Tag: pycharm

Setting Up PyCharm To Work With a Lego Mindstorms EV3 Brick

Notes based on Setting Up a Python Development Environment with PyCharm for setting up PyCharm editor (I use the free Community Edition) to work with EV3. Requires passwordless ssh into the brick and the brick on 192.168.1.106.

We’re going to go round the houses with git checkins to move stuff from the Mac and the PyCharm editor to the brick.

Get into the brick and do some minimal config stuff:

[Mac] ssh robot@192.168.1.106

[EV3] sudo apt-get update
[EV3] sudo apt-get install git
[EV3] mkdir -p /home/robot/demoproj
[EV3] mkdir -p /home/robot/demoproj/.demoproj.git
[EV3] git init --bare /home/robot/demoproj/.demoproj.git

Now use the nano editor on the brick to populate the demoproj dir with the files we push, setting them to be executable.

[EV3] nano /home/robot/demoproj/.demoproj.git/hooks/post-receive

In the nano editor, change the file to:

#!/bin/sh
git --work-tree=/home/robot/demoproj --git-dir=/home/robot/demoproj/.demoproj.git checkout -f
find /home/robot -iname \*.py | xargs chmod +x

The chmod on the py files makes them executable, so as long as you hashbang the first line of any python files (with #!/usr/bin/python), they should be runnable from the file browser menu on the brick.

Then ctrl-x to exit, saying Yes to save the file on the way out and accepting the default file name. Now make that hook executable:

[EV3] chmod +x /home/robot/demoproj/.demoproj.git/hooks/post-receive

Should we prepend hashbangs as well? This will add one to start of all py files not containing one:

grep -rL '^#!/usr/bin/python$' /home/robot/demoproj/*.py | xargs sed -i '1i #!/usr/bin/python'

In PyCharm, VCS->Check Out From Version Control to create a new project, selecting git as a the checkout target (so you’ll also need git installed on the Mac…).

The VCS Repository URL is: robot@192.168.1.106:/home/robot/demoproj/.demoproj, the Parent Directory (for example, /Users/me/projects) and Directory names (e.g. testProj – note, this must be a new folder) specifying the location on the Mac where you want to keep a local copy of the project files.

Say yes to all the crap PyCharm wants to create, and Yes when it prompts if you want to open the newly created directory. Create a new python file containing the following test program:

#!/usr/bin/python
#The shebang above runs this file with the python shell
from ev3dev.auto import Sound
#Make a short sound
Sound.tone(1000,10)

Save it, press the VCS /UP ARROW/ button top right in PyCharm to commit, add a commit message, then bottom right Commit and Push.

This should commit the file locally and also push it into the git repo on the ev3; the commit hook on the ev3 will copy the file into the demoproj folder and, if it’s a .py file, mark it as executable.

You should now be able to locate it and run it from the ev3dev file browser.

See also: Using IPython on Lego EV3 Robots Running Ev3Dev and Running Python Programmes on the Lego EV3 via the EV3 File Browser.

PS to enable autocompletion in PyCharm, check what Python shell the project is using (in the settings/preferences somehow though I’m damned if I know where to find them; I HATE IDEs with a passion – way to cluttered and over complex…). Then using the same Python shell:

git clone https://github.com/rhempel/ev3dev-lang-python.git
cd ev3dev-lang-python
python setup.py install
cd ..
rm -r ev3dev-lang-python/

Run the programme in PyCharm (or at least, the import lines) and autocompletion should be enabled. The complete code won’t run properly though, because you’re not running it in an ev3dev environment…