grovkillen / esp_easy_flasher

A wrapper for ESPTOOL.exe + PowerShell to make flashing/programming ESP Easy units more streamline

ESP Easy Flasher

INTRO

ESP Easy Flasher is a wrapper for the great ESPTOOL.exe and Power Shell to be able to easily flash and program ESP8266 units with the firmware ESP Easy. All needed files are included in the EXE file, just download it and place it where you want it. It will extract needed file structure and missing files automatically. The idea behind the app is to make the flashing and setup of ESP Easy FW as stream lined as possible. It's still a very early stage but should hopefully be functional for most use-cases.

FLASH FEATURES

+ Flash ESP8266 (+ESP8285) using embedded ESPTOOL.exe [0.4.12]
+ Use maximum baud rate if wanted
+ Use forced DOUT if wanted
+ Monitor serial (COM) port using embedded plink.exe
+ Download new versions from GitHub
- Erase flash (NOT IMPLEMENTED)
- Scan for ESP model + size of mem (NOT IMPLEMENTED)

POST FLASH FEATURES (for ESP Easy 2.0.0+)

+ NO NEED FOR AP MODE setup: set Unit name, number, admin password, Wifi settings, IP, right after flash
+ Activate and upload rules (DEPENDING ON THE CONNECTION TO THE UNIT THIS MIGHT TAKE SOME MINUTES DUE TO LATENCY)

EXTRA INFORMATION

• ONLY WINDOWS is supported (Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7) since it rely on PowerShell v2+ to serial communicate with the units.
• Agency FB is the font used within the app, if not present the app will kindly ask you to drag-and-drop the two font files found in the APP_DATA folder to the FONTS folder (automatically opened).
• Admin rights are needed to be able to get COM port names (driver names).
• BIN files need to be placed in the BIN folder (might change in the future but I plan to automatically download new releases from GitHub)
• Rules (txt) files need to be placed in the Rules folder.
• Log files for each flash will be placed in the Log folder.
• Debug log is created by: save settings and open the ini file, change debug level 0 to 1, restart app and a bug log file will appear in the same place as the exe. Debug logs are sent here, but please add information (email, name etc.) in the text file prior to upload!
• ERROR handling if the flash tool is telling you that an error has occurred, a standard test is to simply reset the unit (if the unit has a switch for this, use that one, else disconnect the cable) and then try again. Flashing over serial is not an exact science.
• Post flash handling after a successful flash you can use the tool to also program the unit over the serial connection. Using the text input fields in the GUI (unit info and wifi settings) you can make the ESP login to your network without the need for it to be connected using the access point mode. BUT, some units have a hard time rebooting after flash (the default way is that the flash tool will make the unit reboot after successful flash). To fix this I have added the functionality of having the application pause right after the flash and prior to the post flash sequence, this allows you to manually reboot/reset a unit that doesn't respond to the serial communication automatically.

I plan add more features on a weekly basis. Thanks for all the feedback!

LEGEND

+ Green is a feature already implemented
- Red is on the todo-list

DISCLAIMER

• GUI is sometimes acting weird. You can fix this by saving (button or ALT + S) the settings and in the Default.ini change the "Pixels Per Inch" to something more or less than the current value. Re-launch the app and it will show up bigger/smaller than before.

esp_easy_flasher's Issues

No COM ports avalible, COM port list empty

Windows 10 1709 (OS Build 16299.125)

ESP Easy Flasher (0.00.013) executed from C:\ESP_Easy_Flasher

Programmer HW:
Silicon Labs CP210x at COM3

Application started ad Administrator. But no com port is shown in the list of avalible COM ports.

How to select the BIN folder

I can Open a Folder, navigate to the specific folder.
But then I can not select a file by clicking on a OK button.
Can you pls explain what I do wrong?
Bart

COM port is already in use. Cannot proceed.

On WIN7 this is the log:

DONE!
(You may disconnect the unit if you want.)
COM port is already in use. Cannot proceed.
Adding settings using SERIAL commands.
Flashing done (76.4s).
Start flashing on COM18 (This might take a minute or two...)

Any idea how to deal with this?

Use standard Windows font

I really like this tool, but sometimes find the text a bit difficult to read. May I propose to use the standard Windows font, so the flasher adapts to the user's preferences?

Rework GUI

Please, rework GUI completely. Use some Windows guidelines. Why is GUI using custom font? GUI is absolutely user unfriendly and font is ugly.

Fixed IP seems not working

@Grovkillen
Not sure if this an App problem or an ESPEasy problem

Using an old Vista PC. (WIN7 still not working)

Flash empty 4K goes well
Flash mega 20181101 goes well
Post flash action with no Admin password, Fixed IP and 2# SSID/Password
Post flash action seems to go well but ...
does not come out of the communication check wait loop at the end.

After termination and reboot:
the terminal shows ... not a valid wifi setting
terminal Settings command shows 0.0.0.0 as IP
terminal IP command accepts my input for a valid IP number.
terminal Save command
terminal Reboot command
After reboot
the terminal shows ... not a valid wifi setting
Settings command shows 0.0.0.0 as IP

Is the terminal IP command not working ??? and therefore the App not working with fixed IP?

Tried without the fixed IP
it does not come out of the communication check wait loop at the end.
After termination and reboot I need to use the terminal to discover the allocated IP,
to use that to change it to a fixed IP

Bin file selection box opens Explorer window only

I'm sure you are probably aware of this but it would be nice if the open folder button allowed you to navigate to and select the folder and file you want. Now it only opens a new explorer window.

Not a big deal. Just thought I'd put this here so you can prioritize it for future improvement.

Load config.dat post flashing

Is it possible do load configurationfile "config.dat (or any other) post flashing automatically?

Feature Request - Identify chip

L.S.,

Recently received a new batch of Sonoff Basic switches. Had a tough time flashing them with ESPEasy.
Found out by accident Sonoff changed the design (yet again) and used ESP8285 on this batch.
I would like to see the chip to be flashed identified somewhere in the UI

i currently identify the chip by running python esptool.py chip_id

Thanks for writing the tool. Much appreciated.
Rob

Json Error

I'm Have this Problem.
At the startup display this error:

Error in ESP.Easy.Flasher.EXE
Line:71 - (1:1) Unquoted string in JSON data only valid for dictionary names.

Thanks

Support for High DPI?

I am running this on a high dpi screen, I guess that is the reason my application window looks like this?

Would be nice if high dpi support could be implemented

Error in:ESP.Easy.Flasher Cannot show dialog

@Grovkillen
Just tried to execute the download 0.02
Run as administrator on WIN7
I see expanding to a number of sub-directories.
But with this error:

Important?

I saw later that ESP.Easy.Flasher is now included in the ESP distribution.
If I execute it there, within the folder, then .... no error message !!

Crashes with "{" or "}" in field values.

I Think the subject says it all. My WIFI password has { and } in the text. ESPEasy Flashes crashes when trying to use this.

2 possible ideas

Hi,
just sending a couple of ideas:

1. would it be possible to load a config file during the flash process?
2. would it be possible to change the IP and wifi settings of an already flashed unit?
   (in other words, assume you have a ESP unit misconfigured and want to change just the IP or wifi SSID)

thanks

Req. .. if possible: Add NTP field to GUI

Not sure if ESPEasy has the serial command possibility, but if so

• Add NTP field to the GUI.
  NTP Server name or number.

Given Name and Number are not used

Given Unit Name and Number are not used in Flash tool. (0.02.000)
Saw a name .. something with ESP_xxx, and no number
(used without Admin PW setting)
Other params. works fine!

Cannot open a PR

Hi,
as I cannot open a PR on your project, I will add here the scp file.
ESP_Easy_Flasher.scp.zip
If you like it just drop me a comment so I know it has been accepted :)

My suggestion is to be able to set the IP, unit, wifi credentials and password even if you don't upload the firmware. In other words to be able to set the POST FLASH activities even without loading a firmware.
To do that I have created a subroutine called START_POST_FLASH that is called if bin file is empty or after the firmware upload.

I couldn't compile the script to test, as I didn't understand the language.
please review my suggested proposal.

Doesn't fit vertically on 768(V) screen

If you do any further work on this handy little application, please change the layout so it can be used on a 768(v) screen. The simplest solution would be to put the serial output at the bottom of the screen. This way the key buttons would be visible.

Thanks again for developing this app.

ESP32 Support?

Any possibility to support ESP32 in the future? Asking for a friend... ;>)

on Windows:Com ports >com9 not found

Greetings,

i recently added a new usb to ttl device to my collection. When plugged in, windows device manager tells me it is recognized and sees it as com10.
i can use it with putty and the likes of that.
The ESP-Easy_Flasher does not see it when attached to the computer.
Is there a limit on the number of com ports it looks for?
i have tried multiple versions of the flasher, including the one in the latest ESPEasy release.

Display scaling

My display is set to 1920 X 1080 on my workbench machine. If anything other than 100% the program window is clipped of and unusable.

uploading rules not working

Hi
used espeasy Flasher,

added rules to rules folder and selected rules

naming rules3.txt and rules4.txt in rules 3 and 4 section.

but after flash, rules are emty in ESPEasy device.

Feature request: Linux

There is powershell core https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell It is the successor to PowerShell.
Would this work ?

No COM Ports found

Ive downloaded the latest version which includes the FlashESP8266 and the ESP.Easy.Flasher but in both i have no COM ports. Ive launched both as "admin" but no COM port is still available. However, my nodeMCU V3.4 ESP 8266 ESP - 12E was recognized by W10. BTW in my manager I have no COM ports available at all, only the USB Controller. What did I wrong. Please help me!

Alpha ?

Win10 x64, Regional Settings English AU,
display resolution 1920 x 1080