Hello folks. I'm returning to programming from a number of years hiatus. I Programmed in C++, C# for quite a number of years. With that being stipulated I believe I might be going insane here. 

I have never in my life of programming ever had so many issues with a compiler not finding include files.

I used Visual Studio for any years and it has changed considerably in the past few years but builds are still builds.

I have told Visual Studio under Project\Properties where include and source directories are located.

I have added the files via Visual Micro, etc. 

Every time I compile I get "Can't find file or directory" I was at this for many hours yesterday and I would be a liar if I didn't admit that I came fairly close, at 47 years old, to putting my fist through my monitor...

I have googled, searched, etc. I have found snippets of people having this problem, one gentleman insinuating its because of the Visual Micro addon etc.

I'm going now to make the most basic of C++ projects to see if I can have includes "WHEREVER I DAMN WELL WANT THEM" and see if Visual studio quits giving me this ridiculous error.

SO I'm here asking all of you old and new pros. Am I missing something simple? I mean I actually enjoy debugging and figuring our logic errors in code. I do not enjoy, in the least, losing many hours of productive time trying to get a compiler to do the most simple of tasks - like find its darn source files...

Any help would be appreciated... deeply...

Thanks very much...

Hi thanks for the reply. I have been using the Arduino IDE for weeks while I was learning to use the ATMEL microcontroller, etc. Never had any problems in that IDE at all..

All of the issues started as soon as I decided I needed to write a number of classes to develop a small "engine" that I'm writing for a project. The INO file system didn't seem to be all the robust in a multi-file project. So it was this consideration and having intellisense again that caused me to shift away from the more simple Arduino IDE to Visual Studio and Visual Micro...

If this is indeed an issue that is caused by using Visual Micro then can we work on a sticky post together that will be edited to be clear and concise as to what Visual Micro is doing to the build process that is seemingly breaking the entire Visual Studio build process.

I think it would be good to have a permanent post that clarifies why it happens and how to fix it. I'd be happy to donate some hard earned $$$ to this project if so. If I could have the product working I feel it is well worth purchasing and not just for the debugging unit...

Though here if I was to purchase the debugging unit (I did) I wouldn't be able to think about using it until I could get code to compile...

The odd thing is with this is that one Arduino project that I was in prodding and pushing and entering paths in for hours suddenly was able to compile. I was like "Praise the Silicone" and made a new project to duplicate the working functionality. Nope. Same thing... So what is even more frustrating is it suddenly working and having no bloody clear idea as to why..

I don't understand how it seems that Visual Studio intellisense can be working after an #include "whatever.h" but the linking process is oblivious...

This is a bad problem for a consumer as there seems to be no clear path to a solution... At least not one that I have found that makes sense... I've seen many "try this" type posts but this shouldn't be some weird esoteric compiler issue that requires this kind of blind, stabbing and flailing in the dark to make things work. Probably the only thing that frustrates me is trying to solve a problem that is clearly not straightforward in the "why" it is there in the first place. 

Again thanks  very much for your help. I appreciate if you can help me get past this so I can get coding... This fighting with the "tools" thing is frustrating. I want to be fighting the problem domain - not the tools. 

Cheers...

Hi there. In your first post to me you asked if I had used the Arduino IDE. I replied that yes I had, I didn't say, however, that I had setup multiple directories, etc. there. I think you made this assumption and I'm sorry if somehow I led you there but I went back and read what wrote and I think I'm being fairly clear as to what I was and am doing now..

I said as you can see above it was the "wish" for this and "intellisense" that had me move to the "Visual Studio IDE" with "Visual Micro" as an add on.

So we are not talking about working in the Arduino IDE at all and using only .INO files all in the same directory.

We are talking about using Visual Studio. I want simply to have the "ONE" required sketch file and then the rest of my files all traditional .H and .CPP files. Many of these files are as a C++ programmer would, stored in directories that represent possible future library builds. 

If I have the simplest of projects..

SKETCH_A.INO
SKETCH_A_MAIN.CPP
SKETCH_A_MAIN.H

All I would have is the required #includes in the .INO file. 

Setup, Loop, code entry point, etc. is in the SKETCH_MAIN_CPP.

What isn't clear to me is do all of my #includes have to be in this one file? I can't see why normal processing of .CPP and .H files is interrupted because of using Arduino. This seems to me to be counter intuitive and makes no sense. 

I'm sorry if I'm missing something basic and seem incoherent and stupid to you... 

I just have written hundreds of thousands of C++ code and have seen some pretty ugly make files in my day and this 15 lines of test code not compiling because it can't find header and source files is maddening.... 

So I do please ask you be a bit patient with me as I have been trying to get these 15-20 lines of code to work for hours. You obviously know this feeling as anyone in this business does and would be foolish to say other. Sometimes just asking some peers to shed light on something you have been staring at for many hours is all you need. 

Obviously I have tried <> and "". Years ago we only used <> for standard libraries and "" for in house. Not sure what is done today but I will probably code this project as such as I'm familiar with that. 

The point is that after telling Visual Studio in EVERY BLODDY place I can find to stipulate where my source and header files are I still get...

Can't find file or directory compile terminated... Though intellisense seems to be recognizing them - that actually makes it more maddening - not less no. I would prefer it not to work at all. This just seems flaky...

Still now today 30 hours later. I'm in the same place and would really love to just get my project going...

I understand that I may be missing something simple as I'm new with Arduino. I read somewhere, couldn't find the link again, that ALL of the includes have to be in the main .INO file? 

This seems to me to be really stupid and I'm presuming it is done to retain some compatibility with going back to the Arduino IDE?

I have no intention of ever going back to the Arduino IDE as I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble unless I had a desire to break the project into components as I do. 

With this being said is there an option that says, enough of this foolish trouble to retain compatibility with the Arduino IDE. I'm planning on staying here so how can I stop doing all this special stuff to satisfy those conditions and just work.


I'm writing software to articulate some interactive sculpture. The software will eventually be fairly complex as I'm writing it in an "engine" fashion so as it can be used on future projects with multiple installations. Can't really say much more. lol....

Hard to get to that point when simple empty files devoid of any real code, just stubs, won't compile because of some weird issue I can't seem to wrap my mind around...

http://www.visualmicro.com/post/2014/01/13/How-to-Create-Arduino-Projects-In-Vis...

I'm recreating this project again. I'm very sure that I followed this post to the letter before but ..... giving it another shot here before I go walk off some steam.

Not sure if I was more clear this time. I just slept for a couple hours in my studio\office and I'm back at it. Pretty tired and annoyed old fart here....

In this link;

http://www.visualmicro.com/post/2014/01/13/How-to-Create-Arduino-Projects-In-Vis...

it says;

'The only rules are the Arduino rule which state that an Arduino sketch must contain a .ino file of the same name as the folder. In Visual Studio the project must also have the same name as the folder and the .ino'

Are you and this quote saying the same thing?

I want to be able to use.

Project\Properties\VC++ Directories\Include Directories
Project\Properties\VC++ Directories\Source Directories

I would like to put "Look here" for these ".H
and .CPP files.

Look here for these files... etc. like in an old make file. I had no idea that people where using explicit paths in their include statements. I thought this was bad practice and have never done so. I have always told the compiler where everything is either through properties in the Visual Studio IDE or via make files (which admittedly I haven't done for years - just relearning Bourne Shell scripting lately reminds me of things I don't like)   

This is exactly what I'm doing and I can't see why it doesn't work. 

Thanks for hanging in there and being patient with me...

Cheers
 

You can't use the official c++ source and header directories properties. It would be too difficult to keep the automated side of the arduino compatible build process in conjunction with those paths. maybe something for the future.

The hard coded paths that visual micro maintains can be hard coded because they are automatically updated and always correct.

The compiler include paths in my example where simply an example, relative paths are also okay and env vars also prob work but you need to understand that the arduino build process only produces .o object files for known code such as project library or core code.

You can add file shortcuts to the project with shared code and you can use local arduino libraries below the project and of course sub folders below the sketch/project. That's all it's a fine line between keeping compatibility with arduino and providing control.

I will think about adding some options where by more expert users get more control. The only problem is how to keep less expert users from using the options, getting confused and dragging down the forum

Multiple choice questionnaire in the configuration panel of your software? If the operator can't push enough bulbs together to light the answer to the question they don't get advanced options?

Thanks by the way. So my problem really wasn't my problem. This really is a compatibility issue with Arduino. Is this you keeping your software compatible with the Arduino IDE process or is it something else?

Could you not have a switch that advanced users could throw that says two things...

1) Throwing this switch means you don't get support for this as in this is an edge requirement where most users are hobbyists if you will. Not software or electrical engineers. Which is fair enough for sure. 

I'm sure its just me and being old but it didn't seem clear to me anywhere and I mean "anywhere" that by using the Visual Micro addin (not its fault but to retain compatibility with Arduino) you can't use the standard industry methods in C++ to indicate source directories..

Am I fair in making this statement or is there still hidden in there (or glaring) my rustiness of not being in the business for a few years? 


For a guy that isn't getting paid for what is obviously is a huge project, a labour of love, if you will. How come your "customer service" is better than for products I have paid $100.00's if not thousands for...

Kudo's to you sir...

Release (1602.13) is the version I have. Installed on 13'th of this month.

Sonic Range finder (at this point) is still in its own directory under sensors. 

If I understand you correctly I can't use the Visual Studio source and header properties. I plan on moving my directories around a bit (waiting for a confirm from you) so that it will be less typing to do a "relative path" from the project directory to the location of the file. 

Such as;

#include "..\..\Sensor\RangeFinder\OSEPP"

Is the old fart finally on the right track here?

You can try it but the source code will need to be linked into the project as short cuts. You can create a new folder under the project then add the short cuts to that ("right click folder>add existing>link").

BUT I think it's prone to issue. Why not simply move sensor below the project folder then right click include the code into the project. It's not really built for anything more complex than that.

Looks to me like RangeFinder could possibly be used as an arduino library. Are there any sub folder below "RangeFinder"?

Have you looked at how arduino library/folder/includes work?

I think the only missing info realizing what an arduino library is and why they exist.

You can add your code to a new project in visual studio but you need to add all the code as short cuts to your main project and probably add -I includes as I explained earlier.

But it's pushing the boundaries too far if you are not prepared to do those things, even then it's messy.

The safest, most tested and therefore easiest to support method is for you to create arduino libraries from your code. Then each library can be a project and each library can be #included just with filename.h and without need to consider include paths.

Thanks for all the time you spent with me today.

I understand now I was fighting against something that was done to simplify the software building process for the Arduino market.

After reading, from your suggestions, it is of course exactly what I will do is add to the Arduino library. I eventually would like to break these dependencies as my skillset increases with this ATMEL controller. If what I'm doing works as well as I would like then a friend, an electronics engineer, and I will probably build our own "Arduino" so my controller can take up less space than a regular Arduino and a custom shield would for example. 

I'll come back in a few days and thank you once more after I have been blissfully coding for a few days and not fighting tools.

You nailed it. I was thinking past Arduino, not realizing that Arduino was a strict architecture for a reason and I would need to work within that structure until I don't need to anymore.