- Sun Dec 06, 2015 12:47 pm
#35813
I am working on something similar. I have made some progress, but do not have my project where I want it yet...
To get started, I first captured my sensor readings and am posting the readings to ThingSpeak. You might try this first, just to make sure your ESP is doing what you want. ThingSpeak uses HTTP calls (i.e. simply like reading a web page), and you simply include the data readings as fields at the end of your HTTP call. ThingSpeak automatically charts the data points and you get some rapid gratification seeing that your data collection is working. You can even embed their charts in your own website pages potentially getting you closer to what you might be seeking... There are a lot of examples and it is really straight forward, and free to use. But there do seem to be some limitations keeping me from doing everything I want.
My next step down this path is to host my own database for sensor data as well as front end that database with a website for my use case. My current approach is to use the Ruby on Rails framework. This take a little learning if you are new to Ruby and web development concepts like MVC. But Rails excels at automating the process of building interactive API 'endpoints' around a database (such as Postgres or MySQL.) These endpoints would work similarly to the ThingSpeak hosting service HTTP calls mentioned above. So for getting serious about standing up a database driven website, and unless you are strong in some other set of tools, then Rails may be a good approach for you. And there are a tremendous amount of Rails tutorials out there to get started. That said, I have not found much Rails activity in either the ESP or Arduino forums around using Rails specifically with embedded controller data.
Good luck.
- Jay
