integrate.md

Integrate

The Bricks Arduino library can be used as the foundation for any ESP-based IoT project.

You will need to first set up a gateway as described elsewhere. Once that is in place, internet-enabling ESP projects by creating "skills" is a breeze.

The absolute bare bones for a Brick looks like this:

#include <Bricks.Brick.h>
using namespace Bricks;

void setup() {
  gBrick.initBase();
}

void loop() {
  gBrick.loop();
}

Creating a skill is a simple as picking a keyword and associating a method with it:

#include <Bricks.Brick.h>
using namespace Bricks;

void hello(BRICKS_CALLBACK_SIGNATURE) {
  Serial.print("Message received: ");
  Serial.println(message.value);
}

void setup() {
  gBrick.initBase();
  gBrick.skills[0] = new Skill("hello", &hello);
}

void loop() {
  gBrick.loop();
}

You can now trigger this skill by sending messages via MQTT and the gateway:

/bricks/out/<MAC ADDRESS>/hello
hi!

The Brick will acknowledge that it received and understood the message:

/bricks/in/<MAC ADDRESS>/ack:hello
hi!

If you want to respond with a particular value (for example for sensor readings), you can set the response variable in the skill method:

void hello(BRICKS_CALLBACK_SIGNATURE) {
  strcpy(response, "Hello there");
}

/bricks/in/<MAC ADDRESS>/ack:hello
Hello there

Using init() instead of initBase() automatically adds a base set of skills:

void setup() {
  gBrick.init("My Brick");
}