Publish to a Channel Using Arduino Client

This example shows how to use an Arduino^® MKR1000 board to record data. The board is connected to a DHT11 sensor that measures temperature and humidity and an analog light sensor that measures the light intensity. The measured values are published to a ThingSpeak™ channel. If you have more than one sensor value that you want to send to ThingSpeak, you can choose to publish multiple values to a channel feed. Alternatively, if you have only one sensor, you can publish a single value to a channel field.

Note

DHT library version 1.2.3 is suggested over the latest version of the library. Use Sketch > Iinclude Libraries > Manage Libraries, and then enter DHT in the search bar to adjust the version your Arduino IDE is using.

 Full Publish Code

#include <SPI.h>
#include <WiFi101.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
#include "DHT.h"

#define DHTPIN 2 // DHT Sensor connected to digital pin 2.
#define DHTTYPE DHT11 // Type of DHT sensor.
#define LIGHTPIN A0 // Analog light sensor connected to analog pin A0.

DHT dht(DHTPIN, DHTTYPE); // Initialize DHT sensor.

char ssid[] = "YOUR-NETWORK-SSID"; //  Change this to your network SSID (name).
char pass[] = "YOUR-NETWORK-PWD";  // Change this your network password
char mqttUserName[] = "TSArduinoMQTTDemo";  // Can be any name.
char mqttPass[] = "YOURMQTTAPIKEY";  // Change this your MQTT API Key from Account > MyProfile.
char writeAPIKey[] = "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX";    // Change to your channel Write API Key.
long channelID = NNNNNN;

static const char alphanum[] ="0123456789"
                              "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
                              "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";  // For random generation of client ID.

WiFiClient client;                         // Initialize the Wifi client library.
PubSubClient mqttClient(client);           // Initialize the PuBSubClient library.
const char* server = "mqtt.thingspeak.com"; 

unsigned long lastConnectionTime = 0; 
const unsigned long postingInterval = 20L * 1000L; // Post data every 20 seconds.

void setup() {
  
  Serial.begin(9600);
  int status = WL_IDLE_STATUS;  // Set a temporary WiFi status.

  // Attempt to connect to WiFi network
  while (status != WL_CONNECTED) 
  {
    status = WiFi.begin(ssid, pass); // Connect to WPA/WPA2 Wi-Fi network.
    delay(5000);
  }

  Serial.println("Connected to wifi");
  mqttClient.setServer(server, 1883);   // Set the MQTT broker details.
}

void loop() {

 // Reconnect if MQTT client is not connected.
  if (!mqttClient.connected()) 
  {
    reconnect();
  }

  mqttClient.loop();   // Call the loop continuously to establish connection to the server.

  // If interval time has passed since the last connection, publish data to ThingSpeak.
  if (millis() - lastConnectionTime > postingInterval) 
  {
    mqttpublish();
  }
}

void reconnect() 
{
  char clientID[9];

  // Loop until reconnected.
  while (!mqttClient.connected()) 
  {
    Serial.print("Attempting MQTT connection...");
    // Generate ClientID
    for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
        clientID[i] = alphanum[random(51)];
    }
    clientID[8]='\0';

    // Connect to the MQTT broker
    if (mqttClient.connect(clientID,mqttUserName,mqttPass)) 
    {
      Serial.print("Connected with Client ID:  ");
      Serial.print(String(clientID));
      Serial.print(", Username: ");
      Serial.print(mqttUserName);
      Serial.print(" , Passwword: ");
      Serial.println(mqttPass);
    } else 
    {
      Serial.print("failed, rc=");
      // Print to know why the connection failed.
      // See https://pubsubclient.knolleary.net/api.html#state for the failure code explanation.
      Serial.print(mqttClient.state());
      Serial.println(" try again in 5 seconds");
      delay(5000);
    }
  }
}
void mqttpublish() {
  
  float t = dht.readTemperature(true); // Read temperature from DHT sensor.
  float h = dht.readHumidity();  // Read humidity from DHT sensor.
  int lightLevel = analogRead(LIGHTPIN); // Read from light sensor
  
  // Create data string to send to ThingSpeak
  String data = String("field1=" + String(t, DEC) + "&field2=" + String(h, DEC) + "&field3=" + String(lightLevel, DEC));
  int length = data.length();
  char msgBuffer[length];
  data.toCharArray(msgBuffer,length+1);
  Serial.println(msgBuffer);
  
  // Create a topic string and publish data to ThingSpeak channel feed. 
  String topicString ="channels/" + String( channelID ) + "/publish/"+String(writeAPIKey);
  length=topicString.length();
  char topicBuffer[length];
  topicString.toCharArray(topicBuffer,length+1);
 
  mqttClient.publish( topicBuffer, msgBuffer );

  lastConnectionTime = millis();
}

// Use this function instead to publish to a single field directly.  Don't forget to comment out the above version.
/*
void mqttpublish() {
  
  float t = dht.readTemperature(true); // Read temperature from DHT sensor.

  String data = String(t, DEC);
  int length = data.length();
  char msgBuffer[length];
  data.toCharArray(msgBuffer,length+1);
  Serial.println(msgBuffer);
  
  // Create a topic string and publish data to ThingSpeak channel feed. 
  String topicString ="channels/" + String( channelID ) + "/publish/"+String(writeAPIKey);
  length=topicString.length();
  char topicBuffer[length];
  topicString.toCharArray(topicBuffer,length+1);
 
  mqttClient.publish( topicBuffer, msgBuffer );

  lastConnectionTime = millis();
}
*/

1. Create a Channel as shown in Collect Data in a New Channel.

2. Download the libraries WiFi101.h and DHT.h to your Arduino IDE. Include the libraries SPI.h, WiFi101.h, PubSubClient.h, and DHT.h to your Arduino sketch.

   #include <SPI.h>
   #include <WiFi101.h>
   #include <PubSubClient.h>
   #include "DHT.h"

3. Define the Arduino board pins connected to your sensors.

   #define DHTPIN 2 // DHT Sensor connected to digital pin 2.
   #define DHTTYPE DHT11 // Type of DHT sensor.
   #define LIGHTPIN A0 // Analog light sensor connected to analog pin A0.
   
   DHT dht(DHTPIN, DHTTYPE); // Initialize DHT sensor.

4. Define the wireless network credentials to connect your Arduino board to the network, and initialize the WiFi client library.

   char ssid[] = "YOUR-NETWORK-SSID"; //  Change this to your network SSID (name).
   char pass[] = "YOUR-NETWORK-PWD";  // Change this your network password
   char mqttUserName[] = "TSArduinoMQTTDemo";  // Can be any name.
   char mqttPass[] = "YOURMQTTAPIKEY";  // Change this your MQTT API Key from Account > MyProfile.
   char writeAPIKey[] = "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX";    // Change to your channel Write API Key.
   long channelID = NNNNNN;
   
   static const char alphanum[] ="0123456789"
                                 "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
                                 "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";  // For random generation of client ID.
   
   WiFiClient client;                         // Initialize the Wifi client library.

5. Create a partially initialized PubSubClient instance, and define the ThingSpeak MQTT broker.

   WiFiClient client;  // Initialize the Wifi client library.
   PubSubClient mqttClient(client); // Initialize the PuBSubClient library.
   const char* server = "mqtt.thingspeak.com"; 

6. Define other global variables to track the last connection time and to define the time interval to publish the data.

   unsigned long lastConnectionTime = 0; 
   const unsigned long postingInterval = 20L * 1000L; // Post data every 20 seconds.
    

7. Initialize serial data transfer, connect to wireless network, and set the MQTT broker details in the setup method.

   void setup() {
     
     Serial.begin(9600);
     int status = WL_IDLE_STATUS;  // Set a temporary WiFi status.
   
     // Attempt to connect to WiFi network
     while (status != WL_CONNECTED) 
     {
       status = WiFi.begin(ssid, pass); // Connect to WPA/WPA2 Wi-Fi network.
       delay(5000);
     }
   
     Serial.println("Connected to wifi");
     mqttClient.setServer(server, 1883);   // Set the MQTT broker details.
   }

8. Establish an MQTT connection, and publish data to the channel at regular time intervals in the loop method.

   void loop() {
   
    // Reconnect if MQTT client is not connected.
     if (!mqttClient.connected()) 
     {
       reconnect();
     }
   
     mqttClient.loop();   // Call the loop continuously to establish connection to the server.
   
     // If interval time has passed since the last connection, Publish data to ThingSpeak
     if (millis() - lastConnectionTime > postingInterval) 
     {
       mqttpublish();
     }
   }

9. Define the reconnect method to connect the Arduino client with the MQTT broker.

   void reconnect() 
   {
     char clientID[9];
   
     // Loop until we're reconnected
     while (!mqttClient.connected()) 
     {
       Serial.print("Attempting MQTT connection...");
       // Generate ClientID
       for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
           clientID[i] = alphanum[random(51)];
       }
       clientID[8]='\0';
   
       // Connect to the MQTT broker
       if (mqttClient.connect(clientID,mqttUserName,mqttPass)) 
       {
         Serial.println("connected");
       } else 
       {
         Serial.print("failed, rc=");
         // Print to know why the connection failed.
         // See https://pubsubclient.knolleary.net/api.html#state for the failure code explanation.
         Serial.print(mqttClient.state());
         Serial.println(" try again in 5 seconds");
         delay(5000);
       }
     }
   }

10. Define the mqttpublish method to publish the sensor data to the ThingSpeak channel feed. You can publish to multiple fields at once if you are publishing to the channel feed. This case publishes to fields 1, 2, and 3 of the channel.

    void mqttpublish() {
      
      float t = dht.readTemperature(true); // Read temperature from DHT sensor.
      float h = dht.readHumidity();  // Read humidity from DHT sensor.
      int lightLevel = analogRead(LIGHTPIN); // Read from light sensor
      
      // Create data string to send to ThingSpeak
      String data = String("field1=" + String(t, DEC) + "&field2=" + String(h, DEC) + "&field3=" + String(lightLevel, DEC));
      int length = data.length();
      char msgBuffer[length];
      data.toCharArray(msgBuffer,length+1);
      Serial.println(msgBuffer);
      
      // Create a topic string and publish data to ThingSpeak channel feed. 
      String topicString ="channels/" + String( channelID ) + "/publish/"+String(writeAPIKey);
      length=topicString.length();
      char topicBuffer[length];
      topicString.toCharArray(topicBuffer,length+1);
     
      mqttClient.publish( topicBuffer, msgBuffer );
    
      lastConnectionTime = millis();
    }
    
    // Use this function instead to publish to a single field directly.  Don't forget to comment out the above version.
    /*
    void mqttpublish() {
      
      float t = dht.readTemperature(true); // Read temperature from DHT sensor.
    
      String data = String(t, DEC);
      int length = data.length();
      char msgBuffer[length];
      data.toCharArray(msgBuffer,length+1);
      Serial.println(msgBuffer);
      
      // Create a topic string and publish data to ThingSpeak channel feed. 
      String topicString ="channels/" + String( channelID ) + "/publish/"+String(writeAPIKey);
      length=topicString.length();
      char topicBuffer[length];
      topicString.toCharArray(topicBuffer,length+1);
     
      mqttClient.publish( topicBuffer, msgBuffer );
    
      lastConnectionTime = millis();
    }
    */