location of code which points cura to machine_instances

[r0dnay 0]

hi

 

i wondered if anyone could tell me which file contains the code which points cura to machine_instances with the following path

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Creality Slicer\4.8\machine_instances

 

thanks

[nallath 1,120]

Uh. The code as developed by Creality. I have no idea what changes they made. Perhaps it's best to contact them for support / help regarding their fork of Cura.

[r0dnay 0]

ok great, ill do that

 

in the meantime, any idea whats the path for the code which checks machine configurations for the ultimaker cura software?

[nallath 1,120]

The resources class

[r0dnay 0]

ok thanks, would you be able to paste the path for the resources class file for ultimaker's cura? would be much appreciated

[ahoeben 1,948]

https://github.com/Ultimaker/Uranium/blob/master/UM/Resources.py

 

But perhaps we can be more helpful if you tell us what you actually want to do.

[r0dnay 0]

i got the feeling help with what i need to do wouldnt be forthcoming and mentioning it might not cultivate an answer at all, but being as you asked,

 

i am using creality's version of cura, i have 2 printers, ive learned that this software has issues with mixing comports/printer profiles etc

what i thought id do is install two instances of the slicer, but regardless of where i install, the software will always only reference some kind of configuration from a central location, so every instance of the software would all reference the same files for printer configs etc

to work around this, i thought i would change the code in one of the installations so that it references those 'config' files from another directory - thus each software will in theory (havnt done it yet to confirm) should automatically connect to the relevant printer, the only one set up on that particular installation.

 

i figured that there must be a file somewhere that points to a path where the 'config' file is located, i though once i find it, i could edit the path and set up a printer solely on that installation.

 

not sure if that makes any sense

 

thanks for the name of the resources file name, but i was wondering where the file was put by the cura installation locally on my machine

 

 

[r0dnay 0]

i found the file, it doesnt define a path to a file to reference machine_instance, thanks anyway, ill have a dig around and see if i can find where the software calls on machine_instances

 

[r0dnay 0]

in the meantime if anyone else can point me in the right direction or knows python (im not a coder at all, but i can work some basic things out to a degree) well enough to scan through the files etc, itd be much appreciated.

 

im sure plenty of cura/slicer users would love being able to use specific printers by opening seperate instances of the software, would be great to get a workaround

Edited January 14, 2022 by r0dnay

[ahoeben 1,948]

4 hours ago, r0dnay said:

i am using creality's version of cura, i have 2 printers, ive learned that this software has issues with mixing comports/printer profiles etc

Like @nallath I don't know what Creality changed in Ultimaker Cura to make it their own, so I can only talk about Ultimaker Cura.

 

Ultimaker Cura has no issues with having multiple instances of the same or different printer profiles. You can add as many as you like, and switch between them within the application.

 

Ultimaker Cura does however have only rudimentary support for USB printing because currently supported Ultimaker printers don't support USB printing. One of the things Ultimaker Cura does not habdle well is multiple COM ports. However, starting a new instance with a different configuration (which I think you want to do) will not solve that issue.

[r0dnay 0]

thanks for that, noted.

 

is there any way i can turn off com port sniffing/locking up, so cura only looks for the com port its holding on to?

that way i can at least use another app for a different printer?

[r0dnay 0]

1 hour ago, ahoeben said:

One of the things Ultimaker Cura does not habdle well is multiple COM ports.

which python files handle the hardware/com port side of things?  is there a particular reason/s why cura cant handle com ports well? what are the limitations cura faces? or is it human limitation? just trying to ascertain the best way to tackle this

 

thanks again

[ahoeben 1,948]

See https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/blob/4.13/plugins/USBPrinting/USBPrinterOutputDeviceManager.py#L111

 

There is a (little known) environment variable you can set before starting Cura, that will let you limit what ports Cura "scans". CURA_DEVICENAMES. It accepts a resular expression pattern, but setting CURA_DEVICENAMES=COM4\: should limit Cura to only look at port COM4:. I am not 100% sure about the need for \:, and whether it actually works on Windows.

[ahoeben 1,948]

8 hours ago, r0dnay said:

is there a particular reason/s why cura cant handle com ports well?

Like I said, no Ultimaker printers support printing over USB, so no development time is put in fixing it. What is there is just rudimentary, because the Ultimaker Original from almost 10 years ago still supported USB printing.

[GregValiant 1,245]

Hello @r0dnay and @ahoeben.

My one and only printer is a Creality Ender 3 Pro.  From what I've come across here and there on various sites, Creality made a decision to take both Marlin firmware, and Ultimaker Cura, and fork them into proprietary versions.

Marlin can't support users who have problems with Creality firmware because no one at Marlin knows what Creality has done in their version.

The same is true with Cura.  Creality has no doubt made changes to their version of Cura and so neither the in-house team at Ultimaker, nor the independent contributors (and AHoeben is a primary contributor) know what Creality has done because Creality doesn't share.  They aren't the only ones either.  Lulzbot and others have done the same thing.

 

[ahoeben 1,948]

Lulzbot, when they were still active, actually contributed features back to Ultimaker Cura. The ability to load and visualize gcode in Cura was contributed by them.

[r0dnay 0]

On 1/15/2022 at 8:07 AM, ahoeben said:

See https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/blob/4.13/plugins/USBPrinting/USBPrinterOutputDeviceManager.py#L111

 

There is a (little known) environment variable you can set before starting Cura, that will let you limit what ports Cura "scans". CURA_DEVICENAMES. It accepts a resular expression pattern, but setting CURA_DEVICENAMES=COM4\: should limit Cura to only look at port COM4:. I am not 100% sure about the need for \:, and whether it actually works on Windows.

 

would it be CURA_DEVICENAMES or CURA_DEVICEINFOS for the com port location?

 

i found this part in the code

 

1            # set CURA_DEVICENAMES=USB[1-9] -> e.g. not matching /dev/ttyUSB0
2            pattern = environ.get('CURA_DEVICENAMES')
3            if pattern and not search(pattern, port[0]):

              set CURA_DEVICENAMES=COM7<<<<<<<<added this line here but cura cant see the printer and wont make 'Print to USB' button available, so tried COM7\: which didnt work either is my syntax or location of code incorrect?
4                continue

5

6            # set CURA_DEVICETYPES=CP2102 -> match a type of serial converter
7            pattern = environ.get('CURA_DEVICETYPES')
8            if pattern and not search(pattern, port[1]):
9                continue

10

11            # set CURA_DEVICEINFOS=LOCATION=2-1.4 -> match a physical port
12            # set CURA_DEVICEINFOS=VID:PID=10C4:EA60 -> match a vendor:product
13            pattern = environ.get('CURA_DEVICEINFOS')
14            set CURA_DEVICEINFOS=LOCATION=COM7 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<i added to this line also both ways, but that didnt work either
15            if pattern and not search(pattern, port[2]):
16                continue

 

 

 

 

[ahoeben 1,948]

I did not suggest you edit the code. The file you are editing is written in Python, and set CURA_DEVICENAMES=COM7 is not python. Just putting stuff in random places without understanding does not often work. The way you edited the file, you just broke the entire USB printing plugin, hence Cura not "seeing" your printer. If you want to edit the code, I recommend you first look in to some basic Python tutorials.

 

CURA_DEVICENAMES is meant to be an environment variable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variable

You set an environment variable in Windows before starting Cura.

Edited January 16, 2022 by ahoeben

[r0dnay 0]

ah ok, didnt realise you meant OS environment variable, thanks for clarifying

its ok, i hashed out what i added when it didnt work and it can see the printer, ill change the variable in windows and see how it goes, thanks