Hello readers, I hope you all are doing great. In this tutorial, we will learn how to access Firebase (a real-time database) to store and read values or data with ESP32.
It is Google’s mobile application development platform that can be used to can access, monitor and control ESP32 from anywhere in the world with its (firebase) real-time database.
Firebase real-time database is a development platform provided by Google which included multiple services to manage and authenticate data.
Firebase is basically a mobile and web app development platform I as works great with Android APIs) that includes features like firebase cloud, real-time data and Firebase authentication etc.
As per Firebase’s official documentation (https://firebase.google.com/docs/database), whenever a user creates a cross-platform application like with Android, or Apple, JavaScript SDKs, all the clients share a single.
Fig. 1 Firebase Real-time database and ESP32
The main features of the Firebase Real-time database are:
The IoT or Internet of Things is the interconnection of physical objects or devices with sensors and software accessing capabilities to communicate data or information over the internet.
To build an IoT network, we need an interface medium that can fetch, control, and communicate data between sender and receiver electronics devices or servers.
Firebase real-time database provides a platform to store data collected from sensors at the level device. Firebase works great with Android APIs.
Firebase is particularly useful in data-intensive Internet of things (IoT) applications to store from sensors and synch that data between users in real-time. For simplicity or better understanding we can say that it is a cloud service provided by Google for real-time collaborative apps.
The steps involved in creating a Firebase project are:
Fig. 2 Get started
Fig. 3 Create a project
Fig. 4 project name
Fig. 5 Enabling Google Analytics
Fig. 6 Project Created successfully
As per the official firebase documentation at: https://firebase.google.com/docs/auth , the identity of a user is required by most online services or mobile applications or we can say , it handles authentication process and logging in (in this tutorial, the ESP32). Getting to know the identity of a user enables an application to save user data securely in the cloud and provide a consistent personalized service across all of the customer's devices (android phones, computers, applications etc).
Fig. 7 Authentication
Fig. 8 Select authentication method
Next thing is creating a real-time database for the project.
Fig. 9 Real-time database
Fig. 10 Creating database
Fig. 11
Fig. 12 select location
Fig. 13 Accessing project API key
We are using Arduino IDE to compile and upload code into the ESP32 module. You must have the ESP32 board manager installed on your Arduino IDE to program the ESP32 module. To know more about Arduino IDE and how to use it, follow our previous tutorial i.e., on ESP32 programming series. The link is given below:
https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/2021/11/introduction-to-esp32-programming-series.html
Steps to add the necessary libraries in Arduino IDE:
Fig. 14 manage libraries
Fig. 15 Install Firebase ESP Client Library
//--add necessary header files
#include <WiFi.h>
#include <Firebase_ESP_Client.h>
#include "addons/TokenHelper.h" //Provide the token generation process info.
#include "addons/RTDBHelper.h" //Provide the real-time database payload printing info and other helper functions.
// Insert your network credentials
#define WIFI_SSID "replace this with your netwrok SSID"
#define WIFI_PASSWORD "replace this with your wi-fi password"
// Insert Firebase project API Key
#define API_KEY "replace this with your API key"
// ----Insert real-time database URL
#define DATABASE_URL "replace this with your project URL"
//----Define Firebase Data object
FirebaseData fbdo;
FirebaseAuth auth;
FirebaseConfig config;
int value = 10;
bool signupSuccess = false;
unsigned long sendDataPrevMillis = 0;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(115200);
WiFi.begin(WIFI_SSID, WIFI_PASSWORD);
Serial.print("Connecting to Wi-Fi");
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED){
Serial.print(".");
delay(100);
}
Serial.println();
Serial.print("Connected with IP: ");
Serial.println(WiFi.localIP() );
Serial.println();
// Assign the api key ( required)
config.api_key = API_KEY;
// Assign the RTDB URL ( required)
config.database_url = DATABASE_URL;
// Sign up status
if (Firebase.signUp(&config, &auth, "", ""))
{
Serial.println("ok");
signupSuccess = true;
}
else{
Serial.printf("%s\n", config.signer.signupError.message.c_str());
}
/* Assign the callback function for the long running token generation task */
config.token_status_callback = tokenStatusCallback; // see addons/TokenHelper.h
Firebase.begin(&config, & auth);
Firebase.reconnectWiFi( true);
}
void loop()
{
if (Firebase.ready() && signupSuccess && (millis() - sendDataPrevMillis >
10000 || sendDataPrevMillis == 0))
{
sendDataPrevMillis = millis();
if (Firebase.RTDB.setInt(&fbdo, "test/int", value))
{
Serial.println("PASSED");
Serial.println("PATH: " + fbdo.dataPath());
Serial.println("TYPE: " + fbdo.dataType());
}
else
{
Serial.println("FAILED");
Serial.println("REASON: " + fbdo.errorReason());
}
value++;
}
}
Before uploading the code in ESP32 board there are some changes you need to make which includes:
Fig. 16 Header files
Fig. 17 Helper libraries
Fig. 18 Insert API key
Fig. 19 RTDB URL
Fig. 20 Firebase Data Objects
Fig. 21 Enter Network credentials
Fig. 22 variable declaration
Fig. 23 Initialize wifi module
Fig. 24 Fetch/obtain the IP address
Fig. 25 configuring API key
Fig. 26 configuring database URL
Fig. 27 sign up status
Fig. 28
Fig. 29 Loop() function
Fig. 30 Select development board and COM port
Fig. 31 Result 1
Fig. 32 Result 2
This concludes the tutorial. I hope you found this of some help and also hope to see you soon with a new tutorial on ESP32.
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