Verify/Upload uses wrong file as "main file"

[ArcanoxDragon]

VSCode version: 1.48.2
vscode-arduino version: 0.3.2

I'm starting an Arduino project that will span multiple boards. I have subfolders for each board's project, such that the filesystem structure looks like this:

.vscode/
  |- arduino.json
  |- c_cpp_properties.json
  |- settings.json
board1/
  |- main_board1.ino
board2/
  |- main_board2.ino
  |- Utility.h
obj/    # This is the "output" folder in arduino.json

This seems to work fine at first, despite the inconvenience of having to manually switch which .ino sketch is active in arduino.json. However, I discovered once I added that Utility.h file in board2/ that it seems the Upload/Verify commands are passing the wrong "main" file to Arduino when there is more than one file in the folder.

main_board1.ino does not include anything, and main_board2.ino starts with this:

#include "Utility.h"

When board1/main_board1.ino is the active sketch, it verifies fine. However when board2/main_board2.ino is the active sketch, it throws a compile error:

main_board2:1:10: fatal error: Utility.h: No such file or directory

 #include "Utility.h"

          ^~~~~~~~~~~

Oddly, if I create a Utility.cpp file and have it include Utility.h, it compiles fine. It doesn't have to have anything in it other than #include "Utility.h".

I looked at the verbose build logs and noticed something. When compiling board1/main_board1.ino I see the following:

D:\Arduino\arduino-builder -dump-prefs -logger=machine -hardware D:\Arduino\hardware -hardware C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages -tools D:\Arduino\tools-builder -tools D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -tools C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages -built-in-libraries D:\Arduino\libraries -libraries D:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Arduino\libraries -fqbn=arduino:avr:mega:cpu=atmega2560 -ide-version=10813 -build-path c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\obj -warnings=null -prefs=build.path=c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\obj -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75 -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude-6.3.0-arduino17.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc-7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA-1.3.0.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -verbose c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\board1\main_board1.ino
D:\Arduino\arduino-builder -compile -logger=machine -hardware D:\Arduino\hardware -hardware C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages -tools D:\Arduino\tools-builder -tools D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -tools C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages -built-in-libraries D:\Arduino\libraries -libraries D:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Arduino\libraries -fqbn=arduino:avr:mega:cpu=atmega2560 -ide-version=10813 -build-path c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\obj -warnings=null -prefs=build.path=c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\obj -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75 -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude-6.3.0-arduino17.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc-7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA-1.3.0.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -verbose c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\board1\main_board1.ino

However when compiling board2/main_board2.ino, I see the following:

D:\Arduino\arduino-builder -dump-prefs -logger=machine -hardware D:\Arduino\hardware -hardware C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages -tools D:\Arduino\tools-builder -tools D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -tools C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages -built-in-libraries D:\Arduino\libraries -libraries D:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Arduino\libraries -fqbn=arduino:avr:mega:cpu=atmega2560 -ide-version=10813 -build-path c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\obj -warnings=null -prefs=build.path=c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\obj -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75 -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude-6.3.0-arduino17.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc-7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA-1.3.0.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -verbose c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\board2\Utility.h
D:\Arduino\arduino-builder -compile -logger=machine -hardware D:\Arduino\hardware -hardware C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages -tools D:\Arduino\tools-builder -tools D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -tools C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages -built-in-libraries D:\Arduino\libraries -libraries D:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Arduino\libraries -fqbn=arduino:avr:mega:cpu=atmega2560 -ide-version=10813 -build-path c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\obj -warnings=null -prefs=build.path=c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\obj -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75 -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude-6.3.0-arduino17.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc-7.3.0-atmel3.6.1-arduino7.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA-1.3.0.path=D:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -verbose c:\Development\Projects\Arduino\BugReproduction\board2\Utility.h

The thing to note is that when compiling board1/main_board1.ino, the "entry point" file passed to arduino-build is in fact board1/main_board1.ino, yet when compiling board2/main_board2.ino, the "entry point" is actually Utility.h. It tries to compile a Utility.cpp file even if one does not exist.

In the obj/sketch/ folder, I can see files named Utility.cpp.cpp, Utility.cpp.cpp.d, and Utility.cpp.cpp.o.

If I manually invoke the above commands for board2/main_board2.ino but change the final arduino-build argument from the Utility.h file to the board2/main_board2.ino file, it compiles fine even without the Utility.cpp file present.

I've attached a small reproduction project:
BugReproduction.zip

[ArcanoxDragon]

I noticed when attempting to call arduino_debug.exe from the command line without the --verify flag, it complains that main_board2.ino should instead be named board2.ino. Apparently it requires the sketch name to match the folder name (for some apparently arbitrary reason). Renaming it to board2.ino allows it to compile fine without Utility.cpp present. It seems this may actually be an underlying bug in the Arduino IDE; it may be prudent for vscode-arduino to warn about the .ino file being named wrong unless Arduino acknowledges this as a bug and fixes it.

[koderian]

I have the same problem, when verifying/uploading, the compiler sometimes verifies all my recently opened files that are open in the editor, so it's verifying like 6-7 files. I'd rather it just verify/upload the sketch that I asked it to verify/upload (and others, if my code imports from other sketches.)

I don't know how to fix this, sometimes restarting VS code fixes it, but not. . . now.

I know the Arduino.json has a "sketch": "arduino\\1.ino,, and it seems to be correctly updating, but changing the sketch filename in that json to different file doesn't make it verify/upload the sketch I want to.

[fabquenneville]

Hello,

Started coding with arduino on vscode and I also ran into this issue where I have to delete the sketch line in arduino.json before uploading from a multi-projects workplace.

I would +1 on the feature request above