[If you have magicblocks hardware modules skip this step]
Magicblocks Code Builder is the interface where you can generate the firmware for your IoT device which is already registered in your device manager. In this article we wish to share how to configure, generate and download the firmware to your device. To learn about adding hardware to Magicblocks device manager, please refer Lesson 3
Step 1:
Log in to magicblocks.io and click on Code Builder Tab add select device type tab. You will see that the code builder can build code for multiple device types. Click on your preferred device type. The following are supported at present:
- ESP8266 based hardware - It can be anything ranging from ESP 01 to 12F including the MagicWiFi device by magicblocks. However if you purchased a MagicWiFi device it comes with the firmware and therefore you do not need to build and deploy the firmware by yourself.
- Magic Shield - This is the Arduino compatible shield by magicblocks. It also comes with the firmware and therefore you do not need to build and deploy the firmware by yourself.
There are several customizable options for building the firmware which we will walk you through in the next few steps.
Step 2:
Select your device from Select Device Drop down menu. Note that you need to have added the device in the device manager to continue with this step. This will ensure that the device ids and the authentication keys are built into the firmware automatically.
Step 3:
Set SoftAP SSID to your device. In the following lessons you will learn that the device will act as a WiFi Access Point as well as a WiFi client. While the WiFi client connects to an already available WiFi network for cloud connectivity, the WiFi Access Point will be needed for you to connect to the device and configuration. You need to set the SSID (WiFi network name) for your device in the SoftAP SSID field. It can be any alphanumeric name upto 32 characters.
Step 4:
- Set WiFi Access point security mode
- Open: This will be the default mode, anyone can access this device without using a password. Since this means anyone can connect to your device and configure it, it is only recommended for testing purposes
- WPA2: In this mode device can be only accessed for configuration by entering the password. Can be any alphanumeric name up to 32 characters.
If you are a beginner set this to Open
- Set SSID Broadcast Mode:
- Disabling this will disable the SSID broadcast of the WiFi Access Point mode which is used for configuration. This means that the device cannot be easily located by an attacker.
- Indicator Status - If enabled it will indicate the connection status of the device to the cloud using the builtin LED
- Solid : No Network
- Blink : Connecting to Network
- Off : Connected to Network
If you are a beginner enable this option
Step 5:
Once you are done , click on the 'Build' button. The system will take some time to build your code. Once it is finished the download should start automatically. Now you will have the .bin file to be flashed to the device.
