ESP-IDF currently implements ESP-NETIF for the lwIP TCP/IP stack only. However, the adapter itself is TCP/IP implementation-agnostic and allows different implementations.
Some ESP-NETIF API functions are intended to be called by application code, for example, to get or set interface IP addresses, and configure DHCP. Other functions are intended for internal ESP-IDF use by the network driver layer. In many cases, applications do not need to call ESP-NETIF APIs directly as they are called by the default network event handlers.
If you are only interested in using the most common network interfaces with default setting, please read :ref:`esp_netif_user` to see how you can initialize default interfaces and register event handlers.
If you would like to learn more about the library interaction with other components, please refer to the :ref:`esp-netif structure`.
In case your application needs to configure the network interfaces differently, e.g. setting a static IP address or just update the configuration runtime, please read :ref:`esp_netif_programmer`.
If you would like to develop your own network driver, implement support for a new TCP/IP stack or customize the ESP-NETIF in some other way, please refer to the :ref:`esp_netif_developer`.
It is usually just enough to create a default network interface after startup and destroy it upon closing (see :ref:`esp_netif_init`). It is also useful to receive a notification upon assigning a new IP address or losing it (see :ref:`esp-netif-ip-events`).
Since the ESP-NETIF component uses system events, the typical network startup code looks like this (note that error handling is omitted for clarity, see :example_file:`ethernet/basic/main/ethernet_example_main.c` for complete startup code):
These steps must be performed in the exact order shown above, as the network interface drivers use the default event loop when registering system events.
- The default event loop needs to be created **before** initializing an interface driver, as the driver typically needs to register system event handlers.
- Registering application event handlers must occur **after** calling :cpp:func:`esp_netif_attach`, because event handlers are called in the order they were registered. To ensure that system handlers are called first, you should register application handlers afterward.
Steps ``2)``, ``3)`` and ``4)`` are quite complex for most common use-cases, so ESP-NETIF provides some pre-configured interfaces and convenience functions that create the most common network interfaces in their most common configurations.
Each network interface needs to be initialized separately, so if you would like to use multiple interfaces, you would have to run steps ``2)`` to ``5)`` for every interface. Set ``1)`` should be performed only once.
Creating and configuring the interface and attaching the network interface driver to it (steps ``2)``, ``3)`` and ``4)``) is described in :ref:`create_esp_netif`.
As the initialization of network interfaces could be quite complex, ESP-NETIF provides some convenient methods of creating the most common ones, such as Wi-Fi and Ethernet.
:CONFIG_ESP_WIFI_SOFTAP_SUPPORT:- :example:`wifi/getting_started/softAP` demonstrates how to use the SoftAP functionality to configure {IDF_TARGET_NAME} as an AP.
-:example:`protocols/l2tap` demonstrates how to use the ESP-NETIF L2 TAP interface to access the Data Link Layer for receiving and transmitting frames, implement non-IP protocols, and echo Ethernet frames with specific EthTypes.
The initialization code as well as registering event handlers for default interfaces, such as softAP and station, are provided in separate APIs to facilitate simple startup code for most applications:
Please note that these functions return the ``esp_netif`` handle, i.e., a pointer to a network interface object allocated and configured with default settings, which means that:
* The created object has to be destroyed if a network de-initialization is provided by an application using :cpp:func:`esp_netif_destroy_default_wifi()`.
* These *default* interfaces must not be created multiple times unless the created handle is deleted using :cpp:func:`esp_netif_destroy_default_wifi()`.
* When using Wi-Fi in ``AP+STA`` mode, both these interfaces have to be created. Please refer to the example :example_file:`wifi/softap_sta/main/softap_sta.c`.
***Network Interface Driver Events**: These events notify you about the driver's lifecycle states, such as when a Wi-Fi station joins an AP or gets disconnected. Handling these events is outside the scope of the ESP-NETIF component. It is worth noting that the same events are also used by ESP-NETIF to set the network interface to a desired state. Therefore, if your application uses the driver's events to determine specific states of the network interface, you should register these handlers **after** registering the system handlers (which typically happens when attaching the driver to the interface). This is why handler registration occurs in the final step of the :ref:`esp_netif_init` code.
***IP Events**: These events notify you about IP address changes, such as when a new address is assigned or when a valid address is lost. Specific types of these events are listed in :cpp:type:`ip_event_t`. Each common interface has a related pair of ``GOT_IP`` and ``LOST_IP`` events.
Registering event handlers is crucial due to the asynchronous nature of networking, where changes in network state can occur unpredictably. By registering event handlers, applications can respond to these changes promptly, ensuring appropriate actions are taken in response to network events.
Lost IP events are triggered by a timer configurable by :ref:`CONFIG_ESP_NETIF_IP_LOST_TIMER_INTERVAL`. The timer is started upon losing the IP address and the event will be raised after the configured interval, which is 120 s by default. The event could be disabled when setting the interval to 0.
Overall application interaction with a specific IO driver for the communication media (network interface driver) and configured TCP/IP network stack is abstracted using ESP-NETIF APIs and is outlined as below:
ESP-NETIF serves as an intermediary between an IO driver and a network stack, connecting the packet data path between the two. It provides a set of interfaces for attaching a driver to an ESP-NETIF object at runtime and configures a network stack during compiling. Additionally, a set of APIs is provided to control the network interface lifecycle and its TCP/IP properties. As an overview, the ESP-NETIF public interface can be divided into six groups:
The ESP-NETIF L2 TAP interface is a mechanism in ESP-IDF used to access Data Link Layer (L2 per OSI/ISO) for frame reception and transmission from the user application. Its typical usage in the embedded world might be the implementation of non-IP-related protocols, e.g., PTP, Wake on LAN. Note that only Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) is currently supported. Please read more about L2 TAP in :ref:`esp_netif_l2tap`.
In some cases, it is not enough to simply initialize a network interface by default, start using it and connect to the local network. If so, please consult the programming guide: :doc:`/api-reference/network/esp_netif_programming`.
In some cases, user applications might need to customize ESP-NETIF, register custom drivers or even use a custom TCP/IP stack. If so, please consult the :doc:`/api-reference/network/esp_netif_driver`.
