Open sketch "blocks" upload to board for other sketches

M_James_O · May 20, 2021, 3:25pm

In the OLD IDE, if I open a sketch, and select a board and upload to that board, and then open a new sketch, and upload to that same board - it works ok.

When I try to do the same thing with the BETA IDE, I get this error:

avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "/dev/cu.usbmodem1463201": Resource busy
Upload error: Error: 2 UNKNOWN: uploading error: uploading error: exit status 1

This may be the desired behavior, I am not sure.

For my workflow, I often jump between different sketches, uploading them to the same board, back and forth. This worked fine in the previous IDE, I just clicked upload when I had a new sketch to upload.

Now it seems, I have to go and select a different board, or close the other sketch that I had uploaded to.

I hope this makes sense!

Just a thought.

I am on macOS BigSur and using IDE Version: 2.0.0-beta.7

pert · May 20, 2021, 7:18pm

Do you have Serial Monitor open in the first IDE window?

gilshultz · May 20, 2021, 7:57pm

What IDE are you using and what OS?

M_James_O · May 20, 2021, 8:20pm

I am on macOS BigSur and using IDE Version: 2.0.0-beta.7

M_James_O · May 20, 2021, 8:21pm

Yes, I do have the Serial Monitor open.

gilshultz · May 20, 2021, 8:26pm

I do this all the time with Linux Mint without any problem. Each instance when it starts uses a different USB port. Can you try a different version of the IDE it may be a problem with the beta version you are using.

pert · May 20, 2021, 8:33pm

OK. This is a known deficiency, which is tracked 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.

Currently, each Arduino IDE window is an independent instance. This is different from the classic IDE, where each new window is still part of the existing instance. What you're seeing is normal and expected when trying to upload to an open port. You will see the same behavior in the classic Arduino IDE if you open the port in some other application, or even another instance of the classic IDE. However, the classic IDE is able to control the Serial Monitor which belongs to its instance during uploads to close the port, then reopen it after the upload is finished.

So in order for the Arduino IDE 2.x to provide this same automagical port juggling, it will need to have some similar mechanism of one open window being able to control the Serial Monitor of the others.

An unfortunate side effect of the classic IDE's "all windows are in the same instance" system is that when you change the board or port in one window, it changes it in the others as well. This is very inconvenient when you are working with multiple boards at the same time. The workaround is to start a separate instance of the classic IDE for each board. In that usage, you run into the same problem if you try to use the same port simultaneously in multiple instances, because each instance can't control the Serial Monitor of the other. In Arduino IDE 2.x, you can have a separate board or port selected in each window without any need for jumping through hoops.

So I think it will be a bit challenging to get the best of both worlds, but there are some very talented people working on the IDE, and an amazing community of contributors, so I'm sure some solution will be found in time.

M_James_O · May 24, 2021, 1:46pm

Thanks for this reply! It makes sense what you are saying - this is a matter of trade off.

For me, it will likely be an adjustment of my work flow, because more often then not I target the same Arduino board with multiple different sketches. I'll just have to turn off the port selection as I jump around from sketch to sketch.

I can totally see why developers trying to make code work for various Arduino boards would want one sketch, with multiple target boards, and not have to keep selecting different boards and ports.

Thanks again for your reply!

system · September 21, 2021, 1:47pm

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