Feature Request... Auto select Serial Monitor Window if open

SniffTheGlove · May 6, 2021, 8:59am

Hi All,

I have a Feature Request

In the old 1.8 IDE if the serial monitor window was open when uploading the code to the device the output went straight to the serial monitor window.

In the v2 IDE this does not happen, so if you have the Serial Monitor tab open in the IDE, could there be an option to switch automatically to the Serial Monitor window tab when you compile and upload to your device.

Thanks for considering.

system · September 3, 2021, 9:00am

This topic was automatically closed 120 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

pert · November 2, 2021, 6:13pm

ptillisch · November 2, 2021, 6:14pm

Hi @SniffTheGlove. It sounds like an interesting suggestion, but unfortunately it's not clear to me. Would you mind providing a more detailed description?

SniffTheGlove · November 2, 2021, 7:53pm

Thanks for the reply.

OK, so open the 1.8 IDE and load a sketch with debug output.
Compile and upload to an arduino.
Open serial monitor window. The compiled sketch then restarts and outputs to the serial monitor window.
Open another 1.8 IDE and load a sketch with debug output.
Compile and upload to an arduino.
The compiled sketch then restarts and outputs to the current open serial monitor window.

In Version 2 IDE this does not happen.

I was told that in IDE 2 the serial output tab is directly linked to the opened sketch in the IDE now. If you open a new IDE session and upload a different sketch you have to close the serial output tab in the other IDE and reopen it in the new IDE.

I hope this explains things a bit better.

Previously I would have an arduino running where I have one 1.8 IDE open with my project sketch and another IDE open with test code which I would just upload and test with Debug serial output data etc and would flip between the 2 and the serial output window would just keep running. Now with ver 2 IDE I have since been told that one IDE window per project and the serial output monitor is linked to just that project/sketch and opening another IDE say for test code does not allow the serial monitor to be used unless it is closed in the other ide.

It's just a lot of extra mouse clicks to keep closing the monitor window but I am used to doing this now.

ptillisch · November 2, 2021, 8:10pm

Thanks for the clarification!

This is indeed an important suggestion. This problem was also reported along with several others by one of the founders of Arduino, Tom Igoe here:

github.com/arduino/arduino-ide

Document Serial Monitor changes

opened 10:49AM - 25 Mar 21 UTC

closed 02:50PM - 28 Jun 22 UTC

tigoe

topic: documentation conclusion: resolved type: imperfection topic: serial monitor

The 2.0 IDE and the Pro IDE introduced a major change to the UX of the Serial Mo…nitor. Instead of being its own window, it now is attached to a sketch window. This is a change that is likely to cause confusion in many classrooms, and requires better thought to the UX and more documentation so as not to lose users. Example: 1. Open a serial sketch (say AnalogReadSerial, from the Basics menu) 2. Pick a board and port 3. upload code 4. open serial monitor 5. open a new sketch window, write a new sketch 6. attempt to upload The result will be that the second sketch will not upload and you;'ll get a "port busy" error. But you can't see the Serial Monitor, because it's in the sketch window behind the current one, so you don't know where to look. This will result in beginning users wasting hours trying to solve the problem. It could be addressed by a better error message, e.g. "error: serial port is in use. Check to see if you have the Serial Monitor open in another sketch window." it could also be solved by moving the Serial Monitor to the in-focus window, however, this is a problem if you have more than one board attached at time. ------------------ Example 2: 1. Attach a board to USB port 1 2. Attach another to USB port 2 3. In one window, select board 1 on port 1 4. Upload a sketch to board 1 5. Open serial port 1 6. In a second window, select board 2 on port 2 7. Upload a sketch to board 2 8. Attempt to open port 2 This is a nice change, it allows you to have two serial monitors open at a time. But it doesn't work by default. When you click the Serial Monitor icon in window 2, it attempts to open serial port 1 rather than the port it just uploaded to! You have to explicitly pick the second port AFTER you upload to open both ports. That's confusing. Whatever board and port you select for a given window should be the default for all the serial operations associated with that window. ------------------ There are a series of pop-up toasts that pop up when you upload a changed sketch while the serial monitor is open warning that the port's not available, etc. These are distracting, and not useful if you're handling the closing of the port, the upload, and the re-opening in the background. They should be kept in the error log, not in pop-up toasts. ------------------ These problems will become more confusing as more cases pop up. If the new model is a strong connection between window, board, and port, and the Serial Monitor (and later, the Serial Plotter) is no longer independent, that needs to be made very clear in announcements, documentations, and tutorials. It is a potential advantage, but it is also a potential learning hazard, as teachers are used to the old way and will trip over the new way if they're not informed. I did.

In order that the developers might more effectively track this important issue, there is now a dedicated one for this request here:

github.com/arduino/arduino-ide

Upload fails if port is open in Serial Monitor of another window

opened 02:16PM - 31 Oct 21 UTC

closed 05:55AM - 08 Jun 22 UTC

per1234

topic: documentation conclusion: resolved topic: code type: imperfection topic: serial monitor criticality: medium

## Describe the bug It is not uncommon for a user to have multiple windows op…en with the same port selected in each. If the Serial Monitor is open in one of those windows, uploads from the other window will fail. ## To Reproduce 1. Connect any Arduino board to your computer. 1. Select the board and port in the Arduino IDE menus. 1. Open Serial Monitor (e.g., **Tools > Serial Monitor**). 1. Select **File > New** from the Arduino IDE menus. 1. Select **Sketch > Upload** from the Arduino IDE menus. 🙁 Note that the upload has failed with an error something like "`avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\\.\COM7": Access is denied.`" ## Expected behavior Handle sharing port usage between windows automagically. **OR** More effectively communicate the cause of the upload failure and the required action to the user. **OR** Clearly document the cause of the upload failure and the required action (https://github.com/arduino/arduino-ide/issues/271). I would recommend taking the approach of *"so you have x problem, here is the solution ..."* rather than *"here is how to upload/use Serial Monitor properly ..."*. The reason is that the user is much more likely to go searching for a specific solution once they have the problem than to proactively study the documentation in advance of doing an upload. With this approach, the appropriate location for the documentation would be [the Help Center](https://support.arduino.cc/hc/en-us/sections/360003198300). The [classic Arduino IDE points the user there](https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/blob/1.8.16/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/Uploader.java#L179) in the event of a failed upload. The article should be titled with the unique components of the various common error messages that occur when attempting to upload to an open port. It should also take into account that there are multiple possible causes of this error. ## Desktop - OS: Windows 10 - Version: 2.0.0-beta.12-nightly.20211028 Date: 2021-10-28T03:03:25.353Z CLI Version: 0.19.1 alpha [718bbbf2] ## Additional context Originally reported at https://github.com/arduino/arduino-ide/issues/271#issue-840803269 ### Comparison to classic Arduino IDE This is not usually a problem in the classic Arduino IDE because all windows share the same Serial Monitor and are able to juggle the control of the port between the upload process and Serial Monitor automagically. The exception is when the user has opened multiple instances of the Arduino IDE, in which case it behaves the same as Arduino IDE 2.x in that each instance has its own Serial Monitor and can not control the Serial Monitor of the other instance. However, this multiple instance usage is not very common, and more often employed by advanced users who are easily able to identify the cause of the upload failure that results from these conditions.

There are a few possible ways this could be dealt with, but the plan now is to try to handle it "the Arduino way" by just making the IDE handle it automatically so the user doesn't need to think about it:

I believe the handling of Serial ports should be done automagically.
If a port is open and an upload towards the same port is initiated, the connection should be closed and upload started.

For you or me, the Serial Monitor of another window causing an upload failure is only an annoyance, but for a beginner it might be the cause of significant confusion.