Cayenne IOT widgets greyed out using ESP8266 NodeMCU-12e

Question

I'm using an ESP8266 NodeMCU-12e, connecting to Cayenne IOT platform. Most things work fine (I can update most widgets using virtual channels), but some widgets are unavailable (greyed-out), or simply don't work.

For example, trying to add a Generic Sensor (or generic actuator etc):

...or Luminosity Sensor:

...the "Select Device" drop down is greyed out, and I can't proceed any further with configuring and adding the widget.

If I manually add a 2-State widget, I can configure and add it, but even though the on/off trigger data is being received by Cayenne, the widget does not toggle on/off. It remains in an always-off state no matter what.

I've tried adding my device as a Generic ESP device, as well as a "Bring your own device", to no avail.

I've scoured for hours online, but haven't found anything. Does anyone know what the problem may be?

Answer 1

I've sorted out both issues.

For the issue of some of the sensors/widgets having their "Select Device" greyed out, I got around that by creating a new top-level device, and lying to the system by saying I was using an Arduino Uno with ESP8266 Wifi.

To get the 2-State toggle widgets to work (with my ESP8266 NodeMCU-12e), I updated my code to include specifically I'm working with a digital sensor.

When it wasn't working, I had:

Cayenne.virtualWrite(FLWR_LIGHT_1000W, lightState);

...to:

Cayenne.virtualWrite(FLWR_LIGHT_1000W, lightState, "digital_sensor", "d");

The 2-State widget now toggles properly as the data arrives.