If I improve it in the future, I may reconsider.

The code is laughable at best (the arduino sketch will only work once - you have to unplug the usb cable and plug it back in or press the reset button on the board which isn’t possible when it’s inside the enclosure), so I won’t be posting it.

I have a python script running on my laptop that captures the message and can then do anything I want it to do like updating a value in a database, firing off an http request, etc. When it does, it writes a message via the serial interface. The sketch running on the Arduino simply waits for you to push the button. I used an enclosure from RadioShack to keep everything clean. My dome button came equipped with an LED instead of an incandescent bulb, so I was able to power everything directly from the USB cable. Inside the case is an Arduino Uno that I repurposed from an earlier project. I used the same red dome button from SparkFun.

I thought I’d build something similar as a proof of concept. I saw the post from the guys over at Metricfire about Building the Big Red Button.

Big red button arduino