Sending data to a website

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi guys,

I have a very simple concept at this early stage which as a deputy head at a local school, I think has the potential to sell and be useful.

A device with 4 buttons, the Arduino counts the number of time each button is pressed. When a combination of buttons is pressed or to keep things simple, a 5th submit button is clicked, I need to get the data sent to a website - literally. Button 1 = 12 clicks, Button 2 = 6 clicks..

I want to take the right direction from the start with the unlikely but hopeful thought that this might become, one day, a commercial product. If I had a custom server and MySQL database (which I know very little about!!) could you send the data from the device directly to the server via wifi but then this would be tricky to setup all the wifi settings with only 4/5 buttons on the device! It could do it via Bluetooth but then this would require a pc as the intermediate with custom software, a greater difficulty for me. Even wired would require custom software and I think needing a cable would kill the idea. It really needs to be sent directly from the box itself.

I just don't know the best way to get the data from the arduino to a web server. I've got an idea that'll work but it just seems a massive project, I want to take the right direction before I start to get support.

Any thoughts more than welcome.

2

The standard solution for wifi is to have a way to put the device into a configuration mode, during which it puts the WiFi into AP mode, then you connect to that wifi network, and it'll serve up a page where you enter the WiFi info. You may have used some consumer devices that use this method of configuration.

3

Looks like a job for a Wemos D1 mini.

4

Exactly. I have built a number of clocks and time switches which get their time from the internet over ntp , each of which has only one button, which when pressed during power on, forces the device into a configuration mode. You simply then find the device in your smartphone's wlan list and, through the web browser, enter a configuration panel. From there, you enter the credentials to join an existing wlan and other parameters.