First draft of the medicine post is up. Instead of posting on Fridays, I'm going to shoot for Mondays to see if there's a change in visibility. Draft is ready for review.

content/posts/medicine_indicator_light.md

@@ -0,0 +1,283 @@
+---
+title: 'ESP8266 Medicine Indicator Light'
+date: 2023-10-13T15:49:14-04:00
+tags: ["diy", "tutorial", "esp"]
+author: "Me"
+showToc: true
+TocOpen: false
+draft: true
+hidemeta: false
+description: 'Learn how to make an ESP8266 and a few simple components into an indicator light.'
+disableHLJS: true
+disableShare: false
+disableHLJS: false
+hideSummary: false
+searchHidden: true
+ShowReadingTime: true
+ShowBreadCrumbs: true
+ShowPostNavLinks: true
+ShowWordCount: true
+ShowRssButtonInSectionTermList: true
+UseHugoToc: true
+cover:
+    image: "esp_medicine_indicator.png"
+    alt: "ESP8266 Logo with a Medicine Icon, Colorized"
+    caption: "Learn how to turn an ESP8266 device into an indicator light"
+    relative: false
+    hidden: true
+---
+
+This is a quick treat! We recently learned that one of our children needs to take medicine twice a day for the foreseeable
+future. He's too young to take it on his own, and the morning and evening responsibility are split up between my partner and
+I, so we needed some sort of indicator to let the other know if the previous dose was (or wasn't!) taken. Naturally, I sprung
+into action with an ESP device and some leftover components.
+
+## Device Overview
+
+The device works like this (see the pictures below): Two [single neopixel LEDs](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1260) and a
+non-latching button are connected to the ESP8266. Inside the code there is a switch-case section which changes case per
+button press. On each press, the light will change depending on what is setup for that case. At the same time, each case is
+establishing a value for `morning` and `evening` which will be given a value of 0 or 1 - 0 to indicate that the medicine was
+not taken, and 1 to indicate that it was taken. Along with the time server data, I send an MQTT payload to my [MQTT Broker,
+Mosquitto](https://mosquitto.org/).
+
+Here's what the payload looks like:
+
+```json
+{
+  "time": "1630",
+  "morning": "1",
+  "evening": "0"
+}
+```
+
+## Thoughts and Background
+
+I'd like to write a longer post that chops up to the code and goes into explanations of each section, but I'm running out of
+time - work has been quite busy lately. If you'd like me to add a post with more code explanations, or just have questions,
+feel free to mention me on [Mastoton/Fosstodon](https://fosstodon.org/@notnorm) and we can chat.
+
+The much shorter explanation is that I didn't want this device to be an isolated device in my network. So what I did was
+connected the ESP8266 to my wifi network and import an NTP (Network Time Protocol) server to ensure I get I have the current
+time. Then, look at the state of the light, and construct and transmit an MQTT payload with the state of the light & time, so
+that I can use it elsewhere.
+
+What's neat about importing a time server is that at midnight, I reset both of the lights to red so that I don't have to
+reset it manually when I get up in the morning.
+
+In a separate post, I'll show how I use the MQTT payload in HomeAssistant to send [Pushover Notifications](https://pushover.net)
+to me and my partner in case we forgot to give my child his medicine! What's great about this little project is that it is
+scalable (add more components and sensors!) and that it doesn't need to indicate if someone has taken their medicine! You
+could use the button to count how many times your dog (or child!) has gone to the bathroom, how many times to eat a snack or
+drink water while working, and many more ideas.
+
+Assuming everything has gone well for the day and we've given my child both of his doses, we should
+be heading to bed with both of those lights being green. However, we'll want to take into account a few edge cases. See the
+pictures below with quick explanations.
+
+## Materials Used
+
+Here is what I used to construct this:
+
+* [ESP8266 Dev
+  Board](https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Internet-Development-Wireless-Micropython/dp/B081CSJV2V/ref=sr_1_1?crid=7JMC6TOMCS9I&keywords=hiletgo+esp8255&qid=1697229200&sprefix=hiletgo+esp8255%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-1) - I tend to like HiLetgo from Amazon.
+* 22 AWG Solid Wire
+* White Ping Pong ball - Cut in half
+* Balsa Wood
+* [Tactile Button Switch](https://www.adafruit.com/product/367)
+* [Adafruit Flora RGB NeoPixel](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1260)
+
+## Pictures
+
+![Front of Device with one light green, the other red](../posts/img/esp_indicator_1.png)
+![Front of Device with both lights green](../posts/img/esp_indicator_2.png)
+![Front of Device with both lights red](../posts/img/esp_indicator_3.png)
+![Underside of device with wires](../posts/img/esp_indicator_wires.png)
+
+## Full Code
+
+```c++
+#include <Wire.h>
+#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
+#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
+#include <NTPClient.h>
+#include <WiFiUdp.h>
+#include <PubSubClient.h>
+#include <ArduinoJson.h>
+#include <secrets.h>
+
+#define NEO_PIN 14  // Pin for all the Neopixels
+#define SIG_PIX 2  // Number of temperature pixels
+#define BUTTON_FWD_PIN 4
+#define mqtt_topic "home/medicine"
+
+const char* ssid = WIFI_SSID;
+const char* password = WIFI_PASS;
+const char* mqtt_server = MQTT_SERV;
+const char* mqtt_user = MQTT_USER;
+const char* mqtt_password = MQTT_PASS;
+
+boolean oldState = HIGH;
+int mode = 0; // Active mode on startup
+
+// NTP Definition
+// const long utcOffsetInSeconds = -18000;
+const long utcOffsetInSeconds = -14400;
+//char daysOfTheWeek[7][12] = {"Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"};
+WiFiUDP ntpUDP;
+NTPClient timeClient(ntpUDP, "north-america.pool.ntp.org", utcOffsetInSeconds);
+
+WiFiClient espClient;
+PubSubClient client(espClient);
+
+long lastMsg = 0;
+char msg[50];
+float value = 0;
+
+char morning_status[] = "false";
+char evening_status[] = "false";
+char current_time[] = "";
+
+Adafruit_NeoPixel NeoJewel = Adafruit_NeoPixel(SIG_PIX, NEO_PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
+unsigned long delayTime;
+
+// Taken Medicine Color
+uint32_t pineGreen = NeoJewel.Color(14, 170, 26);
+// Not Yet Taken Color
+uint32_t pureRed = NeoJewel.Color(255, 0, 0);
+
+void setup() {
+  delayTime = 1000;
+  Serial.begin(9600);
+  delay(500);
+
+  while (!Serial) {
+    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
+  }
+
+  Serial.println("Attempting to connect to SSID: ");
+  Serial.print(ssid);
+  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
+
+  // Attempt to connect to WiFi network:
+  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
+    delay(1000);
+    Serial.print(".");
+  }
+
+  Serial.println("");
+  Serial.println("WiFi connected");
+  Serial.println("IP address: ");
+  Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());   //You can get IP address assigned to ESP
+  Serial.println("Mac Address: ");
+  Serial.println(WiFi.macAddress());
+  delay(100);
+  client.setServer(MQTT_SERV, MQTT_PORT);
+  WiFi.setAutoReconnect(true);
+  WiFi.persistent(true);
+
+  // Necessary code for NeoPixel setup
+  pinMode(BUTTON_FWD_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP);
+
+  //Initialization of the Jewel
+  NeoJewel.setBrightness(100);
+  NeoJewel.begin();
+  NeoJewel.clear();
+  NeoJewel.show();
+}
+
+void loop() {
+  boolean newState = digitalRead(BUTTON_FWD_PIN);
+  if((newState == LOW) && (oldState == HIGH)) {
+    delay(30);
+    newState = digitalRead(BUTTON_FWD_PIN);
+    if(newState == LOW) {
+      if(++mode > 4) mode = 0;
+      switch(mode) {
+        case 0:
+        // Nothing Taken
+          { NeoJewel.clear();
+          NeoJewel.fill(pureRed, 0, 2);
+          NeoJewel.show();
+          String morning_status = "false";
+          String evening_status = "false";
+          Serial.println(morning_status + evening_status);
+          break; }
+        case 1:
+        // Morning Taken
+          { NeoJewel.clear();
+          NeoJewel.fill(pineGreen, 0, 1);
+          NeoJewel.fill(pureRed, 1, 2);
+          NeoJewel.show();
+          String morning_status = "true";
+          String evening_status = "false";
+          Serial.println(morning_status + evening_status);
+          break; }
+        case 2:
+        // Evening Taken
+          { NeoJewel.clear();
+          NeoJewel.fill(pineGreen, 1, 2);
+          NeoJewel.fill(pureRed, 0, 1);
+          NeoJewel.show();
+          String morning_status = "false";
+          String evening_status = "true";
+          Serial.println(morning_status + evening_status);
+          break; }
+        case 3:
+        // Both Taken
+          { NeoJewel.clear();
+          NeoJewel.fill(pineGreen, 0, 2);
+          NeoJewel.show();
+          String morning_status = "true";
+          String evening_status = "true";
+          Serial.println(morning_status + evening_status);
+          break; }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  // Set the last-read button state to the old state (reset)
+  oldState = newState;
+
+  if (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
+    delay(1000);
+    WiFi.disconnect();
+    ESP.restart();
+  }
+
+}
+
+void publishmqtt(String current_time, String morning_status, String evening_status) {
+    StaticJsonDocument<200> doc;
+
+    doc["time"] = (String)current_time;
+    doc["morning"] = (String)morning_status;
+    doc["evening"] = (String)evening_status;
+    serializeJsonPretty(doc, Serial);
+
+    char data[200];
+    Serial.println(data);
+    Serial.println("");
+    serializeJson(doc, data);
+    client.publish(mqtt_topic, data, true);
+    delay(2000);
+    yield();
+}
+
+void reconnect() {
+  // Loop until we're reconnected
+  while (!client.connected()) {
+    Serial.println("Connecting to MQTT...");
+    // Create a random client ID
+    String clientId = "ESP8266Client-";
+    clientId += String(random(0xffff), HEX);
+    if (client.connect(clientId.c_str(), mqtt_user, mqtt_password)) {
+      Serial.println("connected");
+    } else {
+      Serial.println("failed with state ");
+      Serial.print(client.state());
+      delay(2000);
+      ESP.restart();
+    }
+  }
+}
+```