Including nested libraries

PlatformIO Core
1

Hi,
I have written a lot of custom libraries which are in the /lib folder so they can be unit tested (so don’t need to use test_build_project_src = true.

I have enough that I want to start moving them into subdirectories so:

/lib
   - /WirelessComms
       - /ServerCommunication
            - ServerCommunication.h
            - ServerCommunication.cpp
       - /ClientCommunication
            - ClientCommunication.h
            - ClientCommunication.cpp
   - /Interfaces
       - /RS485
            - .....
       - /CANBus
            - .....
/src
    - main.cpp
   - ....etc

When the libraries are not in the Interfaces and WirelessCommunication folders, they are included fine by #include "ClientCommunication.h", but when I move them to the above folder structure and try to include them by #include "WirelessComms/ClientCommunication.h" they aren’t found.

I have tried chain and deep LDF modes but neither seem to work.

Any thoughts on why they aren’t being found?

3 Likes
2

If the folder structure is then lib -> WirelessComms -> ClientCommunication.h, the header should be included as just #include <ClientCommunication.h>, since the WirelessComms library is then in the include path.

Does the dependency graph show that the libraries are included then?

3

Hi Max,

Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to have done it. Both quotation include and <> include doesn’t seem to find it and neither the WirelessComms folder or ClientCommunication header is in the dependency graph.

pio run -v | grep "ClientCommunication" also doesn’t give anything

4

What is the full platformio.ini for reproduction?

5 
[platformio]
default_envs = esp8266, esp32

[env] ;Common is done for all environments
monitor_speed = 115200
monitor_flags= --raw

lib_extra_dirs =
  ./shared-config

lib_deps =
  bblanchon/ArduinoJson @ ^6.17.2
  adafruit/Adafruit ADS1X15 @ ^1.1.1
  adafruit/Adafruit MCP4728 @ ^1.0.7
  adafruit/Adafruit NeoPixel @ ^1.7.0
  arduino-libraries/NTPClient @ ^3.1.0

test_build_project_src = true ;The test protocol will build the contents of the src folder when running tests. Allows us to test functions inside src

; ==== STATIC CHECKING ====
check_tool = cppcheck ; pvs-studio, cppcheck, clangtidy
check_flags = 
  cppcheck: --enable=all
  cppcheck: --inline-suppr
  cppcheck: --suppress=*:.pio/libdeps/*
check_severity = medium, high
check_patterns = 
  src
  lib
  include

[extra]
extra_scripts_default =
  shared/moveOutputBinaries.py

build_flags_default =
  -DDEBUG_ESP_PORT=Serial
  -DDEBUG_BUILD
  -DWEBSOCKET_DISABLED
  !python shared/GetCurrentDateTime.py
  !python shared/GetGitHash.py
  ; -DDEBUG_ESP_OOM ;https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/platforms/espressif8266.html#debug-level
  ; -Wl,-Map,output.map ;Creates a map file to figure out relative sizes of included stuff
;  -DDEBUG_DISABLED ;Disables the Remote Debug - Telnet debugging

;For when debugging
; build_unflags = -Os
; build_flags = -O1 -g3 -ggdb

;==========ESP32===========
[env:esp32]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
build_type = debug
debug_tool = esp-prog
; monitor_filters = esp32_exception_decoder
build_flags =
  ${extra.build_flags_default}
extra_scripts = ${extra.extra_scripts_default}
debug_init_break = tbreak setup

;========ESP8266===========
[env:esp8266]
platform = espressif8266
board = nodemcu
framework = arduino
build_type = debug
board_build.ldscript = eagle.flash.4m1m.ld ;Sets the flash sizes properly so SPIFFS is last 1MB starting at 0x30000
extra_scripts = ${extra.extra_scripts_default}
build_flags =
  ${extra.build_flags_default}

[env:native_unit_testing]
platform = native
build_type = debug
test_build_project_src = true ;The test protocol will build the contents of the src folder when running tests. Allows us to test functions inside src
build_flags =
  ${extra.build_flags_default}
  -I"include/unit_testing" ;Includes Arduino.h for native builds
  ; -Wall -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage -lgcov --coverage
6

Is there any more verbose output that I can see for the building of the dependency list or how the include list is made?

I would also like the format #include "[Category]/[header].h" if possible for cleaner looking code and also making it easier to reverse find the library files.

7

Does anyone else have any ideas? I am thinking I can have a script that will run and modify the include path to allow for the nested nature or else doing

lib_extra_dirs = ./lib

Should cause them to allow nesting but I’m not a fan of doing it that way.

8

I’m have the same approach as yours, and the same #include problem.
I am looking for a solution to manually include all libraries, io. LDF trying to do that in an automatic way.

9

I’m afraid I just went with the
lib_extra_dirs = ./lib/sub_dir
approach.

Which does mean that the include headers don’t reflect the folder structure and organisation that I was hoping for (and being able to refer to header files with the same name in different folders) but at least it compiles