Add Micropython Bindings

[Snooz82]

Summary

Add MicroPython bindings generator for Tinkerforge devices. This enables using Bricks and Bricklets from MicroPython environments (ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico, etc.) via TCP/IP.

Design Decisions

Synchronous/polling architecture (like PHP, unlike Python)
MicroPython doesn't support the threading module on most boards. Instead of Python's multi-threaded approach (background receive thread, callback queue thread, disconnect probe thread), the MicroPython bindings use explicit callback dispatching via ipcon.dispatch_callbacks(seconds), following the same pattern as the PHP bindings. The user controls when callbacks are processed — either in an infinite loop (dispatch_callbacks(-1)) or polled periodically.

Flat module structure (no package hierarchy)
MicroPython boards have limited filesystems and no pip/setuptools. All bindings are flat .py files meant to be copied directly to the board (via mpremote, Thonny, ampy, etc.). There is no __init__.py, no setup.py, and no namespace package. Imports use the flat form: from ip_connection import IPConnection rather than Python's from tinkerforge.ip_connection import IPConnection.

No auto-reconnect
Auto-reconnect in the Python bindings relies on a background thread to detect disconnections and re-establish the connection. Without threading, this isn't possible, so set_auto_reconnect() is not provided. Users must handle reconnection explicitly.

Simplified examples

• No if __name__ == "__main__": guard — MicroPython scripts are executed directly
• No input("Press key to exit") — embedded systems typically don't have interactive stdin
• Callback examples end with ipcon.dispatch_callbacks(-1); non-callback examples end with time.sleep(1)
• Shebang is #!/usr/bin/env micropython

No threading-related locks
The Python bindings use stream_lock for high-level streaming functions. Since MicroPython is single-threaded, these locks are omitted from generated bindings.

Minimal testing
The tester runs py_compile.compile() for syntax validation only (no pylint). MicroPython environments don't typically have linting tools available.

Device validity check in callback dispatch
Matches PHP's pattern: _dispatch_pending_callbacks() calls check_validity() before dispatching each callback, silently skipping callbacks for devices that have been replaced or don't match.

What's Included

• ip_connection.py — full protocol implementation (connect, enumerate, authenticate, callback dispatch, streaming)
• generate_micropython_bindings.py — generates device binding files
• generate_micropython_doc.py — generates RST API documentation (EN/DE)
• generate_micropython_examples.py — generates example scripts
• generate_micropython_stubs.py — generate stubs for IDE support
• generate_micropython_zip.py — packages bindings for distribution
• micropython_common.py — language-specific Device/Packet/Element subclasses
• test_micropython_bindings.py — syntax validation tester
• example_enumerate.py, example_authenticate.py — IP Connection examples

Verification

• All generators run without errors
• 472/472 tests pass

Manual tests

I did test it with an ESP32-WROOM board via Wifi (connecting to a master with Wifi Extension).
I just made a small play application that can be started on the ESP32 by importing it.

import test_rotary_oled

Unfortunately i have not all the bricklets and bricks, that i can test it. 😉

config.py
test_rotary_oled.py

I also made a PR for the doc repo.

Best regards
René

[borg42]

Very cool!

We will have to take a detailed look at it. Currently all of our devs are super busy with other projects, so it will unfortunately take a few days until we review this PR and can give you feedback.

But we will schedule someone!

Edit: Meta-Question: Did you schedule the Copilot review or is that something that automatically happened? I don't mind if you scheduled it, but if it is something that was done automatically i find it a bit rude and would rather turn it off by default.
Edit2: I think i found the setting, the automatic Copilot-Pull-Request-Review is now turned off.