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NxPanel Guide
NxPanel is designed to be a replacement firmware for the NSPanel that allows users to better integrate their device with their home automation systems. The stock firmware on the NSPanel is pretty limited and requires and internet connection and uses the eWeLink phone app to configure it. NxPanel is designed to work over your local network and to have far richer features built in. It will talk to the ESP side of the devices with JSON messages in both directions. These messages can be either forwarded by an MQTT layer, or potentially by some more direct method. Depending of the interface software sitting on the ESP.
Currently, this is supported on Tasmota via a small berry script which acts as broker for handling message to and from MQTT. This berry script also handles flashing NxPanel onto the device from Tasmota.
It's also very possible that ESPHome could also be made to talk to NxPanel with a interface too. It would be almost the same as the interface used to talk to the stock firmware which already is done. However, this will be a task for ESPHome people, if wanted.
NxPanel is not meant to be framework used as a template for building other custom HMI screen firmware. The aim is to make a core set of components which are easy to control by users and thus negate the need for them to get involved in the hassle of Nextion screen design and programming.
So if I can't change the stock HMI and I can't change NxPanel HMI, what's the difference? Well, although you can change the screens in NxPanel, they are drastically more configurable than they are in stock. There are more of them and this will keep growing. As an example, stock has a button page that allows you to configure single buttons or one level of sub buttons under that. All the sub buttons are called outlet1 and so one. That's it. NxPanel allow you to configure various button pages too, but you are not stuck to one level, you can go to as many as you like. Each button can be named, have a different icon. This is why NxPanel is far more flexible and useful.
Rather than each page being predefined. NxPanel build's it's screen dynamically as you move to them and syncs them to your backend system.