Filter out .tty serial ports in Networking Widget Serial list

[retiutut]

Problem

Sometimes the list is too long, and Arduino IDE does this by default. This will make it much easier for new users to control an Arduino using the GUI. Users may still need to scroll, but this will reduce the number of items by half for all Mac users.

Expected

Shorten the list to only include .cu instead of .tty addresses.

Extra credit for updating the list any time the dropdown is opened.

Operating System and Version

Mac

GUI Version

5.1.1-alpha.0

Running standalone app

Both

Type of OpenBCI Board

N/A

Are you using a WiFi Shield?

N/A

Console Log

[kkashiva]

Hi @retiutut I'd like to contribute to this as my first issue.
My approach is: In W_Networking.pde, filter the comPorts ArrayList to only include .cu instead of .tty addresses, so that when the method createPortDropdown is called, only the filtered comPorts list is passed as argument.

Slight confusion on what the role of cp5_networking_portName is here, if you can guide me please?

[retiutut]

OpenBCI_GUI/OpenBCI_GUI/ControlPanel.pde

Line 653 in d9f9312

private LinkedList<String> getCytonComPorts() {

I would use the third party serial port library that's used in this method. We do want to see other ports besides the Cyton dongle though. But this method could be reworked to provide the solution with the output as a LinkedList.

cp5_networking_portname is a Cp5 instance that holds the dropdown object for the port names.

To complete this issue, simply make the new method and call the updated method to be stored here:

OpenBCI_GUI/OpenBCI_GUI/W_Networking.pde

Line 157 in d9f9312

comPorts = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(processing.serial.Serial.list()));

This list then gets fed to the dropdown, and the values appear there.

Also, please make changes in a feature branch based off of development.

Hope this helps,
RW

[kkashiva]

Thank you for the guidance @retiutut that was helpful. Please review the pull request created here #1136 (comment)