Support for IMPROV

[TD-er]

I think a nice to have feature would be to also support IMPROV.
This is used by at least ESPEasy, ESP-home and Tasmota.
It shows build info and helps the web flasher to perform WiFi scans etc.

Not sure if that last part is within the scope you have for ESPConnect, though you could use it to show more info on what is installed on the node.

[thelastoutpostworkshop]

Do you have a link to this information ?

[TD-er]

Do you have a link to this information ?

See: https://www.improv-wifi.com/

[thelastoutpostworkshop]

Just to confirm my understanding: supporting Improv would mean adding optional detection of the Improv-serial protocol when a device is connected, and—if the firmware supports it—ESPConnect could display the device’s provisioning state, and offer a simple Wi-Fi setup flow using the standard Improv commands. It wouldn’t change anything for non-Improv firmware, but for ESPHome/Tasmota/ESPEasy users it could surface extra information and make Wi-Fi onboarding easier

[TD-er]

Yep.
This also shows which build may have been installed.
There is also a free format string describing the device, so the firmware may show a string here like "LilyGo T-beam" or "Sonoff THR316D" or whatever off-the-shelve board is being used which may not be detectable from just the ESP rom values.

And maybe you didn't realize it, but this has to come from the running firmware. It cannot be collected when the ESP is in 'flash mode', which you're now using via esptool.

[TD-er]

By the way, there are way more projects using IMPROV.
See for some (probably incomplete) list: https://esphome.github.io/esp-web-tools/

[thelastoutpostworkshop]

Since this has to come from the running firmware, how do you see it integrated in ESPConnect from a user experience ?

[TD-er]

You need to collect data anyway, so one of the first things you're doing is to put the ESP into flash mode (done by esptool).
What you could do, is first send an IMPROV call and see if you get anything back.
If not, then just continue as always.

If you do, then collect the info via IMPROV and then you could add another 'tab' just like you're also doing with various file system types. Then continue as always.

Then if you would like to assist with WiFi setup (which is completely optional), it is required to reboot the ESP into running the sketch anyway. But if I'm not mistaken, you already have something like that for other use cases.

[kilrah]

Seems like a tab similar to the serial monitor would do with the same buttons to exit bootloader mode, then probe for improv and enable configuration fields if detected.

[Jason2866]

Would be a nice addon. Millions of esp devices are running firmwares with improv support.