Step by step documentation for integrating vscode-esp-idf-extension on AWS FreeRTOS ESP32 (VSC-610)

Hello everybody. Hope your team is doing well.

How can we build, flash and compile AWS ESP32 FreeRTOS V202012.00 using vscode-esp-idf-extension on Windows? The closest information regarding this, is here https://www.freertos.org/2021/01/using-visual-studio-code-for-freertos-development.html, but unfortunately is not clear enough.

Currently I handle this project from prompt using ESP-IDFV3.3.2, and the toolchain installer was esp-idf-tools-setup-2.4.exe

In order to develop AWS ESP32 FreeRTOS V202012.00 projects, we download the zip file from AWS console and place it on ESP-IDFV3.3.2 root installation. Then modifying IDF_PATH on C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\idf_cmd_init.bat we can make the ESP-IDF Command Prompt (cmd.exe) call FreeRTOS. (please see idf_cmd_init.txt attachment)

idf_cmd_init.txt

Just to make things faster, I uploaded the zip file generated from AWS FreeRTOS on this bucket. Please feel free to download it https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/freertos-v202012.00/freertos-1615096093296.zip.

When executing ESP-IDF Command Prompt (cmd.exe), it shows this

Using Python in C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\idf-python\3.8.7\
Python 3.8.7
Using Git in C:\git\cmd\
git version 2.30.2.windows.1
Setting IDF_PATH: C:\esp-idf-v3.3.2\FreeRTOS\vendors\espressif\esp-idf

Adding ESP-IDF tools to PATH...
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\xtensa-esp32-elf\1.22.0-80-g6c4433a5-5.2.0\xtensa-esp32-elf\bin
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\esp32ulp-elf\2.28.51.20170517\esp32ulp-elf-binutils\bin
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\cmake\3.13.4\bin
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\openocd-esp32\v0.10.0-esp32-20190313\openocd-esp32\bin
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\mconf\v4.6.0.0-idf-20190628\
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\ninja\1.9.0\
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\idf-exe\1.0.1\
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\tools\ccache\3.7\
    C:\Users\Yoimer\.espressif\python_env\idf3.3_py3.8_env\Scripts
    C:\esp-idf-v3.3.2\FreeRTOS\vendors\espressif\esp-idf\tools

Checking if Python packages are up to date...
Python requirements from C:\esp-idf-v3.3.2\FreeRTOS\vendors\espressif\esp-idf\requirements.txt are satisfied.

Done! You can now compile ESP-IDF projects.
Go to the project directory and run:

  idf.py build


C:\esp-idf-v3.3.2>

Then we change directory to FreeRTOS folder and execute the commands for the respective demos, like this:

For coreMQTT demo

cmake -DVENDOR=espressif -DBOARD=esp32_devkitc -DCOMPILER=xtensa-esp32 -GNinja -S . -B demos/coreMQTT/build cmake --build demos/coreMQTT/build, however this python %IDF_PATH%/tools/idf.py build -B demos/coreMQTT/build also works. cmake demos/coreMQTT/build --target flash, however this python %IDF_PATH%/tools/idf.py erase_flash flash demos/coreMQTT/build works also and even includes erase_flash to clean all the flash before flashing again. python %IDF_PATH%/tools/idf.py monitor -p COM4 -B demos/coreMQTT/build, where COM4 is the COM port assigned to your ESP32. For the rests of the demos, like ota and wifi_provisioning is the same procedure.

Is there any document or explanation where people could see how to do all what’s explained above from vscode-esp-idf-extension on AWS FreeRTOS ESP32?.

I am able to use vscode-esp-idf-extension for building and flashing with any of the demos on C:\esp-idf-v3.3.2. I’d like to do the same with AWS FreeRTOS ESP32 V202012.00.

Thanks a lot for you assistance

[Yoimer]

@brianignacio5 Thanks for your time and support. That’s very kind from you. I will test this and let you know.

[Yoimer]

@brianignacio5 Thanks a lot for replying, very kind from you and your team. Actually I am not using a modified ESP-IDF, I am using a native one. It might be v3.3.2 or v3.3 or any of them.

AWS FreeRTOS ESP32 is a customized (modified) version of the FreeRTOS implemented by Expressif, however it used native ESP-IDF to work.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/freertos/latest/userguide/getting_started_espressif.html

Let’s say I use ESP-IDF v3.3 and I install the https://dl.espressif.com/dl/esp-idf-tools-setup-1.2.exe as mentioned here https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v3.3/get-started-cmake/windows-setup.html.

This installs all the packages required for AWS FreeRTOS ESP32 to work on my Windows path, so from my cmd I can all the commands needed. So after downloading the zip file generated from AWS (https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/freertos-v202012.00/freertos-1615096093296.zip), I unzipped it on C:\, (it creates a folder called FreeRTOS) then I cd to FreeRTOS folder and execute the next commands from cmd for the ota demo (you choose whichever demo you want to test) .

For building files creation: cmake -DVENDOR=espressif -DBOARD=esp32_devkitc -DCOMPILER=xtensa-esp32 -GNinja -S . -B demos/ota/build

For building and flashing to the ESP32 (it detects automatically the COM port) cmake --build demos/ota/build --target flash

I mentioned ESP-IDF v3.3 as an example. But I can do the same with any ESP-IDF, even the 4.2

So my question is: How could I pass the above commands from vscode-esp-idf-extension?

As far as I understand, VS code is capable to configure CMake commands.

I want to use VSCODE as an IDE for AWS FreeRTOS ESP32 projects. I plan to use an ESP-PROG hardware debugger even, for breakpoints etc.

I know VSCODE is capable to be an IDE for ESP-IDF native examples, and I want to do that with AWS FreeRTOS ESP32.

On their blog freertos-and-vscode they mention this is possible, but it is not that clear.

Would you be kind enough to check this out using vscode-esp-idf-extension, please?

Could you download the zip file from the link I passed above and trying compiling any demo (ota if you want to) from VSCODE UI, please?

Thanks in advance.