Love, love love the tool...but one thing drives me nuts.

When I develop, I have arduino clients written in python or C (they talk to arduino through serial) and often  I have these as "set as startup project" because I am running them frequently.

Problem is, if I want to change the arduino code and deploy it, I must first right-click the arduino project, set it as "start up project" and only then can I deploy it by clicking the green arrow.    But now I don't want the arduino as the default startup project, so I have to then go back and set my python or c program as the default again.

Feature:  just as you have "build" as a right click  optiopn on the arduino project, would love to have a "build and deploy" so that I don't have to mess around with setting it as a startup project.  I could edit the arduino project and deploy it without "running" it.

Make sense?

Don't see a "start new instance" anywhere...

But, basically, you are looking to accomodate solutions that have multiple projects in them.  The tool us just so useful and great that this is the one missing thing:  stop relaying on the arduino project being the "startup" project.  REasons:

1) you want the COM port and serial monitor to NOT require that the arduino project is the "start up project".   If you try to open the serial monitor when the project is not the default you get a "does not point to the instance of an object" error and you can't do the serial monitor.   Again, it is often the case that your client is another project in the solution, and you are alternating between that and the serial monitor to talk to your arduino.
2) just give a "build and deploy" right-click option so that the arduino project does not need to be the "default startup project".

If we can do those things then this is the greatest microcontroller development environment ever...

Let me know if I can help.  I don't know VS addins, but I know .net and win32 pretty well, if you can point out where this is...


G

Along the same lines, if I have a solution with a .NET application (a visualization tool for the Arduino data) along with my Arduino project, it doesn't build when I do "Build Solution" (F6 or Ctrl-Shift-B) unless the Arduino project is set as the startup project. Even "Rebuild solution" just skims over the project. I have to either select the project and do "Build" on it, or set it as the startup project at which point "Build Solution" only builds the Arduino project and not the visualization.