NSPanel_HA_Blueprint/ReleaseNotes.md

(DRAFT) v4.1 - Easier TFT transfer

Support this project

As always, we would like to thank everyone who donated to this project and remind you that every donation helps to support this project - so if you haven't made a donation yet, now would be a good time ;)

 

General

The focus this time was on making easier to transfer the TFT files.

As this project grows with features, it becomes more hungry of resources from all sides (ESPHome, your Home Assistant server and even the Nextion display) and with that the chances of something going wrong when updating increased.

So at this release we concentrated on cleaning up de code everywhere and shave some unnecessary elements, making the system easier to install and opening some space for future features.

 

Updating

Since in this update lots of input to the blueprint changed, we highly recommend you review your settings and make sure all fields have the correct selection. We did our best to support your legacy settings and avoid breaking your system, but please double check your settings if you see something not working as expected.

Files that need to be reloaded:

1. nspanel_eu.tft, nspanel_us.tft or nspanel_us_land.tft - v4.1
2. nspanel_esphome.yaml - v4.1
3. nspanel_blueprint.yaml - v4.1

Instructions

You can find the update procedures following here:

• (EN) How To - All important thing you should know - Update
• (DE) How To - Alle wichtigen Dinge die man wissen sollte - Update

 

Breaking changes

1. The following components are now deprecated:

   • Buttons:
     • Exit reparse (button.xxxxx_exit_reparse) - It shouldn't be necessary with the new TFT upload engine
   • Services:
     • Play rtttl (esphome.xxxxx_play_rtttl)
   • Sensors:
     • API uptime
     • Device uptime
     • RSSI
     • ESPhome Version
     • IP
     • SSID
     • BSSID

   You can still add these components by adding the file nspanel_esphome_advanced.yaml in your ESPHome settings as in the example bellow, but please have in mind that these are not used by the blueprint and will be using some memory of your ESPHome.

...
packages:
  remote_package:
    url: https://github.com/Blackymas/NSPanel_HA_Blueprint
    ref: main
    files:
      - nspanel_esphome.yaml # Core package
      - nspanel_esphome_advanced.yaml # activate advanced (legacy) elements - can be useful for troubleshooting
...

 

Overview of all changes

1. New Upload TFT engine
2. Smaller TFT file size
3. Pre-built binary

 

Details of all changes

1. New Upload TFT engine

We rebuilt the Upload TFT engine and now it will be using less resources from ESPHome during the transfer and, in addition, will provide more logs for troubleshooting.

The original engine from Nextion component still as a fallback in case the new engine fails, but it might be removed in a future version.

2. Smaller TFT file size

The TFT files are now 15 to 20% smaller when compared to the previous version. This was achieved by removing some icon font sizes, so you will notice difference (a smaller icon) in the following components:

Pages	Components
settings	bt_reboot bt_sleep
cover	cover_open cover_close cover_stop
notification confirm	bt_accept bt_clear
fan	button_up button_down button_on button_off

3. Pre-built binary

As this project grows, it also grows the needs for resources from your ESPHome compiller, and version 4.0 revealed some cases where we are getting very close to this limit. In this release, we're excited to introduce a pre-built binary version of our firmware. Designed for ease of use, this pre-compiled edition eliminates the need for users to manually build the ESPHome part from the source code You can just transfer the firmware to your panel, onboard it to your Home Assistant and Wi-Fi and use it. Please refer to this document for details on how to use this option.

 

Next topics we are currently working on

See here: https://github.com/Blackymas/NSPanel_HA_Blueprint/labels/roadmap

Special thanks to:

New Contributors