HostEd
The hosted component allows Sming’s host emulator to run parts of the commands on an actual microcontroller. The communication is done via simplePRC and the microcontroller has to be flashed with a special application.
Overview
Sming’s host emulator allows easier debugging and development of embedded applications. This component named “Hosted” extends the host emulator and facilitates testing functionality that only a real microcontroller can provide as for example digital I/O operations or SPI operations.
For example in order to run the Basic_Blink application under the host emulator and run the actual blinking of a LED on a microcontroller we can compile the application using the following directives:
make SMING_ARCH=Host ENABLE_HOSTED=tcp HOSTED_SERVER_IP=192.168.4.1
SMING_ARCH=Host
instructs the build system to build the application for the Host architecture.ENABLE_HOSTED=tcp
instructs the host emulator to communicate with the real microcontroller using TCP.HOSTED_SERVER_IP=192.168.4.1
tells the host emulator where the server is running.
We need to compile and flash also a special application on the desired microcontroller. This application will act as an RPC Server and will execute the commands from the host emulator on the microcontroller.
In the samples
directory you will find the sample applications that will turn your microcontroller into
an RCP server.
The compilation and flashing for ESP32, for example, can be done using the following commands:
cd samples/tcp
make SMING_ARCH=Esp32 WIFI_SSID=YourSSID WIFI_PWD=YourPassword
make flash
If you replace SMING_ARCH=Esp32
with SMING_ARCH=Esp8266
then the hosted application will be compiled and flashed on a ESP8266 microcontroller.
Make sure to replace the values of WIFI_SSID and WIFI_PWD with the actual name and password for the Access Point (AP).
Communication
At the moment the communication between an application running on the Host and the RCP server running on a microcontroller can be done using TCP or serial interface.
The transport
classes are located under include/Hosted/Transport
.
Configuration
- ENABLE_HOSTED
Default: empty (disabled)
Enables the hosted component. Valid values for the moment are: -
tcp
for communication over TCP network. -serial
for communication over serial interface
- HOSTED_SERVER_IP
Default: 192.168.13.1
Used only when ENABLE_HOSTED=tcp is specified. Specifies the IP address of the remote RPC server.
- HOSTED_COM_PORT
Default:
COM_PORT
Used only when ENABLE_HOSTED=serial is specified. Specifies which local communication port should be used to connect to the remote RPC server.
- HOSTED_COM_SPEED
Default: 115200
Used only when ENABLE_HOSTED=serial is specified. Specifies the communication baud rate.
API Documentation
-
namespace Hosted
Variables
-
constexpr int COMMAND_NOT_FOUND = -1
-
class Client
- #include <Client.h>
Public Functions
-
template<typename ...Args>
inline bool send(const char *functionName, Args... args) Method to send commands to the remote server.
- Parameters
functionName –
variable – arguments
- Returns
true – on success
-
template<typename R>
inline R wait() This method will block the execution until a message is detected.
- Returns
HostedCommand –
-
inline int getFunctionId(const char *name)
Fetches a list of commands supported on the RPC server and gives back the id of the desired command.
- Parameters
name – command name to query
- Returns
-1 – if not found. Otherwise the id of the function
-
inline bool getRemoteCommands()
Gets list of remote command names and their ids.
- Returns
true – on success, false otherwise
-
template<typename ...Args>
-
class Serial : public Stream
- #include <Serial.h>
Public Functions
-
inline bool begin(uint32_t baud = 9600)
Initialise the serial port.
- Parameters
baud – BAUD rate of the serial port (Default: 9600)
-
inline virtual size_t write(uint8_t c) override
Writes a single character to output stream.
- Parameters
c – Character to write to output stream
- Returns
size_t – Quantity of characters written to output stream
-
inline virtual size_t readBytes(char *buffer, size_t length) override
Read chars from stream into buffer.
Terminates if length characters have been read or timeout (see setTimeout). Returns the number of characters placed in the buffer (0 means no valid data found).
Note
Inherited classes may provide more efficient implementations without timeout.
-
inline virtual size_t write(const uint8_t *buffer, size_t size)
Writes characters from a buffer to output stream.
- Parameters
buffer – Pointer to character buffer
size – Quantity of characters to write
- Returns
size_t – Quantity of characters written to stream
-
inline bool begin(uint32_t baud = 9600)
-
namespace Transport
-
class BaseTransport
- #include <BaseTransport.h>
Subclassed by Hosted::Transport::SerialTransport, Hosted::Transport::TcpTransport
-
class SerialTransport : public Hosted::Transport::BaseTransport
- #include <SerialTransport.h>
-
class TcpClientStream : public Stream
- #include <TcpClientStream.h>
Public Functions
-
inline virtual size_t readBytes(char *buffer, size_t length) override
Read chars from stream into buffer.
Terminates if length characters have been read or timeout (see setTimeout). Returns the number of characters placed in the buffer (0 means no valid data found).
Note
Inherited classes may provide more efficient implementations without timeout.
-
inline virtual size_t write(const uint8_t *buffer, size_t size) override
Writes characters from a buffer to output stream.
- Parameters
buffer – Pointer to character buffer
size – Quantity of characters to write
- Returns
size_t – Quantity of characters written to stream
-
inline virtual size_t write(uint8_t c) override
Writes a single character to output stream.
- Parameters
c – Character to write to output stream
- Returns
size_t – Quantity of characters written to output stream
-
inline virtual size_t readBytes(char *buffer, size_t length) override
-
class TcpClientTransport : public Hosted::Transport::TcpTransport
- #include <TcpClientTransport.h>
-
class TcpServerTransport : public Hosted::Transport::TcpTransport
- #include <TcpServerTransport.h>
-
class TcpTransport : public Hosted::Transport::BaseTransport
- #include <TcpTransport.h>
Subclassed by Hosted::Transport::TcpClientTransport, Hosted::Transport::TcpServerTransport
-
class BaseTransport
-
constexpr int COMMAND_NOT_FOUND = -1
References
Used by
Hosted-Lib Component
Hosted RCP Server over TCP Sample
Environment Variables
SoC support
esp32
esp32c3
esp32s2
esp32s3
esp8266
host
rp2040