avr-pizza

Bespoke, artisinal, Precompiler In ZZee Air

☁️ 🍕 ☁️ 🍕 ☁️

⚠️ This is very much in alpha stage at the moment, so use at your own caution. Holler in this repo's issues if you have something unexpected happen if you give this a try. Thanks 🙏 💕

What is this?

Avr-pizza is a tool for compiling Arduino sketch files without needing to have the Arduino IDE and related toolchains installed on your machine.

It makes use of ✨ the cloud ✨. Ask, and ye shall receive a freshly baked, delicious compilation in a timely manner.

Q: Wait, why is this happening in the cloud again?

A: Glad you asked! A couple of general use cases for leaning on remote compilation:

1. Compile Arduino sketches within a web browser environment (coming soon) ⚡️

2. Compile Arduino sketches on users' machines without requiring them to go through downloading and installing the Arduino IDE. This is particularly helpful for nodebots related libraries, which often produce custom sketches tailored to the unique needs of a user setting up their robot. Makes for a less confusing and more friendly 'out of the box' experience all round.

Q: Can I override 'the cloud' with my local Arduino IDE installation to build on my own machine instead?

A: Yes! See the examples section of this README for details on how to do this.

Requirements

To use this library, a stable internet connection is required. You'll also need to have NodeJS installed on your computer.

Installation

First, ensure you have installed NodeJS.

Then, run the following in your preferred terminal program:

npm install avr-pizza

Examples

Simple

To compile a simple sketch with no custom library dependencies (such as blink.ino):

var avrpizza = require('avr-pizza');
 
var package = {
  sketch: '/path/to/blink.ino',
  board: 'uno'
};
 
avrpizza.compile(package, function(error, hex) {
  console.log(error, hex); // hex = NodeJS Buffer containing hex file contents
});
 

Note: hex is a NodeJS Buffer. You may then go on to pass this onto your program, or even write it to disk as a .hex file.

With external libraries

To compile a sketch with custom library dependencies, a libraries option is needed containing the paths to the top level directory of each library:

var avrpizza = require('avr-pizza');
 
var package = {
  sketch: '/path/to/mysketch.ino',
  libraries: ['/path/to/customlib1', '/path/to/customlib2'],
  board: 'uno'
};
 
avrpizza.compile(package, function(error, hex) {
  console.log(error, hex);
});
 

Skip the cloud and build locally on your own machine instead

Currently, local builds are supported on OSX, Linux, and Windows.

To compile locally, add a builder option to your package object. The location key should be set to the path where your local installation of the Arduino IDE is located.

Typical installation locations (adjust accordingly - your installation path might differ slightly):

• OSX: '/Applications/Arduino.app'
• Linux: '/usr/local/share/arduino-1.6.9'
• Windows: 'c:\\Program\ Files\\Arduino'

Example:

var avrpizza = require('avr-pizza');
 
var package = {
  sketch: '/path/to/mysketch.ino',
  libraries: ['/path/to/customlib1', '/path/to/customlib2'],
  board: 'uno',
  builder: {
    location: '/Applications/Arduino.app'
  }
};
 
// avrpizza will now build using `/Applications/Arduino.app`
avrpizza.compile(package, function(error, hex) {
  console.log(error, hex);
});
 

Package options

You may include the following options in the package object passed to the compile method:

Required

• String sketch - the local path to the sketch file you're looking to compile

• String board - the target Arduino board the sketch is to be compiled for. See the supported boards section in this documentation to look up the correct string to supply for your chosen board.

Optional

• Array libraries - contains local directory paths to any library your sketch uses (optional). Standard Arduino libraries do not need to be included. See standard libraries section in this documentation for the list.

• Object builder - the location of your local installation of the Arduino IDE, only if you wish to compile locally. Contains one key - location which should be a path string of where the IDE is located on your hard drive. Eg: builder: { location: '/Applications/Arduino.app' }

CLI

Avr-pizza is also a command line tool! Run it on a sketch and a hex file will be saved to disk.

Install it with:

npm install -g avr-pizza

Usage

avr-pizza compile -s <sketch filepath> -l <library dirpath> -a <arduino name> [-o <output path> -b <local IDE path>]

You may repeat the -l flag as many times as necessary to supply all the library directory paths you need.

-o is optional; if not supplied the hex file will be saved in the current directory.

Example

avr-pizza compile -s /path/to/mysketch.ino -l /path/to/cool/library/dir -a 'uno' -o ~/stuff/pizzas

Supported boards

Board Name	Option String
Arduino Uno	uno
Arduino Mega	mega
Arduino Leonardo	leonardo
Arduino Micro	micro
Arduino Nano	nano
Arduino Duemilanove	diecimila
Arduino Yún	yun
Arduino Pro	pro
Arduino Mega	ADKmegaADK
Arduino Esplora	esplora
Arduino Mini	mini
Arduino Ethernet	ethernet
Arduino Fio	fio
Arduino BT	bt
LilyPad Arduino USB	LilyPadUSB
LilyPad Arduino	lilypad
Arduino NG	atmegang
Arduino Robot Control	robotControl
Arduino Robot Motor	robotMotor
Arduino Gemma	gemma

Standard Libraries

There is no need to include the standard libraries that ship with Arduino. To rejog your memory, they are:

• EEPROM - reading and writing to "permanent" storage
• Ethernet - for connecting to the internet using the Arduino Ethernet Shield
• Firmata - for communicating with applications on the computer using a standard serial protocol.
• GSM - for connecting to a GSM/GRPS network with the GSM shield.
• LiquidCrystal - for controlling liquid crystal displays (LCDs)
• SD - for reading and writing SD cards
• Servo - for controlling servo motors
• SPI - for communicating with devices using the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) Bus
• SoftwareSerial - for serial communication on any digital pins.
• Stepper - for controlling stepper motors
• TFT - for drawing text , images, and shapes on the Arduino TFT screen
• WiFi - for connecting to the internet using the Arduino WiFi shield
• Wire - Two Wire Interface (TWI/I2C) for sending and receiving data over a net of devices or sensors.

If the only libraries you make use of in your sketch are included in the list above, you may leave out the libraries key in your avrpizza.compile package options.

License

MIT

Privacy

You may read this software's privacy policy.