The "vMicro" Menu
The following section describes the menu items you can find under the
vMicro menu. Many of the functions
of these menu items can also be found in the
Arduino Boards
or Arduino Serial
Monitor toolbars.
Main Menu
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Selects the board you want to work with. See
Setting
up your Board Model and Connection, where board selection is
described using the Arduino Boards toolbar. |
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Opens the Visual
Micro Explorer |
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See below (1) |
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See below (2) |
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See below (3) |
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See below (4) |
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Creates an new project (Read
more) |
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Opens an existing project (Read
more) |
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If set to "true", data files will be uploaded to the board,
which the board uses for certain purposes, e.g. HTML and CSS for
an Arduino Yun working as a web server.
This option works for all board that support data file upload,
e.g. Arduino Yun or ESP8266. |
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In the Arduino world, libraries and core code exists as source
code and, therefore, can be viewed in the editor. As a default,
Visual Micro does not show library and core files in the project
tree. To make them visible, highlight the project in Solution
Explorer and activate "Toggle Hidden Files". To hide hidden files
again, choose this menu item again. |
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Opens the
Project Properties window |
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Lets you add a library to your project (Read more) |
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Lets you add new source files to your project (Read more)) |
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Builds (compiles) your project, but does not upload it to your board (Read more) |
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Builds your project and uploads it to your board (Read more) |
"General" Submenu 1
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If this option is checked, then Visual Micro shows additional message
windows that help new users. It also sets and automatic "demo breakpoint"
at the start of the "loop() function" as described
here. |
"Compiler" Submenu 2
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If enabled, Visual Micro searches for #includes that are necessary for using the libraries you have added to your project.
This makes using libraries easier and works the same way as the Arduino IDE. Switching off "Deep Search Include" decreases the compile time,
but then it's your responsibility to include all headers that are needed for the libraries you are using in your project. |
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"True" shows compiler warnings in the
Output
Window when compiling.
Compiler warnings are very useful and should be taken seriously
to avoid coding errors.
Same settings as described under
Tools > Options.
Compiler Warnings often help you in finding
hidden bugs in your code.
Example:
if( counter = 4 )
{
counter == 4;
}
Both these code lines are legal, but probably it is not what you
intended: The first line should possibly be a comparison (==), but
it is an assignment (=), and the second line should be an
assignment,
but it is a comparison without any effect.
Both lines are valid C++ but make no sense and indicate a programming
mistake.
Compiler warnings can show you such spots.
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"True" shows detailed compiler output in the
Output
Window when compiling.
Same settings as described under
Tools > Options. |
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"True" stops the compilation immediately if core or library compilation
return an error, does not continue with compilation of your sketch's
source files. This can be useful as source compilations make no much
sense until core and library compilations work correctly. |
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If this option is checked, Visual Micro displays the
path to the build folder in the
Output Window
when building the project |
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If this option is checked, Visual Micro displays the
build properties in the
Output Window
when building the project. The build properties are all
parameters that governd the build process and that are passed to
the build tools by Visual Micro. This setting can be
helpful when searching for problems in the build process. |
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Opens the
Project Properties window, where you can change advanced
settings.
If you have selected the solution in Solution
Explorer, then the solution properties will open, not the project
properties. In this case, simply click on the project in the solution
explorer.
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"Uploader" Submenu 3
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Selects the Serial Port or IP address to which your board is connected. See
Setting up your Board Model and Connection,
where port selection is described using the Micro Serial
Communications toolbar. |
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Opens the
Serial
Monitor Window for the serial port you have selected. |
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Shows verbose upload messages, if this option is checked. |
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Verifies the correctness of the
data in the board after an upload, if this option is checked.
Unchecking it will make
the upload process faster, because no verification takes place. |
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Programmers are hardware devices that you can use for uploading
sketches to your Arduino board (as an alternative to a serial connection)
or -more important- to burn a bootloader into the CPU of your board.
They are mainly important for users who like to create their own
boards with "blank" processors they have bought at a retailer.
The Programmers menu item lets you select the programmer
type you have connected to your PC. After selecting a programmer,
you can use it to upload sketches or to burn a bootloader. |
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This menu item can be checked/unchecked to switch on or off the
upload method using your programmer. If you have checked this menu
item, then your uploads will be done via the programmer instead
of a serial connection.
This method requires that you select the programmer model you are
using with the "Programmer" menu item above.
For Atmel Studio users:
If you have a programmer that is compatible with Atmel Studio, then
you can instruct Visual Micro to use it for uploads, so
that you don't have to upload manually with Atmel Studio's "Device
Programming" menu item.
For this purpose, select the appropriate programmer (whose name
begins with "Atmel ...") in the "Programmer" menu
item.
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After you have selected the programmer model you are using with
the "Programmers" menu item above, you can use
this menu item to burn a bootloader onto your board's CPU.
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WARNING: You can permanently damage your board's
CPU if you make mistakes here!
Burning bootloaders is only recommended for
experienced users!
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"Debugger" Submenu 4
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Enables
debugging regardless of
project properties for all
configurations that carry the word "Debug" in their name.
Leave this setting switched on at any time, unless you have special
requirements for your configurations.
For a complete overview of debugging setting read
this
article. |
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Only relevant if debugging is on.
If this option is checked, breakpoints do not halt the sketch execution
and become "tracepoints". If such a tracepoint is passed, you will
see a message in the
Debug Trace Window, but your sketch will continue execution. |
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The serial port or IP address the local computer uses to debug. (Read more)
Network debug currently requires SSH. Boards like
the ESP8266 do not yet support IP terminal mode that works like a serial
Monitor. This means that when using ESP8266 network upload users MUST at
least set the local debug port to COMn.
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The serial port speed that the local computer uses to debug. This value
can be any valid baud rate. Leave blank for default 115200 baud. (Read more)
This value will be ignored when debugging via an IP port. |
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Opens the
Serial
Monitor Window for the serial port you have selected. |
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The serial port that the board uses to debug. (Read more) |
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The serial port speed that the remote device uses to debug. This value
can be any valid baud rate. Leave blank for default 115200 baud. (Read more) |
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Clears the settings on
this menu so that the local port speed, remote port speed become empty again.
Thus the debugger, when active, will use the same port that is used for upload.
The default speed is 115000 if empty, unless the code contains a literal value for
Serial.begin(), i.e.
Serial.begin(9600)
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Opens the
Project Properties window, where you can change advanced
settings.
If you have selected the solution in Solution
Explorer, then the solution properties will open, not the project
properties. In this case, simply click on the project in the solution
explorer.
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"Add Library" Submenu 5
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Lets you add a library to your project (Read more) |
"Add Code" Submenu 6
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Lets you add new source files to your project (Read more) |
