Just spent last evening (and part of the night) uninstalling, and re-installing Atmel Studio 6 Version 6.1.2730 (sp2 win32NT), and Visual Micro (I assume V5) using the Visual Micro directions only, after spending several days trying to get it to work using several different sets of directions.

I have checked and rechecked everything and it is set up exactly the way described.

Finally it 'sort of' appears to be 'trying' to work. However, when using the LiquidCrystal.h I get the following:

Compiling 'WORKING' for 'Arduino Mega or Mega 2560 w/ ATmega2560 (Mega 2560)'
WORKING.ino:11: error: 'LiquidCrystal' does not name a type
WORKING.ino:In function 'void setup()'
WORKING.ino:21: error: 'lcd' was not declared in this scope
WORKING.ino:In function 'void loop()'
WORKING.ino:32: error: 'lcd' was not declared in this scope
Error compiling

Using the following ino code:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

LiquidCrystal lcd(7,8,9,10,11,12);

byte array[20];
byte index = 0;
byte inByte;


void setup(){
   
   
  lcd.begin(20, 4);
  lcd.write("lcd test");
   
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
  // when characters arrive over the serial port...
  if (Serial.available()) {
       delay(100);
       lcd.clear();
      
      while (Serial.available() > 0) {
      inByte = Serial.read();
      
      if (Serial.peek() == 13) {
        Serial.write(array,index);
        index = 0;
      }
         
      else {    
        //lcd.write(inByte);
        array[index] = inByte;
        index++;
        array[index] = 0;
      } 
    }
  }
}

I do realize the above source has some items in the setup and loop that seem odd. It is not expected to be working code in this iteration, I'm just using it in an attempt to get a successful compile in VS6/VisualMicro. It does compile in the Arduino IDE.

I am a bit new to cpp, but in the distant past did quite a bit of C, as well as a great deal of assembly (for x86, x386, TI7000 and 6510), as well as some limited Visual Basic for some quick and dirty solutions to immediate needs in the very recent past.

I had many of problems I find in the forum, such as inability to find libraries, etc, despite having set the full paths (I never trust relative paths in an IDE), etc.

Anyone have this issue with the LiquidCrystal variable type? Any suggestions?

I forced a clean compile, and turned on verbose output with this result:

Compiling 'WORKING' for 'Arduino Mega or Mega 2560 w/ ATmega2560 (Mega 2560)'
Build folder: Data/VMicro/Arduino/Builds/WORKING/mega_atmega2560
SketchLibFolders
G:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\cores\arduino;G:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\variants\mega;g:\program files\arduino\hardware\tools\avr\avr\include\;g:\program files\arduino\hardware\tools\avr\avr\include\avr\;g:\program files\arduino\hardware\tools\avr\avr\;g:\program files\arduino\hardware\tools\avr\lib\gcc\avr\4.3.2\include\;
Summary: Header=1 Prototypes=3 Imports=2
Additional Defines: VISUALMICRO_COMPILER_VER=1;
Architecture Tools: G:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin\
GCC: 4.3.2
Sketchbook: file:///G:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Clay.Routh/My%20Documents/Arduino
"G:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avr-g++" -c -g -Os -w -fno-exceptions -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -MMD -mmcu=atmega2560 -DF_CPU=16000000L -DARDUINO=150 -DARDUINO_AVR_MEGA2560 -DARDUINO_ARCH_AVR -I"G:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\cores\arduino" -I"G:\Program Files\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\variants\mega" "G:\Documents and Settings\Clay.Routh\Local Settings\Application Data\VMicro\Arduino\Builds\WORKING\mega_atmega2560\WORKING.cpp" -o "G:\Documents and Settings\Clay.Routh\Local Settings\Application Data\VMicro\Arduino\Builds\WORKING\mega_atmega2560\WORKING.cpp.o" -DVISUALMICRO_COMPILER_VER=1
WORKING.ino:11: error: 'LiquidCrystal' does not name a type
WORKING.ino:In function 'void setup()'
WORKING.ino:21: error: 'lcd' was not declared in this scope
WORKING.ino:In function 'void loop()'
WORKING.ino:32: error: 'lcd' was not declared in this scope
Error compiling

It has been a very long time since I was programming C code, and C++ didn't seem very foreign. I began digging through the LiquidCrystal.cpp source, and I can see I have a great deal of research to do before I ever write an include of my own LOL! And I found no reference to the variable "lcd" in it.

I doesn't seem "coherent" to me for the libraries to be scattered out in all these directories... I wonder why they do that?

Now maybe I'll download your debugging stuff and see if I can get that to work. Main reason I wanted to get VS6 running was  to debug code and have the option of using inline assembly when I wanted/needed to.

Thanks for your help. I owe you a beer.

Perhaps "buried" was not the correct "term". Let's call it "buried". 

And you may be entirely correct (I already figure you ARE correct) that Arduino isn't the right solution for me, but...

Arduino seems like a good place to start re-familiarizing myself with embedded systems, and programming. I did extensive stuff with KD196, and x186 stuff way back when, but it was almost all in assembly. I never worried about C, nor Basic back then (still don't bother much with Basic unless I need something quick and dirty), unless I needed extensive work with math, and even then I simply wrote a C function, and placed my assembly code inside of it, so I could call C math functions from it.

Of course that was back when Turbo C was the hot stuff, as was Microsoft MacroAssembler. Passing variables and return values as well as stack manipulation wasn't to difficult, and writing custom C functions in assembly even made me some $ on the side.

However, I did end up using some C for char string work, etc.

Regardless, I'm re-teaching myself C, C++, and familiarizing myself with Atmel AVR assembly in preparation for what I want to do when I'm a bit closer to retirement, and can no longer carry 60-70lbs of tools, laptop, and test equipment up and down ships (there is serious $ made fixing them, and they are quite complex integrated systems).

Clay,

programming in assembler is like driving a car with manual transmission  . But programming in C/C++ in Arduino is like driving a car with those new automatic transmission with six speeds that you can shift manually  .

C is the best assembler ever, and C++ lets you create libraries that can easily be reused (object programming).

And VisualStudio/AtmelStudio + VisualMicro is the best environment to program Arduino  .

This Topic was moved here from Atmel Studio 6.2 [move by] Visual Micro.