USB Port uninstall / reinstall causes multiple appearances in MB IDE

[Turgut Guneysu]

This is very rare occurrence probably, but it did occur and I am documenting it.

Device manager USB / COM port entry is uninstalled.

USB plug of the device (micro:bit or ESP) unplugged and reconnected.

Windows re-enumerates the USB / COM port and it redisplays in the device manager.

Afterwards, if one opens the USB icon in the IDE, multiple USB listings of the SAME port appears.

This number increases for every uninstall / reinstall cycle of the USB port.

Below is a pic after two rounds:

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It does NOT affect the operation of the device. No matter what is selected it works. Just the display is confusing.

Specially, multiple windows tabs running MB IDE, it led me to think that each one was meant for another window.

Restarting the browser version of MB IDE does not clear the situation.

The situation clears if one restarts the Browser.

[Bernat Romagosa]

I think that’s totally out of our reach. It looks like a Chrome bug. This list is populated by the browser and there’s nothing we can do to tweak its contents…

[John Maloney]

Yep, that’s a Chrome bug. The Javascript WebSerial API is still being actively developed by Google. It’s basically an “alpha” feature, although Google’s term for that is “origin trial”. The origin trial period was originally expected to end with Chrome version 85 or 86 (we’re on 85 now) but it was extended to Chrome version 88, which I’m guessing will come out in January. When the origin trial ends, Google will decide whether to make the WebSerial API a standard, permanent feature of Chrome – so it would no longer require the “Experimental API” flag to use it – or remove it. Since that API is essential for running MicroBlocks in the browser, we are hoping that Google doesn’t decide to abandon it. I think/hope it is a good sign that the origin trial was extended…

In any case, this issue will probably get fixed over the next few months. However, be prepared for a few other glitches with serial port handling in the browser version of MicroBlocks between now and the end origin trial.