ESP-IDF

This chapter contains the following sections. Please read as needed:

• ESP-IDF Getting Started
• Setting Up Development Environment
• Example

ESP-IDF Getting Started

New to ESP32 ESP-IDF development and looking to get started quickly? We have prepared a general Getting Started Tutorial for you.

• Section 1: Environment Setup
• Section 2: Running Examples
• Section 3: Creating a Project
• Section 4: Using Components
• Section 5: Debugging
• Section 6: FreeRTOS
• Section 7: Peripherals
• Section 8: Wi-Fi Programming
• Section 9: BLE Programming

Please Note: This tutorial uses the ESP32-S3-Zero as a teaching example, and all hardware code is based on its pinout. Before you start, it is recommended that you check the pinout of your development board to ensure the pin configuration is correct.

Setting Up Development Environment

info

For the ESP32-S3-ePaper-1.54G development board, ESP-IDF version V5.5.1 or above is required.

note

The following guide uses Windows as an example, demonstrating development using VS Code + the ESP-IDF extension. macOS and Linux users should refer to the official documentation.

Version Selection

The screenshots in this section use ESP-IDF V5.5.2 as an example. When installing, please select the ESP-IDF version that matches your board's example.

Install the ESP-IDF Development Environment

1. Download the installation manager from the ESP-IDF Installation Manager page. This is Espressif's latest cross-platform installer. The following steps demonstrate how to use its offline installation feature.

   Click the Offline Installer tab on the page, then select Windows as the operating system and the ESP-IDF version you need (the version shown in the screenshot is for reference only — choose the version that fits your actual needs).

   

   After confirming your selection, click the download button. The browser will automatically download two files: the ESP-IDF Offline Package (.zst) and the ESP-IDF Installer (.exe).

   

   Please wait for both files to finish downloading.

2. Once the download is complete, double-click to run the ESP-IDF Installer (eim-gui-windows-x64.exe).

   The installer will automatically detect if the offline package exists in the same directory. Click Install from archive.

   

   Next, select the installation path. We recommend using the default path. If you need to customize it, ensure the path does not contain Chinese characters or spaces. Click Start installation to proceed.

   

3. When you see the following screen, the ESP-IDF installation is successful.

   

4. We recommend installing the drivers as well. Click Finish installation, then select Install driver.

   

Install Visual Studio Code and the ESP-IDF Extension

1. Download and install Visual Studio Code.

2. During installation, it is recommended to check Add "Open with Code" action to Windows Explorer file context menu to facilitate opening project folders quickly.

3. In VS Code, click the Extensions icon in the Activity Bar on the side (or use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + X) to open the Extensions view.

4. Enter ESP-IDF in the search box, locate the ESP-IDF extension, and click Install.

   

5. For ESP-IDF extension versions ≥ 2.0, the extension will automatically detect and recognize the ESP-IDF environment installed in the previous steps, requiring no manual configuration.

Example

The ESP-IDF examples are located in the ESP-IDF directory of the example package.

Example	Basic Program Description	Dependency Library
01_ADC_Test	Get the voltage value of the lithium battery	-
02_I2C_PCF85063	Print real-time time of RTC chip	SensorLib
03_I2C_STHC3	Get data from SHTC3 temperature & humidity sensor	-
04_SD_Card	Load and display TF card information	-
05_WIFI_AP	Set to AP mode to obtain the IP address of the access device	-
06_WIFI_STA	Set to STA mode to connect to Wi-Fi and obtain an IP address	-
07_Audio_Test	Get microphone data and play it through the speaker	-
08_BATT_PWR_Test	Use lithium battery power, control system power with the PWR button	-
09_E_paper_test	E-paper display refresh example	-

01_ADC_Test

Example Description

• The analog voltage connected through the GPIO is converted to digital by the ADC, and then the actual lithium battery voltage is calculated and printed to the terminal.

Hardware Connection

• Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Code Analysis

• Adc_PortInit(void): Initializes ADC1, including creating an ADC one-time trigger unit and configuring channel 3 for ADC1
• float Adc_GetBatteryVoltage(int *data): Reads the value from ADC1 channel 3 and returns the actual voltage value.
• uint8_t Adc_GetBatteryLevel(void): Returns the battery percentage.
• void Adc_LoopTask(void *arg): Creates an ADC task that reads the ADC value and prints it to the serial port every second.

Operation Result

• After the program is compiled and downloaded, you can view the printed ADC values and voltage output by opening the Serial Monitor, as shown in the following image:

  

02_I2C_PCF85063

Example Description

• Through the I2C protocol, initialize the PCF85063 chip, set the time, and then periodically read the time and print it to the terminal

Hardware Connection

• Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Code Analysis

• void i2c_rtc_loop_task(void *arg): Creates an RTC task to implement the RTC function, reading the clock of the RTC chip every second and outputting it to the terminal.

Operation Result

• After the program is compiled and downloaded, open the serial port monitoring to see the RTC time of the printout, as shown in the following figure:
  

  

03_I2C_STHC3

Example Description

• Uses the I2C protocol to initialize and configure the SHTC3 chip, then reads and prints temperature and humidity information to the terminal every second.

Hardware Connection

• Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Code Analysis

• void i2c_SHTC3_loop_task(void *arg): Creates a task for the SHTC3 sensor to periodically obtain temperature and humidity data.

Operation Result

• Open the serial port monitor, you can see the printed temperature and humidity data, as shown in the figure below:

  

04_SD_Card

Example Description

• Drive the TF card through SDMMC, and print the TF card information to the terminal after successfully mounting.

Hardware Connection

• Install a FatFs-formatted TF card into the board before powering on

Code Analysis

• sdcard_init(void): Initializes the TF card using 1-line SDMMC mode.
• sdcard_loop_task(void *arg): A task to test TF card read/write functionality. You need to uncomment the #define sdcard_write_Test macro definition.

Operation Result

• Click to open the Serial Monitor device. You can see the output TF card information; practical_size indicates the actual capacity of the TF card, as shown below:

  

05_WIFI_AP

Example Description

• This example can set the development board as a hotspot, allowing phones or other devices in STA mode to connect to the development board.

Hardware Connection

• Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Code Analysis

• In the 05_WIFI_AP.ino file, locate the ssid and password. Phones or other STA mode devices can then connect to the development board using this SSID and password.

  #define EXAMPLE_ESP_WIFI_SSID      "waveshare_esp32"
  #define EXAMPLE_ESP_WIFI_PASSWORD      "wav123456"

Operation Result

• After flashing the program, open the serial terminal, if the device is successfully connected to the hotspot, the MAC address and IP address of the device will be output, as shown in the figure:

  

06_WIFI_STA

Example Description

• This example configures the development board as a STA device to connect to a router, thereby accessing the system network.

Hardware Connection

• Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Code Analysis

• In the file esp_wifi_bsp.c, find ssid and password, then modify them to the SSID and Password of an available router in your current environment.

  wifi_config_t wifi_config = {
    .sta = {
      .ssid = "PDCN",
      .password = "1234567890",
    },
  };

Operation Result

• After flashing the program, open the Serial Terminal. If the device successfully connects to the hotspot, the obtained IP address will be output, as shown in the figure:

  

07_Audio_Test

Example Description

• This example demonstrates how to acquire microphone data and then play it back through the speaker.

Hardware Connection

• Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Code Analysis

• i2c_master_Init(): Initializes the I2C bus.
• user_ui_init(): Initializes the global UI.
• user_button_init(): Initializes the audio interface.

Operation Result

• After the program is flashed, the screen shows nothing.

  tip

  1. Press and hold the BOOT button to enter recording mode. Speak into the MIC, then release the BOOT button to play back the recording.
  2. Double-click the PWR button to play a piece of music
  3. Click the PWR button to interrupt music playback

08_BATT_PWR_Test

Example Description

• Demonstrates how to control the system power via the PWR button when powered by the lithium battery.

Hardware Connection

• Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Code Analysis

• user_button_init(): Initializes the buttons and their trigger events.
• example_button_pwr_task(void* parmeter): Task that waits for button event triggers.

Operation Result

• After the program is flashed, disconnect USB power and connect a lithium battery. Press and hold the PWR button to power on. The screen shows nothing.

  tip

  1. Press and hold the PWR button. Wait for the green LED to light up, indicating successful startup, then release the button.
  2. Press and hold the PWR button again, then release. The green LED turns off, indicating successful power-off.

09_E_paper_test

Example Description

• This example is a native IDF example for the ESP32-S3-ePaper-1.54G, demonstrating e-paper initialization, clearing the screen, displaying images, drawing basic shapes, and rendering text.

Hardware Connection

• Connect the board to the computer using a USB cable

Operation Result

• The screen refreshes, clears, displays an image, and draws basic graphics and text.