Change label text

Change the item's label text¶

You can change the text of AutoConnect menu items. The easiest way is to rewrite the header file directly in the library that defines the menu label. Advanced Usage section describes the detailed how to change the label text directly.

However, this way is less preferred as it modifies the library code and further affects the entire Arduino project you compile. So, here's how to change the label text for each Arduino project without directly modifying the library code. Using this method, you can also display the label text and fixed text on AutoConnect pages in your national language.

(e.g. in Japanese)

Preparation¶

AutoConnect needs a definition file as c++ header (.h) to change the label text. It is used when your Arduino project is compiled, and there is no additional memory consumption due to changing the label text. This header file describes each fixed text of AutoConnect with the #define preprocessor directive.

The next thing you need is PlatformIO. PlatformIO is a very powerful environment for embedded development with multi-platform and multi-architecture build systems. And you can easily set up a PlatformIO for the Arduino development system as follows on your host machine.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code
PlatformIO IDE (included PlatformIO core)

Install PlatformIO and VSCode

Please refer to the official documentation for PlatformIO and VSCode installation.

The rest of this section assumes that you have a PlatformIO environment with VSCode as the front end that has installed on your host machine.

How to change the label text¶

Label text replacement header file¶

AutoConnect label texts are pre-assigned with a fixed string so that it can be determined at compile time. Their default definitions are in the AutoConnectLabels.h file that has all the replaceable label text defined by the #define directive.

Label placed	Pre-defined text	ID (#define macro)
Menu item	Configure new AP	AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_CONFIGNEW
	Open SSIDs	AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_OPENSSIDS
	Disconnect	AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_DISCONNECT
	Reset...	AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_RESET
	HOME	AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_HOME
	Update	AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_UPDATE
	Device info	AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_DEVINFO
Button label	RESET	AUTOCONNECT_BUTTONLABEL_RESET
Button label	UPDATE	AUTOCONNECT_BUTTONLABEL_UPDATE
Page title	Page not found	AUTOCONNECT_PAGETITLE_NOTFOUND
	AutoConnect config	AUTOCONNECT_PAGETITLE_CONFIG
	AutoConnect connecting	AUTOCONNECT_PAGETITLE_CONNECTING
	AutoConnect connection failed	AUTOCONNECT_PAGETITLE_CONNECTIONFAILED
	AutoConnect credentials	AUTOCONNECT_PAGETITLE_CREDENTIALS
	AutoConnect disconnected	AUTOCONNECT_PAGETITLE_DISCONNECTED
	AutoConnect resetting	AUTOCONNECT_PAGETITLE_RESETTING
	AutoConnect statistics	AUTOCONNECT_PAGETITLE_STATISTICS
Page:[statistics] row	Established connection	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_ESTABLISHEDCONNECTION
	Mode	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_MODE
	IP	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_IP
	GW	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_GATEWAY
	Subnet mask	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_SUBNETMASK
	SoftAP IP	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_SOFTAPIP
	AP MAC	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_APMAC
	STA MAC	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_STAMAC
	Channel	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_CHANNEL
	dBm	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_DBM
	Chip ID	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_CHIPID
	CPU Freq.	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_CPUFREQ
	Flash size	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_FLASHSIZE
	Free memory	AUTOCONNECT_PAGESTATS_FREEMEM
Page:[config] text	Total:	AUTOCONNECT_PAGECONFIG_TOTAL
	Hidden:	AUTOCONNECT_PAGECONFIG_HIDDEN
	SSID	AUTOCONNECT_PAGECONFIG_SSID
	Passphrase	AUTOCONNECT_PAGECONFIG_PASSPHRASE
	Enable DHCP	AUTOCONNECT_PAGECONFIG_ENABLEDHCP
	Apply	AUTOCONNECT_PAGECONFIG_APPLY
Page:[open SSIDs] text	Delete a credential?	AUTOCONNECT_TEXT_DELETECREDENTIAL
Page:[open SSIDs] text	could not deleted	AUTOCONNECT_TEXT_COULDNOTDELETED
Page:[update] text	Updating firmware	AUTOCONNECT_TEXT_UPDATINGFIRMWARE
	Select firmware:	AUTOCONNECT_TEXT_SELECTFIRMWARE
	Successfully updated, rebooting...	AUTOCONNECT_TEXT_OTASUCCESS
	Failed to update:	AUTOCONNECT_TEXT_OTAFAILURE
Page:[connection failed]	Connection Failed	AUTOCONNECT_PAGECONNECTIONFAILED_CONNECTIONFAILED
Text	No saved credentials.	AUTOCONNECT_TEXT_NOSAVEDCREDENTIALS
Menu Text	Connecting	AUTOCONNECT_MENUTEXT_CONNECTING
	Disconnect	AUTOCONNECT_MENUTEXT_DISCONNECT
	Failed	AUTOCONNECT_MENUTEXT_FAILED

The definition of label text must conform to a certain coding pattern. Undefine with #undef the #define directive corresponding to the above IDs, and then redefine the ID with the replacement text. And surround it with #ifdef ~ #endif.

#ifdef AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_CONFIGNEW
#undef AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_CONFIGNEW
#define AUTOCONNECT_MENULABEL_CONFIGNEW   "NEW_STRING_YOU_WISH"
#endif

You may not need to rewrite all definitions. It depends on your wishes and is sufficient that the above the include file contains only the labels you need.

Configuration of platformio.ini¶

You prepare its header file and place it in the src folder of the project folder. You can name the file whatever you like, but for the sake of explanation, let's say mylabels.h.

When you store mylabels.h containing the new label text definition in the src folder, your Arduino project folder structure should look like this:

<Project folder>
|-- <pio>
|-- <.vscode>
|-- <include>
|-- <lib>
|-- <src>
|   |-- main.cpp
|   |-- mylabels.h  <-- Depends on the project
|-- <test>
|-- .gitignore
|-- .travis.yml
|-- platformio.ini

Then, open platformio.ini file and add new build_flags for including mylabels.h to override the label text.

build_flags = -DAC_LABELS='"${PROJECT_SRC_DIR}/mylabels.h"'

Just change the mylabels.h

Keep -DAC_LABELS='"${PROJECT_SRC_DIR}/YOUR_FILE_NAME"' when changing the above build_flags item to match your labels header file name.

After placing the mylabels.h file and add the build_flags, build the project with the replaced label text. You will see the AutoConnect screen with the new text replaced by mylabels.h.

Need clean-up before re-build with updated mylabels.h

When you have updated mylabels.h, you need deleting compiled library object files before build. Use Clean of a PlatformIO task on VSCode status bar.