Where's My Kombucha?

Using ParticlePhoton & XamarinForms

Xamarin.Forms Application that uses Visual Studio (on Mac or Windows) to build iOS and Android apps that work to control Particle Photon MicroControllers.

Note: Instead of only using LEDs, you can hook up a motor to the D7 pin and effectively turn on and off a minifan with your phone

1. Purpose

This repository contains the code needed to create a basic Kombucha availability tracker. This is based on another repository I created named ParticlePhoton-XamarinForms-LEDBasic. Here's the Google presentation url from a Toronto Xamarin User group and here's the Youtube live-stream. I presented and extended this at the MonkeyFestLatam on September 2019 when I included the ability to control Raspberry Pis as well, and here's the presentation

2. Motivation

I participated in a lot of hackathons and won a bunch, and learnt to rapidly create nifty things. So, I made this repository to help others reach their dreams and learn to build inventions. So if you ever find my repo. helpful, please give me a shoutout, or like me at facebook.com/prototypemakers I always welcome constructive criticism and let me know if you want to see more!!

3. How to Use this

Once you have the particle photon and you follow instructions to set it up https://www.particle.io

3.1 You need to buy

A particle photon, but I'm sure it will work for Particle Core, Particle Electron, RedBear Duo. They are very similar to Arduino devices in price and function but they also come with the "Particle Cloud".

Once you have set up the device and claimed it to your account, go to build.particle.io and login with the account.

3.2 What code do I put on the Microcontroller

Put in the code from MicroControllerCode.cpp file in this directory, into the Particle Build Web IDE (based on https://docs.particle.io/tutorials/hardware-projects/hardware-examples/photon/) and upload it to your device

3.3 How do I know that I set up the correctly

Follow instructions in the docs website above, or you can go to this codepen and change the UserID and AccessToken https://codepen.io/saamerm/pen/wOxpLm and try to change the status to true. If the light goes on, you're in business.

3.4 Ready to build that mobile app?

Once you make sure the device works in the codepen, Fork this repository, Clone it to your computer, and open the solution in Visual Studio. In the KombuchaPage.cs file, change the UserID and AccessToken to what you want, and Voila. It should work.

4. Connect with a Raspberry Pi?

You asked for it and you have been heard! To follow the instructions below, you don't need to have completed any of the steps above.

4.1 Setup the Raspberry Pi

1. Make sure you have the Raspbian OS installed on your Pi, and you are connected to the internet.
2. Open your terminal and run this command to install the particle library bash <( curl -sL https://particle.io/install-pi ).
3. If you don't have one, create a Particle account at https://login.particle.io/signup.
4. Add your raspberry pi to your account to the Particle Cloud using the terminal particle-agent setup, and provide your username and password credentials when prompted.
5. Go to the build.particle.io and copy the code from the BlinkAnLED.cpp file, into your Web IDE. Change the Device in the IDE to the raspberry pi, Save, Compile and Flash. You will notice that an LED next to the power LED is blinking as per your code
6. Once you have this, you can copy over the MicroControllerCode.cpp code from this report, into your Web IDE. Save, Compile and Flash. Make sure you use a Pin-Out diagram like the one below to make sure you have the right connections.

5. Doesnt work?

Email me at i@saamer.me

6. Bonus

1. Control the device with an Android watch! :) https://github.com/saamerm/Xamarin.Android-Wear-2.0-IpInfo-Rest-Api-Get

7. Some Images

1. Blink an Led with Particle Photon

2. Measure temperature and humidity with Particle Photon

3. Raspberry Pi connected to Kombucha Status Tracker