So I am a newbie, just yesterday did I install node red for the first time. Wow, so easy to get going!
However, I have this particular setup, with 20 identical esp32 devices that sits physically in a 5x4 grid, and they currently report three text items each, over MQTT. Therefore the only thing that is different, is the MQTT topic, which has their MAC address as differentiator.
So, I have done (for initial test) two nodes in Dashboard (v1), simply by creating two identical groups, and this works, however, I would like the UI not to change - i.e. the UI should also be 5x4 grid, so it is easy to locate which device reporting what. Is there a way to fixate the grid of groups, or another way of accomplishing the wanted grid? (Not having the UI relocate the groups)
Also, while certainly doable, is there a way to not repeating the exact same nodes 20 times? Like a template or function call? I'm asking now before creating the 20 identical groups
p.s. I just learned about Dashboard v2 when searching this forum, I guess I should change into it, instead, but as far as I can tell, there's no change to how groups are floating around on resize(?).
Yes, if you are just starting out with Node-red, you should use @flowfuse/node-red-dashboard (db2) not node-red-dashboard (db1)
There is some difference in how groups get arranged at different display sizes between db1 and 2, and it will behave differently if you have a single group, 20 groups or another arrangement.
Probably at the moment you would be wise to focus on getting things onto the dashboard and let Node-red arrange them as it likes.
Later on, some grouping, resizing and arranging to make it look good.
You are probably going to have to create (copy/paste) separate nodes for each ESP.
I guess you could choose if each one has 3 text nodes or perhaps a single template node showing all three text items.
So your flow may end up something like this (either 20 templates or 60 ui-text nodes!)
I settled for this, to begin with. But it feels a bit tough to change every single end node, if I (e.g.) want to change the look of it, so I'll probably at least use a template to consolidate the three end nodes of each esp, once I understand how I can do the "end topic switch" in a template.
