TcMenu is a modular, IoT ready multi level menu library for Arduino, ESP32-IDF, Pico-SDK, STM32Cube and mbed platforms supporting many input, display and IoT / remote interfaces. It makes presenting configuration, status and operational information much easier. Apache licensed and therefore safe for commercial use.
Start by working out what information and state is to be represented in the Designer UI. Take inspiration from the Arduino menu examples. Then, run Code Generator which outputs code for the selected board ready for use in an IDE.
Building Embedded Menus for Arduino
Web based menu designer:
- Start web based TcMenu Turbo designer
- Documentation for Web based TcMenu Turbo
- Get help from the C++/Java/Flutter consultants who wrote tcMenu
Example embedded menu projects
We've done our best to provide examples and starters for every board and API that we support. Including examples for using menus directly on STM32Cube and PicoSDK.
- Arduino menu examples - packaged with the library
- PicoSDK direct CMake examples
- STM32Cube direct CMake examples
- ESP32-IDF CMake with Arduino component
- Java examples and starer projects
Using Tc menu library:
- Guide to working with Menu Item Types
- Code Generator and plugins guide
- EEPROM integration with menus
- Setting up IO expanders in designer
- Authentication - securing sub-menus and remote connections
- MenuManager and Menu iteration Guide
- Writing a multi-language locale based menu
- GitHub Repository - for source and releases
Menu library for vendor environments using CMake (non Arduino)
You can use STM32Cube, PicoSDK, and mbed without requiring the Arduino framework at all. We have example menu projects that build directly against STM32Cube and PicoSDK with highly impressive performance. Our direct support generally works via CMake using vendor-provided best practice.
See the examples section further up as it has links to the repositories for STM32Cube, PicoSDK, and ESP32-IDF.
Working with displays
- Working with display renderers
- Creating and using TitleWidgets and bitmaps
- Themes, properties, grids, and card layout
- How to define fonts within theme configuration
- Taking over the display and dashboards
- Adafruit_GFX performance extensions
Display plugins
- DfRobot LCD shield driver
- LiquidCrystal / hd44780 display driver
- AdaFruit_GFX driver - ILI9341, ST7735, Nokia5110 etc
- U8g2 driver - for SSD1306, SH1106 etc
- SSD1306Ascii low memory driver - for SSD1306 on Uno
- TFT_eSPI driver with double buffering
- AdaFruit_GFX CMake/PicoSDK/STM32Cube - OLED - LTDC, Framebuffer, SSD1306, SH1106
- GxEPD2 driver - for Eink/EPD displays
- Customising a display driver
Theme plugins
- OLED/Mono themes both bordered and inverse
- Color themes for most display sizes
- Dark themes for most display sizes
Input plugins
- Rotary encoder, buttons, or joystick
- Using a matrix keyboard to control menu
- DfRobot analog pin keypad input
- Resistive touch screen menu integration
- XPT2046 and FT6206 touch screen menu integration
- Capacitive Touch-pad sensor input
Remotely controlling your menu / IoT
Our menu designer can build in IoT capabilities near automatically (on Ethernet2, UipEthernet (ENC28J60), ESP8266-WiFi, ESP32-WiFi, Bluetooth, and Serial). Allowing you to remotely monitor and control your device using Embed Control with minimal effort.
However, to write your own remote monitoring, use our Java Remote API, TypeScript/JavaScript API, C#/DotNet API, or the Python API. Coming soon is a Dart API.
- embedCONTROL UI documentation
- Menu library remote connectivity tutorial
- IoT monitoring and control using the Java API
- TagVal protocol documentation
IoT and Remote control plugins
- Serial driver for usb, rs232, and Bluetooth control
- Ethernet driver for Ethernet2 and Uip control
- WiFi driver for ESP32 and ESP8266 control
- Simhub connector for tcMenu using custom serial protocol
- Embedded Java plugin for ethernet/WiFi remote
- Serving up embedCONTROL in a web browser
- Device acts as client to remote server
Creating / building / modifying plugins
Archived documentation
- TcMenu - Getting started, including video & slides
- Creating and generating menus using the CLI
- Major code level differences between library versions
Detailed description of MenuInfo based menu items
All types of MenuItem can have an INFO block, which is a structure that can be stored in FLASH that represents the static data for an item. This is because all items directly extend from the MenuItem class, they always have a reference to an AnyMenuInfo block that's stored in program memory on devices that support it. In addition to this,...
Detailed description of RuntimeMenuItem
Items that extend from runtime menu item use a callback at runtime that can be used to get more or less every property, but will use the INFO block if it is available (not null). That being the case, they don't need but can use an info block (that is defined ahead of time) ahead of time. However, in...
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Supporting us
We maintain several popular embedded projects and work hard to make them even better. If you're looking for commercial services, please do consider us.
Alternatively, you can buy us a coffee to say thanks.
Sharing links
Learn about TcMenu
We build and maintain an embedded menu designer and framework that works on many platforms.
