The first thing we need is the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE). One of the best parts about Arduino is that the software in which we need to program the boards is free and open source. The Arduino IDE is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Getting ready

We only need one thing to complete this recipe—a computer connected to the Internet.

How to do it…

Follow these simple steps:

Visit the Arduino website at http://arduino.cc/.
In the main menu, go to the Download section.
Select your operating system and download the latest stable release of the Arduino software. At the time of writing, the latest stable version compatible with all standard boards was version 1.0.5.
After it downloads, install the Arduino software.

There's more

Now that we have the Arduino IDE installed, let's familiarize ourselves with the user interface.

Here is a screenshot of the Arduino software running on Windows. It looks the same on Mac and Linux, since it's all written in Java.

First, we will discuss the Tool Bar. In the Tool Bar, we can find the most used buttons:

Button	Description
	The Verify button compiles the code and checks it for errors.
	The Upload button compiles the code and, if there is no error in the code, uploads it to the Arduino board.
	The New button starts a new program. In the Arduino world, programs are called sketches.
	The Open button simply allows us to open a saved sketch.
	The Save button saves the current sketch.
	This button opens the Serial Monitor window that allows us to communicate with the Arduino board. It is extremely helpful when we debug a program. More information can be found in the Serial output recipe in Chapter 7, Digital Communication with Arduino

In the Sketch tab, we can see all the opened Arduino Sketches. This comes handy when we want to work on multiple programs at the same time.

The Code Space area is where all the magic happens. That's where we write the code that powers satellites and cat food dispensers. It's a code editor with automatic syntax highlighting and autoarranging.

The Status Display area indicates all the bad stuff. Whenever there are errors in the code, they will be displayed there. It also displays errors in the connection with the board. The only good thing it can display is that the code has been successfully uploaded to the Arduino board.

Additional functionality can be found in the main menu bar. Here, we have the classic File menu where we have Save, Open, Close, and also some examples. In the following recipes, more will be discussed about the menu bar components. A nice trick worth sharing is in the Tools menu—the Auto Format tool will format the code to look professional and clean.

Connecting Arduino

Before we can start writing code and making things move, we first need to connect the Arduino board to our computer. The Arduino board is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux. Here we will discuss how to connect and install the drivers.

Getting ready

The following are the ingredients required for this recipe:

An Arduino board connected to the computer via USB
The Arduino IDE downloaded and installed

How to do it…

This recipe is split in two, as the steps for Mac and Windows are slightly different.

Mac OS X

Follow these steps to connect Arduino to Mac OS X:

Connect the Arduino to the computer using a USB cable. If everything is properly connected, the green light will turn and stay on.
If you have an Arduino Uno, Leonardo, Due, or Mega 2560, no drivers are needed and the board is ready to go.
If you're using an older Arduino board such as the Duemilanove, Diecimila, or Pro Mini, you will require FTDI drivers. To obtain them, you can visit http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm and download the latest. After downloading them, click on the installer and follow the instructions. Finally, reboot the computer and the Arduino board will be installed.

Windows

The following steps are required for the Uno, Mega 2560, Leonardo, and Due boards when connecting Arduino to Windows:

Connect the Arduino to the computer using a USB cable. If everything is properly connected, the green light will turn on and stay on.
Windows will begin its driver installation process and fail. Click the Start button and open the Control Panel. There, navigate to System and then Device Manager.
In the Device Manager window, search for Ports (COM & LPT) and look for a port with a name similar to your board. For the Arduino Uno, the port should be named Arduino UNO…. If there is no such title under Ports, look in Other Devices for an Unknown Device. That will be your Arduino board.
Right-click on the Arduino Board in Device Manager and choose Update Driver Software. Next, select Browse my computer for driver software.
This will require the path to the Arduino driver. This can be found in the Arduino installation folder in Program Files, in the drivers folder. It is named Arduino.inf. Select the file and Windows will finish installing the driver.

These are the steps for the older FTDI-based Duemilanove, Diecimila, Nano, and Mega boards:

Connect the Arduino to the computer using a USB cable. The green light will turn on if everything is connected properly.
In Windows Vista and higher, the drivers will install automatically and the board will be ready for use.
If the driver installation fails, navigate to Device Manager in a similar fashion as for the newer boards and, under Ports (COM & LPT), search for a USB Serial Converter or similar. Choose Update Driver Software, select Browse my computer for driver software, and then select the FTDI driver folder from the Arduino installation folder, in the drivers folder. After selection, click on Next and Windows will finish installing the Arduino board.

Uploading code to Arduino

It's time to power on the Arduino board and make it do something. In this recipe, we will connect the Arduino to the computer and upload an example sketch from the Arduino IDE.

Getting ready

To execute this recipe, the following are the components required:

A computer with the Arduino IDE installed
An Arduino board connected to the computer via USB

How to do it…

Follow these steps:

Connect the Arduino to the computer using a USB cable. If everything is properly connected, the green LED light will turn on.
If this is the first time the Arduino has been connected to the computer, driver installation might be required. Please follow the Connecting Arduino recipe to properly set up the Arduino board.
Start the Arduino IDE and, in the Menu Bar, go to File | Examples | 01. Basics and click on the Blink example. This will load the Blink sketch.
Make sure your Arduino board is selected in the Board menu. The menu can be found in the Menu bar in Tools | Board.
We need to check whether the correct serial port is selected. Under Tools | Serial Port, we can see all available serial port devices connected to the computer. On Windows, each port will be labeled as COM followed by a number. Usually, Arduino installs on COM3, but not always. A fast way to check which serial port the Arduino is connected to is to unplug the cable and see which COM port disappears in the menu. That will be our Arduino board. In the Mac, the port should be called something beginning with /dev/tty.usbmodem or /dev/tty.usbserial.
Click on the Upload button on the Tool Bar. If everything runs properly, the TX RX LEDs on the Arduino board will begin blinking for a short time until the upload is done. After this, one LED light on the Arduino Board should slowly blink.

How it works…

When we upload a sketch to the board, the Arduino software first compiles the code. If there is an error in the code, it will write it in the Status Display area and will stop the upload. If no errors are found, it will begin writing the compiled code to the board. Errors will appear if the board or serial port is not properly selected. When everything is correctly set up, the TX RX LEDs will blink, meaning data is being transferred between the computer and the Arduino board. When the transfer is done, the board will reset and the code will immediately begin executing.

The code is stored in the Arduino board until it is erased or replaced by another code. We can take the board and plug it into a battery or to another computer, and it will still execute this blinking.

Key benefits

What you will learn

Read data from sensors and take action based on the environment Use the Arduino to turn on lights, write to screens, or play light shows Manipulate motors and other actuators to control the movement of different objects Set up electronic circuits on a breadboard to interact with the Arduino Explore hacks to push your project to the next level Make your projects wireless and make them communicate with the computer

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Arduino Development Cookbook: Over 50 hands-on recipes to quickly build and understand Arduino projects, from the simplest to the most extraordinary

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