Arduino IDE - scope of the pre-processor "#define"

Question

I'm creating an Arduino library and have 3 files - a "test.ino" program, and two library/class files: "testLibrary.h" and a "testLibrary.cpp".

The library makes use of some hardware-specific resources such as registers and ISRs that depend upon which I/O pin is used, and this should be done at compile time.

I would like to #define a pin number in the main program which, at compile time, is used in the library to determine which code sections are activated. Since this will be a standard Arduino library for use by others, it should compile and run without users having to change their compiler or #include path to make it work.

But it seems that the scope of #define in the main program/sketch does not extend to the library.

test.ino

#define PIN_NUMBER 3
#include "testLibrary.h"
void setup() {}
void loop() {}

testLibrary.h

#ifndef _TESTLIBRARY_h
#define _TESTLIBRARY_h
#ifndef PIN_NUMBER
#error PIN is not defined
#endif
class test {
public:
  test();
  ~test();
};
#endif

testLibrary.cpp

#include "testLibrary.h"
test::test(){}*
test::~test(){}

Compiling the above branches to "#error" using the Arduino IDE 1.8.13 and also using Visual Studio with Visual Micro.

Is there a way for me to have an Arduino library use a "#define" from the main sketch?

Answer 1

The scope of a #DEFINE macro is the translation unit. That is the current .c or .cpp file that is currently being compiled.

In you code PIN_NUMBER is defined in test.ino. The #include macro literaly copies the content of testLibrary.h into test.ino. So for the compiler this is working perfectly fine as PIN_NUMBER is defined.

Your testLibrary.cpp however is not happy with that. Including testLibrary.h for compilation lacks the definition of PIN_NUMBER.

The Arduino IDE is very limited and does not offer you a way to define PIN_NUMBER globally. This is usually done with the compiler argument -DPIN_NUMBER=3. All translation units will get this argument and thus the compilation would succeed. No need to define PIN_NUMBER in code.