I know this is convoluted but stranger things happen.. and right now I just need help on finding these hidden library files I installed with a MANUAL Copy /Paste and on how to delete them properly. Here's my issue that persists only On my Main PC .. Not my laptop.. I've tried all sorts of things and messed up something in the process..
My Win10 PC's IDE's compiler isn’t starting the compilation of a large .ino I have NOT modified, because the pre-compiler reports it can’t find a FastLED.h, library, but when I try adding the FastLED folder with it zipped within using the AddZip file option, that macro and each of the three others needed in this new Robot's code base all error out saying they can't find the specific library.h file needed, and that I'm trying to add back as a Contributed Library.
Then, the IDE won’t let me install these library’s because the IDE sees each as already installed.. I know it seems odd but that’s what’s happening as far as I can tell .. If I knew where they reside I’d delete them. Un-Installing the Arduino IDE app and then re-installing it does not work, the various other projects libraries I installed in the past remain but since I manually deleted the 4 required in this new robot project manually,, they do not display along with the other included Arduino library's as currently installed, they don't appear as listed, but I can't re-install them with Add-Zip because of the "already installed" errors I get now with each..
It’s a s/w issue because when I switched over to my laptop and did the use the proper AddZip option from the beginning instead of the Manual Copy/Paste in to the Arduino Library option the vendor guide said I should use.. this time on that other laptop PC it accepted each and the large .ino code base for this project now compiles successfully.
I have had similar issues on this same PC with a completely different project yet the errors were very similar I think I caused it by following the vendors guideline precisely, and I did at that time a week ago assume I should follow their advice to add the 4 folders full of .h and .cpp files manually via copy/paste for a reason, and yes it did seem odd at the time. You live and learn, I've learned that's a mistake but now I can't add then with Add-Zip since the IDE reports they are already installed... Ho do I get rid of these hidden librarys please?
You should be able to see the location of all the libraries used by your sketch in the verbose compilation output.
Select File > Preferences from the Arduino IDE menus.
Check the box next to "Show verbose output during: ☐ compilation".
Click the OK button.
Now try to compile your sketch. After the compilation fails, examine the contents of the black output panel at the bottom of the Arduino IDE window. There you will find some text that has this general form:
Multiple libraries were found for "Stepper.h"
Used: C:\Users\asdf\Documents\Arduino\libraries\Stepper
Not used: C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\libraries\Stepper
Using library EEPROM at version 2.0 in folder: C:\Users\asdf\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\hardware\avr\1.8.5\libraries\EEPROM
Using library Stepper at version 1.1.3 in folder: C:\Users\asdf\Documents\Arduino\libraries\Stepper
There are several locations libraries might be installed. The most common of these is the libraries subfolder of the "Sketchbook folder". You can find the location of the sketch folder by:
Select File > Preferences... from the Arduino IDE menus.
Note the path shown in the "Sketchbook location" field.
Select File > Preferences... from the Arduino IDE menus.
The other two locations libraries are stored:
IDE built-in: {Arduino IDE install folder}/libraries
This is for the libraries included pre-installed with the Arduino IDE installation. This provides users with the fundamental libraries so they can get started with Arduino right away without having to learn to install libraries.
You should never install libraries to that folder because they will be lost when you update to a new IDE version. Unfortunately, you will find some tutorials and other documentation that tells you to do this.
Platform bundled: This is dependent on the selection in the Tools > Board Arduino IDE menu. Location will depend on if you're using a boards platform bundled with the IDE, installed via Boards Manager, or manually installed to {sketchbook folder}/hardware.
Platform bundled libraries are used by boards platform authors to distribute architecture-specific libraries along with the other board support files.
You should never install libraries to that folder because they will be lost when you update to a new platform version via Boards Manager.
Something that has bitten me in the past is if you have 2 versions of the IDE open and try to install a library, it will put it into a less-than-obvious location
The IDE will still see the library as "installed" but when you look in your libraries directory, you don't see what you would expect to be the proper library name (e.g. libraries\FastLED...)
Great Tip, but it's still saying the library is already installed even right after I restart windows and am sure only one instance of the Arduino IDE is launched.. so I don't think a duplicate was running at any time.
I'm not good at this but going to try send some screen grabs of the normal Compile fail then the Add Zip attempt fails .. I am using the Arduino AVR Board version 1.8.5 which has the Aduino Uno I have selected during these compile attempts.. I have used an APP called "Everything" to search for these library's that are reported as Already installed but haven't found them so that I can delete them and then properly re-add them using the Add Zip option.
I think the library.h files are messed up and located in the same location that holds the library.h and .cpp files for re-use if you UNINSTALL the IDE and then Re install it.. these come back from somewhere I have not found.. yet
By the way, initially ( last Sunday 4 days ago) their guidance was to manually add these 4 library folders. I did to this an they did show up as Contributed Libraries un the View Library's pull down but at that time I was getting a different pre-compiler "can't find requested library error" and I was told they should not be added manually.. so I went in to the Arduino/Library folder and manually deleted the 4 of them.. Yet now I'm stuck and cant re-add them using Add-Zip because it reports these are already installed..
I do appear to have TWO of these set up .. but I don't see the Elegoo libs in here either.. should I delete this 2nd one .. since my Pref's setting is pointing to the other one, and I don't think I'm using it anyway
I have two because of a bug - I consider it a bug- that the Windows Store version of the IDE uses a different file structure than the native version. (Even the IDE icon is the same, so you don't know which one you are running). I never use the Windows Store version any more but I haven't gotten around to cleaning that up because it isn't causing any problems.
Anyway, now that you found all of the instances of fastled.h, delete them. And the fastled.cpp files, too. In fact, erase all fastled.* files. We're going to reinstall them in the right place next. (In everything you can simply right-click on the files and delete them in the context menu).
Now, install fastLED from the Arduino IDE Library Manager.
Steve, I admit I never looked for FastLED in the IDE's Library manager.. I will try to add it there.. I did however use the Windows App Store to install the IDE on occasion using both the .exe file and later / Last using
I have recently done a UNINSTALL App then a Reinstall from Arduino.cc's downloads area..
Back at the ranch this is what I found.. using Everything and searching for FastLED.* it never found a .h or a .cpp but did find this..
do you think the IDE 1.8.19 is finding these in these locations and seeing them as a duplicate? "already installed" library? should I delete these?
Note that when I used Add Zip and drilled down to the top line's location you see here with the "addLibrary" folder and clicked this FastLED .zip file it did install correctly( as did the other three .. and does compile OK but only on a second machine.. my laptop.
The different library structure is one of the reasons I deleted all of the files Arduino IDE from Windows Store. First using the Windows Remove process then deleting the folder that remained. It was driving me nuts for a few days.
("Why is x.h not found, I just installed it yesterday???).
Make sure in everything/search that all the match filters are off.
In the IDE, in file/preferences/settings, select Show verbose output during compilation. This will show where the IDE is searching for every library and object file.
Yes, I turned on verbose compile in prefs and see exactly where it’s looking for the FastLED.h .. yet it’s not finding it eve tho I did use the IDE’s library manager to find and install the 1st variant (of about 4 ) of them in the Arduino Library yet it’s compiler still can’t find it, nor can my Everything app find this 1st of several custom lib files this Elegoo V4 robot needs to compile .. so I’m still stuck.. I will recheck to insure the everything is checking my C: drive and desktop where all my Arduino stuff lives next.
Thanks Steve.
