Inkplate 5V2 – GET & POST requests
Now that Inkplate is connected to the internet, you will likely want to send and receive data from sensors, messages, your custom APIs, etc. This page contains examples on how to send and receive data on Inkplate via the internet:
GET request
Using client.GET() will enable you to easily download and handle data on Inkplate however you want. Here is an example on how to GET a .html file and print it on Inkplate:
#include "Inkplate.h" //Include Inkplate library to the sketch
#include <HTTPClient.h> //Include HTTP library to this sketch
#include <WiFi.h> //Include ESP32 WiFi library to our sketch
#define ssid "yourssid" // Name of the WiFi network (SSID) that you want to connect Inkplate to
#define pass "yourpassword" // Password of that WiFi network
Inkplate inkplate(INKPLATE_1BIT); // Create an object on Inkplate library and also set library into 1 Bit mode (BW)
void setup()
{
inkplate.begin(); // Init Inkplate library (you should call this function ONLY ONCE)
inkplate.clearDisplay(); // Clear frame buffer of display
inkplate.display(); // Put clear image on Inkplate
inkplate.setTextSize(2); // Set text scaling to two (text will be two times bigger)
inkplate.setCursor(0, 0); // Set print position
inkplate.setTextColor(BLACK, WHITE); // Set text color to black and background color to white
inkplate.println("Scanning for WiFi networks..."); // Write text
inkplate.display(); // Send everything to Inkplate (refresh Inkplate)
int n = WiFi.scanNetworks(); // Start searching WiFi networks and put the number of found WiFi networks in variable
// n
if (n == 0)
{ // If you did not find any networks, show the message and stop the program.
inkplate.print("No WiFi networks found!");
inkplate.partialUpdate();
while (true)
;
}
else
{
if (n > 10)
n = 10; // If you did find any, print name (SSID), encryption and signal strength of first 10 networks
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
inkplate.print(WiFi.SSID(i));
inkplate.print((WiFi.encryptionType(i) == WIFI_AUTH_OPEN) ? 'O' : '*');
inkplate.print('\n');
inkplate.print(WiFi.RSSI(i), DEC);
}
inkplate.partialUpdate(); //(Partial) refresh the screen
}
inkplate.clearDisplay(); // Clear everything in frame buffer
inkplate.setCursor(0, 0); // Set print cursor to new position
inkplate.print("Connecting to "); // Print the name of WiFi network
inkplate.print(ssid);
WiFi.begin(ssid, pass); // Try to connect to WiFi network
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED)
{
delay(1000); // While it is connecting to the network, Inkplate prints a dot every second to show that it is alive.
inkplate.print('.');
inkplate.partialUpdate();
}
inkplate.print("connected"); // If it's connected, notify user
inkplate.partialUpdate();
HTTPClient http;
if (http.begin("http://example.com/index.html"))
{ // Now try to connect to some web page (in this example www.example.com. And yes, this is a valid web page :))
if (http.GET() > 0)
{ // If the connection was successful, try to read content of the web page and print it on screen
String htmlText;
htmlText = http.getString();
inkplate.clearDisplay();
inkplate.setCursor(0, 0);
inkplate.print(htmlText);
inkplate.display();
}
}
else{
}
}
void loop()
{
// Nothing
}
GET request
WiFi.begin()
This function attempts to connect to WiFi
Returns type: wl_status_t
Returns value: Returns wl_status_t enum value
Function parameters:
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
const char* | ssid | Network SSID. |
const char* | passphrase | Optional, depends on WiFi network security certificate |
http.begin()
This function attempts to open a HTTP communication to given url
Returns type: bool
Returns value: Returns true if communication is successful, otherwise returns false.
Function parameters:
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
String | url | Url of the specified website |
http.GET()
This function handles GET requests.
Returns type: int
Returns value: Returns the size of available data
POST request
To send data from Inkplate to a web server, you can use the same built-in WiFiClient class. Let's use ThingSpeak.com, which is a great resource for testing POST and GET requests. By visiting the site, you get a unique URL to which you can send a POST request from Inkplate, and the data will then be visible on the site:
/*
This example will show you how to connect to a WiFi network and send a POST request via HTTP.
We will use ThingSpeak API to see post requests. It's a free API that allows you to store and retrieve data using HTTP.
1. Go to ThingSpeak.com and create a free account
2. Open the Channels tab
3. Create a new channel
4. Create the fields you want to use (this example uses 1 field called field1 and this name must be used when sending data)
5. Open the channel, go to the API Keys tab and copy your Write API Key
6. Enter your API key in the code below
When you send a POST request, open your channel and you will see the graph displaying your sent data.
*/
// Include needed libraries
#include "Inkplate.h"
#include "WiFi.h"
// Create objects from included libraries
Inkplate display(INKPLATE_1BIT);
WiFiClient client;
// Here you can change the interval of sending POST requests (minimum 15 seconds with a free license)
#define POSTING_INTERVAL_IN_SECS 20
// Enter your WiFi credentials
const char *ssid = "";
const char *pass = "";
// ThingSpeak settings
char *server = "api.thingspeak.com";
String writeAPIKey = ""; // Enter your Write API Key
// Variable that holds last connection time
unsigned long lastConnectionTime = 0;
void setup()
{
// Init serial communication
Serial.begin(115200);
// Init Inkplate library (you should call this function ONLY ONCE)
display.begin();
// Clear frame buffer of display
display.clearDisplay();
// Set text color and size
display.setTextColor(BLACK, WHITE);
display.setTextSize(6);
// Display a message
display.printf("HTTP POST request example\n\n");
display.printf("Open Serial Monitor at \n115200 baud rate to see \nwhat's happening");
display.display();
// Connect to the WiFi network
WiFi.mode(WIFI_MODE_STA);
WiFi.begin(ssid, pass);
Serial.print("Connecting to Wifi ");
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED)
{
delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
}
Serial.println();
Serial.print("Connected to WiFi network with IP Address: ");
Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
}
void loop()
{
// Every POSTING_INTERVAL_IN_SECS seconds make the POST request
if ((unsigned long)(millis() - lastConnectionTime) > POSTING_INTERVAL_IN_SECS * 1000LL)
{
// Clear frame buffer of display
display.clearDisplay();
// Connect the WiFi client to the server via port 80
if (!client.connect(server, 80))
{
// If it fails, print a message, update the time, stop the client, and reset the loop
Serial.println("Connection failed");
lastConnectionTime = millis();
client.stop();
return;
}
else
{
// If you have any sensor or something else, here you have to put the data to send instead of a random number
int field1Data = random(40);
// Create data string to send to ThingSpeak
String data = "field1=" + String(field1Data); // shows how to include additional field data in HTTP post
// POST data to ThingSpeak
if (client.connect(server, 80))
{
client.println("POST /update HTTP/1.1");
client.println("Host: api.thingspeak.com");
client.println("Connection: close");
client.println("User-Agent: ESP32WiFi/1.1");
client.println("X-THINGSPEAKAPIKEY: " + writeAPIKey);
client.println("Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
client.print("Content-Length: ");
client.print(data.length());
client.print("\n\n");
client.print(data);
Serial.print("The POST request is done: ");
Serial.println(data);
lastConnectionTime = millis();
delay(250);
}
}
client.stop();
}
}
WiFi.mode()
This function sets the MCU WiFi chip as STA or AP.
Returns type: bool
Function parameters:
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
wifi_mode_t | mode | WiFi mode value, can be either WIFI_MODE_STA or WIFI_MODE_AP |
WiFi.begin()
This function attempts to connect to WiFi
Returns type: wl_status_t
Returns value: Returns wl_status_t enum value
Function parameters:
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
const char* | ssid | Network SSID. |
const char* | passphrase | Optional, depends on WiFi network security certificate |
http.begin()
This function attempts to open a HTTP communication to given url
Returns type: bool
Returns value: Returns true if communication is successful, otherwise returns false.
Function parameters:
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
String | url | Url of the specified website |