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Step 2: Tour the editor

A tour of the editor, naming each part of the screen. Start Thingstudio if it isn't running: see step 1.

The Thingstudio editor with each part labelled
The parts of the editor. Click to see it full size.

Toolbar

The toolbar runs left to right in the order you work: the flow, the board, then deploy.

  • New, open, save: the File menu.
  • This flow's name: saved with the flow. The board reports it, so you can tell which flow it's running.
  • Connect to a board: pick the board's port from the list, then click Connect. ⟳ looks for boards again.
  • Board type, pin map: the Board menu sets the board the flow is for; Auto uses the connected board. Pins… opens a page listing that board's pins.
  • Deploy flow to board: Compile → Deploy turns the flow into MicroPython and sends it to the board.
  • Board tools, user guide: the Tools menu has board jobs, such as installing the runtime or removing a flow. The Help menu opens this user guide.

Palette

Nodes to add: every node, in groups such as General, Network and Hardware. Drag a node onto the canvas, or click it. Type in the filter box to find one. Custom nodes appear in the group they name, or in General.

Click a group's name to fold or open it. Only General starts open. The editor remembers which groups you opened, in this browser. While you type in the filter box, every group with a match opens.

Canvas

The canvas is where you build the flow. The tabs above it, Sheets of this flow, spread one flow across several sheets.

The canvas works like this:

  • Wire two nodes: drag from one node's output, on its right, to another node's input, on its left.
  • Select: click a node or a wire. Ctrl-click to select several nodes.
  • Delete: select, then press Delete or Backspace. Deleting a node removes its wires too.

The editor refuses a wire between ports whose types don't fit. See Wiring.

Properties, notes and console

The right-hand side holds the selected node's settings and what the board sends back:

  • Selected node's settings: the properties panel.
  • Notes on this flow: the Notes panel, free text saved with the flow.
  • Generated MicroPython: the Compiled source panel. Click it to open it.
  • Messages from the board: the Device console, with messages from Thingstudio and the board, including your flow's output. Its Show menu sets how much it shows: Normal for your flow's output, results and errors, Info to add routine reports such as memory, Debug for everything.
  • Run Python on the board: type a line of Python and click Send. It runs on the board alongside the flow. See Commands and the Python prompt.
  • Escape to REPL: Stop flow & open prompt stops the flow and gives you MicroPython's own >>> prompt. Restart Thingstudio starts the flow again.

To make the notes, compiled source and console column wider or narrower, drag its left edge. Double-click the edge to reset it.

Editor in depth covers wire types, node labels, presets, config nodes and node status.

Next

Step 3: install MicroPython on your board.