The “price” is shown next to widget’s name (within a widget’s storage). Yes, basically this is how it works. The new account has 2000 energy points. It is worth noting, that an app’s dashboard widgets “recycle” the energy (i.e deleted widgets returns energy to your account), while homescreen widgets doesn’t. Some features (like sharing) are not recycleable too (you are informed about it, just read the screen)
Thanks for the confirmation, I did read somewhere that deleted widgets return their energy from the apps dashboard but I do not know what a homescreen is and how or why it differs from an apps dashboard. I have lots to learn.
As in your phone’s home screen, “outside” of the app. I believe the reasoning for the non-refundable energy was that it is not easy to track that type of a widget’s energy allocation once “outside” the app proper.
they are widgets placed not within app itself, but as a widget on your smartphone’s main screen (where you can place it not from app but system’s widgets storage). They are different, but shares the same “energy valet”. This energy is non returnable due to system, not app limitations (that is how i remember dev’s explanations)
oh, @Gunner - you were faster here
@Gunner and @marvin7 Really appreciate your help in understanding Blynk energy usage. Not sure why or how I would ever drop a widget outside of a project screen. It sounds like something I should avoid.
I have been reading the docs and examples and think I am ready to try my first app.
Would you know how much energy 2 buttons (1 sending and 1 receiving) and three sliders (sending) and maybe a text widget consume out of the available 2000 energy units?
I understand that when I delete a widget from a project, its energy gets returned to the available pool of energy.
Question:
When I am done with a project used for learning and testing do I need to delete all of its widgets before I delete the project or can I just delete the project and all the energy consumed by the widgets will automatically get returned to the energy pool?
I plan to use an esp8266 12E board called ESPToy V1.24 and the arduino/esp8266 ide core. It has a push button and a rgb led on it. My idea is Button Widget 1 (sender) toggles the code (enable/disable) that drives the rgb led, Button Widget 2(receiver) changes color when the boards pushbotton us pressed , and the 3 sliders change the color on the rgb led. Not sure what to do with the text widget, maybe just send Hello World upon successful connection to the Blynk Server.
All widgets show their energy allocation right under their name.
There is really no need to delete a project, as you can completely redo it, add/remove/change devices, name, etc. Or just create another one and experiment with it (limited by energy)… but yes, until you return a widget, it will reduce your available energy resources. However adding extra energy is very inexpensive.
Compare with a bank account without bank fees - and a store with unlimited return policy (except for home screen widget and project sharing uses ;))
Check out the Sketch Builder (top right of this page) for many examples that will help you learn. And don’t forget the Docs link, up top as well.
It seems now (or since forever?) deleting project returns energy consumed by all used widgets @Gunner and @tomega3. There is however no info about it - just warning (as opposite to deleting for example page), a note to our devs for future improvements @Pavel
I have a simple, related question: when I elect to allow others to CLONE a project via the QR code, new users want to know (in advance, for budgeting and expense reasons) how much energy it will take? I know that I can tediously count up all of the widgets. But it seems there must be a simple way to just see (perhaps on the Project Settings screen) what my energy requirement is based on current widgets used. How can I do this? Thanks!
There is no screen that shows you this, but I think that when a user tries to import a cloned project they get a message saying “this project requires xxx energy, and you only have yyy energy”.
Hi Pete, what I am seeing on latest iOS app is something like “Needs more energy” but not “…requires xxx energy” which, I agree, would suffice. So my students have to keep buying energy and re-QRing until sufficient energy is reached. I am just looking for way to know how much they can expect to have to buy…much cleaner that way.
Each widget tells you how much energy it costs, so if for example you want 5 button widget at 200 energy units each then that will cost you 1,000 units to add them to your app.
All energy is recyclable, so deleting two of those button widget from the app would increase your available balance by 400 units.
The exception to this is project sharing, which costs a one-off price of 1,000 units.
