[Bug Report]: Can Compile and Flash but not monitor (VSC-611)

[orbitcoms]

I am running vscode on Windows 10 machine. Python 3.9 and git 2.3 are installed

Once this issue showed up I uninstalled vscode and esp-idf and started again. Installed a clean copy of vscode and installed the C/C++ extension and then the esp-idf extension (version 1.0.1) but problem still exists.

My project compiles and flashes ok but when I attempt to run Monitor, I get error "The terminal process failed to launch: Path to shell executable "powershell.exe" does not exist"

I did not see powershell as pre-requisite for the extension so I assumed if it needs it then it will install it?

[0phoff]

Not sure if my issue is related, but I think it is, so I will add it here.

I have setup VS Code on my Linux machine (Ubuntu 20.04), so that terminals are opened with a special environment flag.
More specifically, I used this in settings.json, so that my .bashrc file knows not to automatically start TMUX:

{
    "terminal.integrated.env.linux": {
      "NO_TMUX": "1"
    },
}

This is something special about my system, but the important part is that this works when I start a Terminal from VS Code, and also when running the build, clean and flash commands with the little buttons at the bottom of the app or through the command palette.
However, when using the monitor button, it does not obey these rules and starts a regular terminal, which in my case results in a TMUX terminal.

Running the monitor command by going to Terminal > Run Task > Monitor does work!

---

Note that I do not expect you to completely solve my issue, as I have a highly customized setup, but I think my issue shows that there is a bigger problem with the "ESP-IDF: Monitor your device" command, which might be solved by using the default VS Code terminal and running the monitor command there ?

[brianignacio5]

@orbitcoms To launch the ESP-IDF terminal, we use the shell executable given in vscode.env.shell which is override by terminal.integrated.shell.windows in your Visual Studio Code Settings or use the Terminal: Select Default Shell command to update the shell. I have tested in Windows 10 that the IDF Monitor command picks changes in terminal.integrated.shell.windows

More information about vscode terminal configuration

@0phoff about your case, we use environment variables from idf.customExtraVars and other IDF specific settings. You can either set "NO_TMUX": "1" globally in your system or in idf.customExtraVars for the extension to pick this variable.

More information about this extension configuration settings

[orbitcoms]

I don't understand what this means.
Are you saying the extension does not set the variables or commands required to run the monitor and we do this manually after installing the extension?
I tried Terminal: Default Shell (I tried all 3 options, Powershell failed, bash and cmd both did nothing)

Where do I set this ide.customextravars? do you have steps what I need to change?

I also note: If I do not select default as powershell, the code does not compile. When I change back to default as powershell it compiles but nothing makes monitor work so far

This is my setting in tasks.json

"terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
"idf.customExtraVars": "{"OPENOCD_SCRIPTS":"C:\\Users\\david\\.espressif\\tools\\openocd-esp32\\v0.10.0-esp32-20200709/openocd-esp32/share/openocd/scripts","IDF_CCACHE_ENABLE":"1"}",

I have been adding comments to my post as I go.

I now removed tasks.json and the monitor works for this project. I will see if removing from other projects also fixes them.

[brianignacio5]

hey @orbitcoms I guess I found the issue. The problem is we are just using powershell.exe instead of the full path of the shell. Will fix soon.

I guess initially I didn't notice because shell paths are usually in the environment PATH, which makes me believe that for some reason "C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\ is not in your PATH, which I guess it is by default ?

[orbitcoms]

Thanks Brian,

I am at office at the moment where the Monitor function does work and the PC does have path to powershell.
I suspect you are right and my home computer does not have path set for powershell.
Does the extension install powershell? If not, what is the best method to install it. (I see online several versions and not sure what is required for ESP-IDF, and assumed it was installed as part of the toolchain when configuring the extension)

[brianignacio5]

You don't need to install Powershell.exe since it comes with Windows. v1.0 is the old version that comes by default but there are several versions and all should work in my opinion. For the moment, just make sure it is in your system environment variable Path. I will fix the extension so "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" works without any env variable modification.

[orbitcoms]

I manually set the path in environment for powershell and now Monitor works ok, Thanks Regards David Huisman Orbit Communications Pty Ltd BodyGuard Safety Solutions (A division of Orbit Communications Pty) People & Plant Separation 100% Australian owned. All product designed and manufactured by Orbit Communications Pty, NSW Australia. Web Site www.BodyGuardSafety.com.au<https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bodyguardsafety.com.au%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C248e4971a4d04515f17b08d8df93e891%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637505173654178969%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=%2FDSq4EbrJPo4Co%2FRnd99cn3ZGly%2BsPcKIV1HdG7rqO8%3D&reserved=0> Phone +61 2 43 554 554 29B Amsterdam Circuit Wyong, NSW 2259 Australia ***@***.***D721A7.4D5F8680] From: Brian A. Ignacio ***@***.***> Sent: Thursday, 25 March 2021 1:27 PM To: espressif/vscode-esp-idf-extension ***@***.***> Cc: Orbit Communications ***@***.***>; Mention ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [espressif/vscode-esp-idf-extension] [Bug Report]: Can Compile and Flash but not monitor (VSC-611) (#356) You don't need to install Powershell.exe since it comes with Windows. v1.0 is the old version that comes by default but there are several versions and all should work in my opinion. For the moment, just make sure it is in your system environment variable Path. I will fix the extension so "terminal.integrated.shell.windows": "C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" works without any env variable modification. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#356 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AJZRLUFFQRCN24MCUJND3FTTFKNQRANCNFSM4ZUWID6A>.