Compiled using the IDE to download via --serial, but where's the binary?

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1

Short form:

How do I download a binary compiled in the online IDE to my laptop so I can flash my USB-connected Electron? (Possible documentation bug...)

Details:

To date, I've been using the particle CLI to compile and flash my Electron device, i.e:

$ particle compile electron test.ino
$ particle flash --usb e_firmware_1501209643936.bin

... but decided it was time to try out the snazzy online IDE at build.particle.io. It works like a champ. I've now compiled my code, and when I hit the "lightning bolt" to download it, the IDE sagely advises me:

You're trying to flash your app over cellular. This will use at least a few KB from your data plan. Instead, it's recommended to download the app and flash it via USB.

... followed by a helpful link to the USB Flashing Guide for the Electron. However, the Flashing Guide doesn't actually tell me how to download the binary. Rather, it states:

Assuming you've compiled and downloaded the firmware binary from Build IDE by clicking the cloud button next to the file name, you should be able to use the Particle CLI, mentioned above, to flash your application firmware

Here's the rub: there's no "cloud button next to the file name".

So: How do I download the firmware binary that I've just compiled?

2

Just figured it out. In the current version of the IDE, you have to expand the Code menu by clicking on the

< >

icon in the left navigation panel. In the Code menu, you’ll see your current app with the coveted cloud button next to it. Click on it. It will compile and prompt you for where you want to save firmware.bin.

Solved.

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3

So there is that button next to the file name ;)?

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4

Yes, but only if you expand the “Code menu”. If you don’t expand the code menu, you don’t get the cloud button. As you can guess, it took this newcomer a bit of time and thrashing around to discover that.

Perhaps that detail could be better documented in the USB Flashing Guide or in the “you’re trying to flash your app over cellular” modal window. Or perhaps the next person to be tripped up by this will find this thread! :slight_smile:

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