Extension not updating after modifications and downloading

#1

I have been working on an Extension for a LCD 16x2 Display using the Hitachi HD44780 driver.
The reason for his is because I can’t find an existing Extension that has the full control capability and is in English.

I am doing this as a learning exercise to create other Extensions; that don’t seem to exist for certain products as I find them.

The Extension ID is: ext_c2c1f5e2.

I have added version information in 4 places, because you cannot tell what version Extension you are loading.

So I do modifications to test further, I download the Extension: ext_c2c1f5e2.mext file, I then drag & drop it into the mBlock5 blank project.

What happens is it installs a previous version, I have been adding a letter (ie: a,b,c …g, etc) to the Block text fields, so I can tell what version has loaded.

It would be good if mBlock5 could correctly identify versions of Extensions, because there is no indication of the version in the Add Extension section of mBlock5, unless you put it in the text yourself.

It seems if you wait a while; sometimes hours; it updates to the correct version.
I could tell it wasn’t updating by the same errors showing up in the Arduino code and by displaying my version number in the LCD Initialization Block eventually.

I have looked unsuccessfully in the forum for answers and have only seen responses that didn’t work.
I have been mistaken in that I had to publish Extensions to get the changes to work and have subsequently requested unnecessary Publishing.

I also found that I couldn’t add all the Blocks (16 in total) to the Extension unless I divided them into extra Block Categories.
If you add all 16 it compresses into a jumble of one Block.

I couldn’t see anywhere where it says what the limitations are and really much information on proper structure or descriptions on items like Panel Settings and how to use them.

I was trying to find a way to add Custom characters to the LCD Panel, the Panel Setting lets you create a matrix of Dots (5w x 8 bytes for LCD character).

Thank you.

Graeme.

#2

Can you test with the IDE version instead at
https://ide.mblock.cc
And have you been restarting mBlock each time? Also, are you using mBlock version 5.4.3 or 5.4.0? Thanks!
@L84brekky

#3

I seemed to unstable results from the Online IDE, I will try again.

I had thought last night that I should try closing and reopening mBlock v5.4.3, I may have done it, because I tried many variations.
I will test and see.

Thanks.

#4

@L84brekky Awesome! Let me know how it turns out and be sure to mention me as @Best_codes. Thanks!

#5

Sorry I didn’t reply earlier.

Yes it does load the updated Extension if you shutdown mBlock5 first and then reopen mBlock5 and then load your updated Extension.
I haven’t had much luck with the online version.

Is there any chance the developers could fix this, so that Extensions could be reflushed after removing them and then adding the updated Extension.

Also unless you put a version number into your Block Category Name and Extension Name Description you cant tell the version of the Extension. I also have had to add it to my Setup Block (first block) to be sure I have loaded my latest update.

It would be good if the Developers could look into test suggestions.

Thank you.

I have had to add my version to my

#6

@L84brekky You can suggest the features to makeblock via email:
support@makeblock.com
As for the extension version, you can currently have a block like this:
image

It seems to only work sometimes (not sure why), but it is fun to mess around with.

async (args, app, device, block) => {
    return await app.getVersion();
}