AutoReconnectionEnabled not working on Mac after sketch upload

[rvnash]

Type: Bug Report

Describe the bug

• OS and Version: MacOS Ventura 13.4.1
• VS Code Version: 1.79.2
• Serial Monitor Extension Version: v0.10.0
• Target embedded device: Seeeduino XIAO
• Other extensions you installed (and if the issue persists after disabling them): 34 extensions
• A clear and concise description of what the bug is.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Write "Hello World" to Serial in a 1 second loop in your sketch

2. Turn on Serial Monitor, make sure you see "Hello World" coming up each second to make sure it is running correctly. On my machine the connection is on /dev/tty.usbmodem1113201

3. Turn on "AutoReconnectionEnabled"

4. Upload the sketch

5. Note that the Serial Monitor connection is closed, and the sketch is uploaded.

6. Throws the error pictured in the attached image
   

7. This is in the log: 2023-06-29T23:32:43.310Z [debug] [vscode-serial-monitor] Requested port /dev/tty.usbmodem1113201 is not connected to the machine

Expected behavior
I expect that the port will be re-opened after the sketch is uploaded.

[gcampbell-msft]

@rvnash Based on the screenshot, this is being used with the Arduino extension.

Assuming that is true, my recommendation would be leave the AutoReconnectionEnabled set to off, as the Arduino extension already has integration that restarts the Serial Monitor after upload, so trying to do both would likely cause issues. Could you try without the AutoReconnectionEnabled enabled and let me know if that fixes your issue?

Thanks!

[rvnash]

Thanks @gcampbell-msft . I am using this w/ the Arduino extension. When I turn off AutoReconnectionEnabled there is no change in behavior at all. It appears to me that the Arduino extension is attempting to do what I want, which is to disconnect Serial Monitor, upload the sketch, and then reconnect. If I had to guess, it looks to me that the Arduino is not correctly interpreting the/character in the port path, and is using the quoted value, but that is just a guess. If true, however, that would mean the bug may be in the Arduino extension, not Serial Monitor. What do you think?

[gcampbell-msft]

@rvnash If you manually stop monitoring, upload, and then start monitoring again, does this flow work? Or do you hit the same issue where it pops up that the Serial Port is not available?

[rvnash]

@gcampbell-msft , Yes it absolutely works fine if I just hit the "Start Monitoring" button again, so this is only a matter of convenience.
While I was trying that out I noticed a slight difference in behavior between when AutoReconnectionEnabled is true vs false.
When it is true, the path to the port stays fixed as /dev/tty.usbmodem1101. When it is false, the selection changes to

when the port is closed.

[gcampbell-msft]

@rvnash Thanks for trying that out. The behavior you point out about the autoReconnectionEnabled difference is expected.

As for the other issue, could you try one more thing for me? I'd like to diagnose whether this bug is stemming from the Arduino extension or whether it's in this extension.

Assuming that you're starting the Serial Monitor from the Serial Monitor UI, could you try starting the Serial Monitor from the Arduino extension entry points? One way to do this is the following:

1. Run the command "Arduino: Select Serial Port" and select your desired port
2. Run the command "Arduino: Open Serial Monitor" and select the desired baud rate.

The expected outcome here is that the Arduino extension will open this extension correctly and the Serial Monitor session will start successfully. Could you try this and let me know what the outcome is?

[rvnash]

@gcampbell-msft : I tried that. In fact I removed both extensions, restarted VSCode, reinstalled them and restarted again, since I was not sure what action to take to stop the Serial Monitor, as opposed to just hiding it.

So, starting fresh, I followed your instruction issuing only Arduino: commands ... there was no change in behavior.

The Serial Monitor session does start successfully. It does disconnect when I do Arduino Upload Sketch, but it fails to reconnect w/ exactly the same error message.

Maybe not what you were hoping to hear, but I hope that helps.

[gcampbell-msft]

@rvnash I hope I'm not being overly verbose, but I would appreciate it if you did one more test.

If, immediately after it fails to reconnect with the error message after uploading, you retry starting monitoring with the Arduino entry points, what happens?
The flow would be the following:

1. Start monitoring
2. Upload (Serial Monitor will disconnect, then, based on your repro, fail to reconnect with the error message)
3. Immediately after this happens, attempt to start monitoring the serial port by using the Arduino: commands

Please, while attempting this, can you drag the Serial Monitor and Output panes beside each other like this:
?

Additionally, a video or gif of this behavior would be great.

I'm trying to deduce whether it's an issue with the Serial Monitor API, or whether it's an issue with Arduino interacting with it, so that I can know whether this bug should live.
From what I can tell, there are two possibilities here:

1. The port is for some reason getting disconnected and there is a timing issue
2. Maybe somehow the string is getting garbled? However, I don't think this is the issue, as I think that the string is only garbled during printing, not during functionality.

[rvnash]

@gcampbell-msft , I'm happy to do this test, but this is a super busy weekend. I'll get to it soon.

[rvnash]

Well, I'm going to get the screenshot video for you in a few minutes, but when you say ...

Immediately after this happens, attempt to start monitoring the serial port by using the Arduino: commands

what commands do you mean? I cannot see any Arduino command that Starts Monitoring.

[rvnash]

Screen.Recording.2023-07-08.at.8.41.08.PM.mov

[rvnash]

Ok, I found that Arduino: Open Serial Monitor also does a Start Monitoring action. Great. Here is the video using that method to restart the monitoring.

Screen.Recording.2023-07-08.at.8.54.48.PM.mov

[gcampbell-msft]

@rvnash Thank you so much for all of the time and effort in getting these recordings and tests. Based on these videos I don't think there is an issue in the Serial Monitor extension. Unfortunately, it seems to me like it is a possible timing issue which would need adjustment from the arduino side. I'm going to transfer this issue to the arduino extension.

Thanks again for all of your help investigating.