nRF5 SDK for Mesh v4.0.0
Interactive PyACI script

The Interactive Python Application Controller Interface (PyACI) (interactive_pyaci.py) can be used to interactively control devices running the mesh stack and the serial interface. The script opens up one or more COM ports and enables the interactive Python command line.

Follow the instructions on this page to get your environment up and running. Afterwards, you can go through the provided examples and tutorials:

Table of contents


Prerequisites

The interactive console is written for Python 3.5.

To install the required packages, move to the scripts/interactive_pyaci directory and install the requirements using pip:

nrf5_sdk_for_mesh$ cd scripts/interactive_pyaci
interactive_pyaci$ pip install -r requirements.txt

Using the interface

To start the serial interface, run the following command in the directory of the script:

interactive_pyaci$ python interactive_pyaci.py -d <COM>

In this command, <COM> is the COM port of the device you're connecting to. You may specify multiple COM ports separated by a space. COM port names are case sensitive.

Windows COM port

On Windows, the COM port is on the form COM12. To identify the correct COM port, open up the "Device Manager" (Run -> devmgmt.msc) and connect the device. Your device will appear under "Ports (COM & LPT)".

Ubuntu/Linux COM port

On Ubuntu/Linux and similar systems, the COM port is usually on the form /dev/tty*, for example /dev/ttyACM0.

To identify the correct COM port, you can use dmesg. Connect the device and run:

$ dmesg | tail

The output looks like this:

[46406.952479] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 8 using ehci-pci
[46407.258960] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1366, idProduct=0105
[46407.258964] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[46407.258966] usb 1-2: Product: J-Link
[46407.258967] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: SEGGER
[46407.258969] usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 000682576262
[46407.273985] cdc_acm 1-2:1.0: ttyACM1: USB ACM device

As you can see from the output, the connected device 682576262 was assigned to /dev/ttyACM1.

Alternatively, you could also use the following command:

$ dmesg | grep -C 3 SEGGER
Note
This command requires 'sudo' when accessing /dev/tty* devices.

Other options

Call the script with the -h option to get information about other available options:

$ python interactive_pyaci.py -h
usage: interactive_pyaci.py [-h] -d DEVICES [DEVICES ...] [-b BAUDRATE]
                            [--no-logfile] [-l LOG_LEVEL]

nRF5 SDK for Mesh Interactive PyACI

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d DEVICES [DEVICES ...], --device DEVICES [DEVICES ...]
                        Device Communication port, e.g., COM216 or
                        /dev/ttyACM0. You may connect to multiple devices.
                        Separate devices by spaces, e.g., "-d COM123 COM234"
  -b BAUDRATE, --baudrate BAUDRATE
                        Baud rate. Default: 115200
  --no-logfile          Disables logging to file.
  -l LOG_LEVEL, --log-level LOG_LEVEL
                        Set default logging level: 1=Errors only, 2=Warnings,
                        3=Info, 4=Debug

Interface file structure

The interface consists of the following files:

.
├── aci
│   ├── aci_cmd.py                    # Auto generated command class definitions (serialization).
│   ├── aci_config.py                 # Utility class for parsing firmware configuration file (`nrf_mesh_app_config.h`).
│   ├── aci_evt.py                    # Auto generated event class definitions (de-serialization).
│   ├── aci_uart.py                   # The UART serial driver.
│   └── aci_utils.py                  # Utility functions and class definitions.
│
├── database
│   ├── example_database.json         # Example mesh database file.
│   └── example_database.json.backup  # Backup of the original database.
│
├── doc                               # Tutorials and documentation.
│   ├── demo_configuration.md
│   ├── demo_loopback.md
│   └── demo_sending_packets.md
│
├── interactive_pyaci.py              # The interactive script itself.
│
├── mesh                              # Mesh helper modules.
│   ├── access.py                     # Stripped down access layer.
│   ├── database.py                   # Database storage module.
│   ├── provisioning.py               # Provisioning interface module.
│   └── types.py                      # Mesh type definitions.
│
├── models                            # Mesh models.
│   ├── config.py                     # Configuration client.
│   ├── common.py                     # Common defines, structures, and functions used by the Mesh Models.
│   ├── simple_on_off.py              # Simple On/Off client.
│   └── generic_on_off.py             # Generic On/Off client.
│
├── README.md                         # Contents of the page you are reading now.
└── requirements.tx                   # Python pip requirements file.
Note
The aci/aci_cmd.py and aci/aci_evt.py files are auto-generated from the C header files of the serial interface with the tools/serial_doc scripts. To re-generate the files, build the serial_pyaci target (requires a CMake based setup).

Commands and events

Commands available in the interface can be found in aci/aci_cmd.py. They are imported through the cmd namespace, for example cmd.Echo. Similarly, available events are found in aci/aci_evt.py and available in the evt namespace, for example evt.MeshMessageReceivedSubscription.


Complex scripting

As with the normal Python shell, you can do more complex scripting.

For example, the following simple for-loop that sends 10 echo commands with one second delay.

In [1]: import time
In [2]: for i in range(0, 10): send(cmd.Echo("Hello: " + str(i))); time.sleep(1)
2017-08-02 10:21:34,459 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 0')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:35,378 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 1')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:36,394 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 2')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:37,400 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 3')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:38,406 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 4')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:39,440 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 5')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:40,414 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 6')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:41,420 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 7')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:42,427 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 8')}}
2017-08-02 10:21:43,442 - INFO - ttyACM0: {event: DeviceEchoRsp, data: {'data': bytearray(b'Hello: 9')}}

Getting help

To read the documentation for one of the commands, events, functions or other options, enter a ? before or after the object and press <enter>. For example, for the BeaconParamsSet command, you would get the following output:

In [1]: cmd.BeaconParamsSet?
Init signature: cmd.BeaconParamsSet(beacon_slot, tx_power, channel_map, interval_ms)
Docstring:
Set parameters for application controlled beacon.

Parameters
----------
    beacon_slot : uint8_t
        Slot number of the beacon to start.
    tx_power : uint8_t
        TX Power value, must be a value from @ref serial_cmd_tx_power_value_t.
    channel_map : uint8_t
        Channel map bitfield for beacon, starting at channel 37.
    interval_ms : uint32_t
        TX interval in milliseconds.
File:           <nrf5_sdk_for_bluetooth_mesh>/scripts/interactive_pyaci/aci/aci_cmd.py
Type:           type

The help prompt may be used for any python object or function.

The console also provides autocompletion. For example, typing cmd.BeaconParamsS and pressing <tab> will complete the command packet object.

For more details about the commands, see the serial commands documentation.


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