ESP32 + PyQt = Graphic Interface

Developing a graphical user interface (GUI) using the ESP32 microcontroller and PyQt framework can greatly enhance the user experience of your IoT projects. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of creating a simple GUI interface for controlling an ESP32 device.

Step 1: Setting up the ESP32 board

To get started, you will need an ESP32 development board and the Arduino IDE installed on your computer. Follow the instructions provided by Espressif to set up the ESP32 board in the Arduino IDE.

Once you have installed the necessary board packages, connect your ESP32 board to your computer using a USB cable. Select the correct board and port in the Arduino IDE, and upload a simple sketch to the ESP32 to make sure it is working properly.

Step 2: Installing PyQt

Next, you will need to install PyQt on your computer. PyQt is a set of Python bindings for the Qt application framework, which allows you to create powerful GUI applications with ease.

To install PyQt, open a terminal window and run the following command:

pip install pyqt5

This command will download and install PyQt on your system. Once the installation is complete, you can start building your GUI interface.

Step 3: Creating the GUI interface

To create a GUI interface for your ESP32 device, you will need to create a PyQt application that communicates with the ESP32 over a serial connection. Start by creating a new Python script and importing the necessary modules:

import sys
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QWidget, QPushButton

Next, create a class for your main window and add a method to send commands to the ESP32:

class MainWindow(QWidget):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.initUI()

    def initUI(self):
        self.setGeometry(100, 100, 200, 200)
        self.setWindowTitle('ESP32 Control Panel')

        self.btn = QPushButton('Toggle LED', self)
        self.btn.clicked.connect(self.toggle_led)
        self.btn.setGeometry(50, 50, 100, 50)

    def toggle_led(self):
        # Add code to send command to ESP32
        pass

In the toggle_led method, you can add the code to send commands to the ESP32 over a serial connection. This can be done using the serial library in Python. Open a serial connection to the ESP32 in the initUI method:

import serial

class MainWindow(QWidget):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.initUI()
        self.serial = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB0', 9600)

    def toggle_led(self):
        self.serial.write(b'Toggle LED')

Step 4: Running the GUI interface

To run the GUI interface, create an instance of the MainWindow class and show the main window:

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    mainWindow = MainWindow()
    mainWindow.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

Now you can run the Python script and test the GUI interface. Press the ‘Toggle LED’ button to send a command to the ESP32 and control a LED connected to the board.

Congratulations! You have successfully created a GUI interface for controlling an ESP32 device using the PyQt framework. You can further customize the interface by adding more buttons, sliders, and other widgets to interact with your ESP32 project. Explore the PyQt documentation to learn more about creating advanced GUI applications with PyQt.