Python for Pi: Dealing with GPIO for Windows IDE

Question

I have a quick question about Raspberry Pi application development. My team and I have been tasked with updating the software for a robot that is controlled by a Raspberry Pi. I have been trying to convert the single large file into more compact functions and classes. Developing this code on the Pi itself is very frustrating and time-consuming due to the limited system resources so I started using PyCharm on my multi-monitor desktop. This works very well for major changes, but I have to load the code back onto the Pi in order to run it. I tried testing it on my PC (Windows 7), but the Serial module returned an error, and the RPi.GPIO module wouldn't install on the PC ("error: Unable to find vcvarsall.bat").

I'm going to have to part with the hardware itself for a few weeks tomorrow, so any advice on getting it to work on a PC would be greatly appreciated. I don't need the packets to actually get sent anywhere, but I would like to be able to step through the code to see if the calculations and look-up tables are functioning properly. My current solution is to just paste a try-catch block over every misfunctioning line of code, but I would really like to find a more elegant solution if there is one. Thanks!

Answer 1

go here and get the pro version for free (since you are a student) https://www.jetbrains.com/student/

then find the ip address of your pi if you dont already know it

then set up your project to automatically sync

Tools > Deployment > Configuration

click + to add a new configuration

enter your pi's IP address and user credentials

then click the mapping tab and set up one or more folder mappings

then go to File > Settings

then go to Project : My Project Name > interpretter and click the gear and click add remote and select your deployment server ... now you can run and debug in pycharm remotely