Download code from Arduino

Projects Programming
1

I really need to be able to read the code that I loaded into my Arduino.

Unfortunately, I had about a dozen different versions of the code all in different folders downloaded as I was trying to get my project working.

I was just learning and had no idea what an Arduino was and that you needed a piece of software that was also called Arduino to load code into your Arduino to make it work.

I finally realized every time I was clicking a certain link on GitHub it was downloading the code again into another folder.

I have a backup of all of that but it is a literal mess and I have no idea which version I finally got working. Well, now something isn't working. It would be helpful to know what's loaded in the Arduino but I don't suppose there's a way to make the Arduino software download instead of upload if this is even possible.

Thanks in advance.

2

Sadly it's impossible to "download" code from an arduino.
In the future I suggest that you put a serial print in the Setup that tells you what version it is using.

1 Like
3

the "code" you loaded into the arduino isnt the same as your sketch. So it wouldnt help much to be able to examine it.

V205 Lovelace is rightI put a header on my sketches - like this - with the name version and version history.. This is for my webdisplay sketch
/*
Webdisplay V2.05 - now using ESP32.
Ping working well giving sensible values (20ms for talktalk) with possible long delays
doing 2 pings at a time with a threshold of 3 attempts to record an outage
2.04 changes: bool buttonState, lastButtonState, switchState, lastSwitchState; changed from type int
2.05 May 2023 following a fail of the test server change to ping Quad9 as a more reliable DNS server
*/

but a serial print that tells you what the actual arduino is running is a great idea to link to that - I'll use it in future

1 Like
4

The file date and timestamps are your only clues.

1 Like
5

This won't help you this time, but in future if you were to put the line:

 Serial.println(__FILE__);

in setup(), then it will print out the full path of the file on the serial monitor each time you start the sketch.

You can also add:

Serial.println(__DATE__);
Serial.println(__TIME__);

to print out the date and time of compilation.

6

But...you should write

Serial.println(F(__DATE__));
Serial.println(F(__TIME__));
1 Like
7

Thanks so much for all the replies.

I suspected there wasn't a way to do this.

I'll be adding serial.println from now on.

8

Remember to put the F() in as suggested by Semperldem, so you use the FLASH memory, and don't use up RAM.

Also you will need a Serial.begin() if you are not already using the serial monitor.

Serial.begin(115200);
Serial.println(F(__FILE__));
1 Like
9

Hi, @glen4cindy
Can you check the creation dates or modification dates of your .ino files, to find the latest one?

Tom.. :smiley: :+1: :coffee: :australia:

2 Likes
10

As I said in post#4, but the OP didn't acknowledge. That of course only works if development stopped with the working version loaded, if it continued then it becomes difficult to find the right version(and if the same name was used throughout, pointless).

11

Thanks for your answer regarding the file date and timestamps.

I'm going to check those again to see if they make sense.

Like I said in the original question, there are a dozen unzipped versions because I didn't realize at the time every time I clicked on the folder in GitHub it unzipped it again.

I did stop when I finally got it working but there are still 3 or 4 different versions that I was working with until I got everything working successfully.

12

What would really be ideal in this situation would be if there was a "virtual" environment where I could select all the hardware and then compile the sketch and upload it and see if it works.

I've looked at Arduino Cloud but I'm not sure if that will do this.

13

Check out:

It’s a decent simulator. It’s free with no account needed.
I still prefer real hardware though
Hope this helps.

1 Like
14

Thanks!

I'll take a look at this.

1 Like
15

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.