The getting started guide says
Now I’m unsecure which app to install.
Some questions:
Q1: Is Blynk IoT the successor of Blynk for Arduino?
Q2: Is Blynk IoT the same as Blynk 2.0?
Q3: Is Blynk IoT some kind of more advanced tool for professional developpers but not nescessary for controlling microcontrollers with a smartphone?
Thank you very much in advance for answering these questions.
best regards Stefan
Blynk IoT is the latest version Blynk(legacy)
Yes !! But way more powerful !! Will many new features !! And many more to come !!
Its all about getting your device connecting to the internet and getting / sending data to n from a smartphone or web dashboard. To feel the power of Internet Of Things
Hi Madhukesh,
thank you very much for answering.
In the meantime I was installing Blynk for Arduino and followed the Getting started
At his step
it says: “Create new Project” but it does not write if I should do this with Blynk for Arduino or with the Blynk IoT-App.
As I have installed the Blynk for Arduino-App I would go on with this App. Can I later switch over to the newer Blynk IoT-App or would I have to create my Arduino-codes and “projects” from scratch?
best regards Stefan
I find the answers from @Madhukesh confusing.
I’ll give you my versions…
Yes. What you are referring to as “Blynk for Arduino” is the legacy (now retired and no longer supported) original version of Blynk.
Blynk IoT is the recently launched successor to the original version.
Yes.
Blynk IoT is the official name for what is often referred to as Blynk 2.0
Blynk IoT is the new, improved version of Blynk.
As well as allowing microcontrollers to be controlled via a smartphone, it also provided a web console which works in a similar way to, and in conjunction with, the smartphone app.
It adds some user security features which make it more compatible with a business hierarchy than the old legacy system, as well as some other features that couldn’t really be implemented in the old system because of limitations which have now been designed-out.
Pete.
For the moment, there are two totally separate ecosystems:
What you refer to as “Blynk for Arduino”, but which is now officially referred to as Blynk Legacy or Blynk 0.1.
This uses the old cloud servers (or the now withdrawn local server option) and the old apps.
Blynk IoT (AKA Blynk 2.0) which uses new, different cloud servers, new apps and a web console.
These two ecosystems share nothing in common. other than the name “Blynk”.
Therefore, to answer your question, when using Blynk IoT, you must use the Blynk IoT app, your Blynk IoT account on the Blynk IoT cloud servers, and the Blynk IoT web console.
Once again, there is no connection between the Legacy version of Blynk and Blynk IoT.
There is no import/conversion process to migrate a Blynk Legacy project across to Blynk IoT, as they work differently and use different platforms.
Blynk Legacy will be retired at some point in the future.
The retirement process has already started, and the steps seem to be…
When it comes to starting your new Blynk IoT project, this is best done from the web console.
You need to create a template, and define your datastreams. These can later be assigned to widgets that you add to the app or the web console dashboard.
One last thing…
Please do not keep creating new topics to discuss your lack of understanding of the documentation or the process of getting started with Blynk IoT. Keep it within this topic please.
Pete.
Hi Pete,
thank you very much for clearing things about Blynk legacy and Blynk IoT.
OK I follow your recommendation to ask following up questions in this thread,
and to use Blynk IoT for my project.
Would you think changing the titel to
“questions about getting started with Blynk IoT”
would be confusing or would be good?
best regards Stefan
Topic title changed.
Pete.
Hi Pete,
thank you for changing the title. I have seen that I can change the title too by clicking on the pencil-icon in the titel.
OK So installed Blynk IoT created an account and then created a first template.
But I don’t like this template
How can I delete this first template?
I haven’t found any possability to delete this template?
Pete.
OK got it I go to
https://blynk.cloud/dashboard/login
and log in.
Then I click on the template-icon
I click on the template and the on the upper right corner onto the green Edit-button to activate edit-mode
Having chosen template-mode is indicated through the now green template symbol
By clciking on delete in the upper right corner I can delete the template
I know “templates” from things like powerpoint.
There a template is some kind of a pre-defined foil with some empty elements like a titel or subtitel or maybe a backround-color or backround-picture.
But what does “template” mean in case of Blynk IoT?
OK by creating the tmeplate I have chosen a microcontroller-type: ESP32
I have chosen connection type WiFi.
Is there something additional what a template does?
I followed the steps described here
https://docs.blynk.io/en/getting-started/template-quick-setup
I was able to do
Next thing the quick-setup says is
Is your plan to use the Arduino IDE for programming?
If so, make sure you have the most current Blynk Library installed (1.0.1) and then go to the examples and select the Blynk Edgent example for ESP32 boards. That gives you a “blank slate” Edgent example that you can plug your template and device ID into that sketch, run it and at least get a device online.
Then, you can start adding your code into the main .ino section of the example to build in your desired functionality.
Thats been my simplest way forward. Then you can start playing with the datastreams, web console, etc.
In the web console you need to add your datastreams to the template, and then (optionally) add some web dashboard widgets and link them to these datastreams.
You then need to copy your Template ID and Template name from the code snippet shown in the black box on the Template Info screen and paste it into the top of the example code that you’re using - this needs to be one of the Edgent examples if you want to dynamically provision the WiFi credentials and the auth token.
You also need to un-comment the appropriate board definition for your board, or edit the default board config in the Settings.h tab to suit the board you are using.
You the flash the code to your board in the Arduino IDE.
Once you’ve done this you can go to the app and click Add Device to enable the app to connect to your device and provision it.
Pete.
Hi Pete,
thank you very much for giving this brief introduction on the steps
I was able to create a simple digital datastream for IO-pin 2.
IO-Pin 2 is connected to the onboard-LED of ESP32-nodeMCU-boards.
This means using IO-pin 2 does not require additional hardware.
The sketch named Edgent_ESP32.ino which can be found under
does the macro “USE_WROVER_BOARD” mean all ESP32-boards?
If not where can I find the macros name of the board I am using
which is a ESP32 nodeMCU Dev. Board V1?
best regards Stefan
Digital pin datasteams have only just been added to the web console in the past day or so, and I think this may be for testing. Blynk have made no announcement about them, and the available pins seem odd to me.
More info here:
I’ve not tested them yet (I never used them in Legacy Blynk anyway, so that are of no interest to me) and I’d stick with virtual pins for now at least.
As the onboard LED (if there is one on your board) is used to indicate that the device is in provisioning mode, I’d steer clear of trying to use that for anything else at this stage.
No, it means that the following settings in the Settings.h tab will be used…
#if defined(USE_WROVER_BOARD)
#define BOARD_BUTTON_PIN 15
#define BOARD_BUTTON_ACTIVE_LOW true
#define BOARD_LED_PIN_R 0
#define BOARD_LED_PIN_G 2
#define BOARD_LED_PIN_B 4
#define BOARD_LED_INVERSE false
#define BOARD_LED_BRIGHTNESS 128
If your particular ESP32 has a button attached to GPIO15 and an RGB LED attached to GPIOs 0,2 & 4 then that’s the correct setting to use for your board.
Personally, I’ve never seen an ESP32 with this configuration, which is why I said:
These aren’t macros, they are conditional inclusions, where the code is only compiled if the condition is met.
A you’ll see when you look at the Settings.h tab that if nether #define USE_WROVER_BOARD or #define USE_TTGO_T7 are un-commented then the custom board definition will be used, and a compiler warning will be displayed.
It’s up to you to either edit one of these three definitions existing, or add your own for your particular board.
Pete.
first of all thank you Pete for responding to my question.
Well so many tabs for a simple Blink an LED “project” that is the opposite of
“get your project up and running in 5 minutes”
Where can I find a complete list of all supported boards?
The old Blynk 0.1 / 1.0 legacy -version had this code-template generator. I guess the new Blynk-IoT is designed different and has this not anymore.
Is it possible that you “publish” all things
best regards Stefan
But if you study the code you’ll see that it also incorporates the Blynk.air OTA functionality, as well as the Provisioning functionality.
If you want simpler and less feature-rich sketches then they are included in the examples, or it’s generally a fairly straight forward case of adding the template ID and name to the top of a Blynk legacy sketch and re-compiling with the latest library.
This was the only path available when the product was released for beta testing. there are now other approaches which work, and are being refined, and the documentation is being updated to reflect that. As your requirement is for an unambiguous step-by-step walk-through then I’ve given you one for the process that I know to work.
As I don’t use Blynk in the same way as most users, and don’t run any Blynk code on my devices, I have no need to test-out the other ways of creating templates and datastreams, and provisioning devices. As a result, I can’t comment on the accuracy, validity and readability of the documentation in this area.
Yes.
You’re assuming that this person is a male. Isn’t that a rather inappropriate assumption?
The developers read all of the posts on the forum. If they have a desire to respond to your feedback then I’m sure that they will.
Pete.