On to the tricky stuff...

Now that I have determined a stable connection with my controller, it's time to look at how I can use the Arduino set-up I have to interact with the internet through a web-server or other. Recently I have been looking at other people's projects, and how they have incorporated the Arduino into a web / physical project...

Here's one example - Tinkerlog

Tinker log, is a project that takes a 'hitcount' from the blog itself, and then every ten seconds connects with the server-side coding, Python, and establishes wether or not there has been any action (more hits). If there has, the Python code then tells the Arduino to carry out an action, if not the cycle is looped until the next ten second interval. Pretty smart!

This project uses three stages of Software programming, including PHP, Python and the Arduino language, so it immediately appealed to me. I knew that I if I was going to use my Arduino circuit to connect to the Internet, then PHP was a major factor and I needed to research how other people have gone about completing their set-ups. I read into the code that this creator had used, It states in his blog, that he has used PHP, Python Syntax, which I have never heard of, but seems to be an open source scripting language similar to Applescript, however a lot more efficient. I have downloaded the Python environment to try and get to grips with it, maybe this is something that I will need to use to bridge the gap between the Internet and my arduino. Whatever the outcome, it has certainly given me hope that creating a connection to my Arduino based upon online variables is fairly easily feasible....