Serial monitor's "Clear Output" button available from software.

[jbellavance]

I have seen many posts that were asking for this feature.

I also think that it would be great for some applications... and yes, for debugging purposes too.

Jacques

[ballscrewbob]

@jbellavance

The clear output is available in the current desktop IDE.

Not really needed in the WEB based IDE as that is a circular buffer thats all...FiFo

[jbellavance]

The clear output is available in the current desktop IDE.

It is available as a button on the serial monitor window...

There are some non-printable characters that I think are not really used like Device control DC1, DC2, DC3 and DC4, (ASCII 17..20) they could be sent to ask for clearing the Serial monitor.

I would like to see something like

Code: [Select]

Serial.print(17);to clear the monitor.

Jacques

[ballscrewbob]

Ah you want to do it in code.

Was not at all clear in the first post.
For debug I generally add a message change so its easy to spot.
Simpler from my POV but I do see what you mean.

[Delta_G]

I use something like

Code: [Select]


for(int x = 0; x < 50; x++) Serial.println();

If I want to make the monitor look clean again. 

[jbellavance]

Code: [Select]

for(int x = 0; x < 50; x++) Serial.println();
That sets the cursor on the last line of the monitor.

It is just a whish... have the same effect as the clear monitor button. Clear the monitor and place the cursor on the beginning of the first line.

Having the cursor on the first line opens up tons of possibilities, as well as using the monitor as a pseudo LED display as well as displaying voltages or other values for debugging purposes.

Jacques

[bobcousins]

The ASCII "Form Feed" character, FF (0x0C) was designed for printers, but has traditionally been used to clear screen on glass or virtual terminals.

If you are going down that route, then it would be nice to have VT100 escape sequences to change colors, fonts, etc...

[jbellavance]

it would be nice to have VT100 escape sequences to change colors, fonts, etc...

This was already submited a few times to the Arduino team, but the goal there is to keep the Serial Monitor as simple as possible (multiple platforms, multiple languages, etc...) would make it too difficult to implement, and I can only agree with them on this.

What I suggest seems to me as a small add-on, since the button to clear the console is already on the Serial monitor.

I just keep my fingers crossed.

Jacques

[J-M-L]

I would Just use an alternate serial monitor - coolTerm has an option to handle Form Feed (FF, ASCII code 12) which will clear the receive buffer and thus clear the screen

Agree it would be good to have some options like this embedded in the IDE

[GoForSmoke]

No ANSI terminals... we did get a graphic data logger and it's not like code for VT emulators doesn't exist.

How about a serial monitor mode that sends keystrokes immediately? Maybe backspace erases, wouldn't need a left-cursor and over-write to do interactive IO on a single line. Just erase and replace as needed.

With Linux you can use cu to connect to a terminal window, pick VT-compatible.
With Winblows you can use PuTTY.
Unless you're a beginner, then it's too hard which is why to ask for a terminal to go with the monitor.