUTH": "---"
        }
    },
    "problemMatcher": [
        "$platformio"
    ]
}

Source: @oscarsan1, xoseperez/espurna#1515