Having wifi default to client mode but revert to wifi AP if network is not available

marcmerlin · November 10, 2024, 6:52pm

For my LED wearable, I have my ESP32 do similar things as pixelblaze, and there is one feature I would much like to have pixelblaze offer too if I want to be able to switch to it from my own older solution:
My code is setup to a be wifi client and when at home, will connect to my wifi.
However if I’m not home, it fails to connect to wifi, detects that, and then switched to access point mode on its own so my phone can connect to it.
After next reboot, it tries client mode again first.
Pixelblaze seems to force me to pick one or the other (client or AP) and the way to switch between them is a bit cumbersome.
Yes, I could have my phone act as a wifi access point, but that’s not very palatable because of the extra battery draw that causes.

If that helps, that’s the coe I use to do wifi client first and then switch to AP

github.com

marcmerlin/NeoMatrix-FastLED-IR/blob/da6fcead6c110d1a48c1fe5a1e0618da658d03f1/NeoMatrix-FastLED-IR.ino#L4876


      
          	return;
              }
          
              // else assume the path is a filename to read on the FS
              // this is also not safe, it allows jumping outside the root path with "../foo"
              // but on ESP32, there is nowhere to go, so who cares?
              p->renderHttpResponseHeader("text/plain", 200);
              while (PutFileLine(w, request.path)) { w.putf("\n"); };
          }
          
          void connectionStatus(const char *ssid, bool trying, bool failure, bool success)
          {
            static uint8_t failure_cnt = 0;
            static bool ap = false;
            const char *what = "?";
          
            if (trying)       { what = "trying"; }
            else if (failure) { what = "failure"; failure_cnt++; }
            else if (success) { what = "success"; failure_cnt = 0; }
          
            Serial.printf("%s: connectionStatus for '%s' is now '%s' fail cnt: %d\n", __func__, ssid, what, failure_cnt);

Related to this,

It seems that ESP32 allows being both a wifi client and wifi AP. Does the pixelblaze support this? It would be great for it to connect to my home wifi if it’s there and broadcast its own stable wifi AP whether I’m home or in the field.
the $9 Vrabocry controller supports doing bluetooth, on what I assume is an ESP32 inside. Of course that means it needs its own android app, but it’s nice to talk to it without having to disconnect from wifi and connect to a new wifi AP on my phone (sadly newer versions of android do not allow a local network only route to a wifi AP and doing all other network routing via cell, so if you connect to a wifi device like pixelblaze, you lose internet connectivity on the phone)

marcmerlin · November 19, 2024, 12:50am

I filed an RFE bug so that this can be considered (which of course doesn’t mean it will happen): Having wifi default to client mode but revert to wifi AP if network is not available · Issue #23 · simap/pixelblaze · GitHub

jeff · November 19, 2024, 1:59am

Hey Marc - this seems like a pretty clever and convenient behavior. What do you think of this, @wizard?