A header wizard

[Ioannis]

16F1946 is supported by 8.15a but not the 16F1947...

Do you have any problems with the ICD3/MPLAB 8.5x/Win 7 ?

Ioannis

[cncmachineguy]

Do you have any problems with the ICD3/MPLAB 8.5x/Win 7 ?

Ioannis

To be honest, I haven't tried that combo yet. ICD3 is at work, where I only have XP. I will bring it home tomorrow and try it on my laptop with win7. I don't have a current built project to test it with, but I can use the test module that came with it,

[Ioannis]

OK. Looking forward...

Ioannis

[prstein]

Hello All,

I was hoping to have an demo exe ready to post today, but the development had to take a major turn this past Friday...

I removed all the fuse configuration parsing and settings. For want of a better first task I tried adding the setup of the pin input/output states and levels. The relevant MAPSM .inc file is parsed to determine what ports exist and which individual bits are available for those ports (and of course GPIO for the little chips). Each port gets it's own tab. Bits that don't exist for a given port are not shown on the individual tab. (Did that make *any* sense?). The configuration files can be saved and re-loaded.

However, when taking the last look before posting I noticed two bugs that I won't have a chance to fix until tonight or tomorrow. One is that the text doesn't update properly when using certain chips until you actually click on a tab. The other is that when the text is generated in the form "TRISA = %10101010" I have inadvertently reversed the order of the bits. (When all bits in a port are not used it instead puts in an individual line for each bit, e.g. "TRISA.1 = %0".) I'm sure additional bugs will appear...

Anyway I just wanted to put out that I was still trying to (finally!) maybe do something useful for this community. Suggestions for additional features to add would be most welcome. A screenshot is attached.

Best Regards,
Paul

[mackrackit]

That looks nice!!!
Next ADC?
I was planning to start there but my weekend did not go as planned so I have nothing to show.

[cncmachineguy]

Paul, its great! I assume if ADC or any other special function options are chosen, the corasponding pin will not be available for I/O configuration?

Dave, no worries. I might start pushing on you anyway when I start to learn something.

Question for the masses, Do you think we should still include the config bits? I feel like it would still be good to have, plus its all wrapped up in 1 spot. And sometime down the road, we may want it to make some simple error checking like : configed for 4mHz internal osc, but wanting to rum 115KB serial, or something like that.

[mackrackit]

Question for the masses, Do you think we should still include the config bits? I feel like it would still be good to have, plus its all wrapped up in 1 spot. And sometime down the road, we may want it to make some simple error checking like : configed for 4mHz internal osc, but wanting to rum 115KB serial, or something like that.

At minimum the Wizard will need to know the OSC speeds. But we may not have to worry about all of the configs.

[prstein]

Paul, its great! I assume if ADC or any other special function options are chosen, the corasponding pin will not be available for I/O configuration?

Not sure how that will specifically be worked out. The app should make it so that the header will work that way. I think (but need to check) that if you set a particular TRIS direction it will be superseded by a subsequent ADC setup. But I could have this completely wrong...

Question for the masses, Do you think we should still include the config bits? I feel like it would still be good to have, plus its all wrapped up in 1 spot. And sometime down the road, we may want it to make some simple error checking like : configed for 4mHz internal osc, but wanting to rum 115KB serial, or something like that.

I've removed the fuse bits parsing but I haven't thrown it away. I currently plan to see what the new mystery application will do, first. It could just 100% outclass anything I can do.

I do think it will be possible to do some sort of "reality check" on the selected configuration to catch circumstances such as that you mention. I would probably put a remmed warning or suggestion into the header text.

Thanks for the comments!

Best Regards,
Paul

[prstein]

That looks nice!!!
Next ADC?

Thanks Dave! ADC setup sounds like a good next step.

Best Regards,
Paul

[Acetronics2]

Hello All,

A screenshot is attached.

Best Regards,
Paul

Hi, Paul

Nice one !!! I take it all ...

Alain

PS: Place PORTA = xxxx .... BEFORE TRISA = xxx ... to prevent any port toggling .

[prstein]

Nice one !!! I take it all ...

PS: Place PORTA = xxxx .... BEFORE TRISA = xxx ... to prevent any port toggling .

Hello Alain,

Thank you! And I appreciate the reminder about PORTx before TRISx. It seems I usually default to alphabetical...

Best Regards,
Paul

[prstein]

Attached is the first Alpha version of my attempt at a PBP Header wizard. Please try it out if you are interested and/or have been following this thread. However, expect bugs.

I'm happy to provide the source code (in Delphi, version 4) on request but unless you really want to dig in I suggest waiting until it is a little more stable and structured.

Any comments, suggestion, requests, and bug reports are welcome.

Best Regards,
Paul

[Ioannis]

Hi Paul.

I likd the idea of the Initial state.

Great job!

Is this in VB?
Ioannis

[prstein]

Hi Paul.

I likd the idea of the Initial state.

Great job!

Is this in VB?
Ioannis

Hello Ioannis,

Thank you very much! It is written in Delphi, an IDE for Visual Pascal. I'm using version 4, which is kind of old, but the IDE loads so much more quickly than the later releases. I know about a half dozen or so (programming) languages, several of those are different flavors of C/C++. I can stumble through a couple of others (C# and Java). I tell customers that I'll write in any language they pay me to. If it isn't specified and it's for Windows, I generally choose Delphi.

I better get off my soapbox before I blather on any further...8-)

Best Regards,
Paul

[prstein]

Thanks for the great info and the links! I think I'd prefer to keep the idea of using those files as plan B, as it takes away the simplicity by requiring files to be present that are not required by PBP.

An alternate Plan B would be to develop my/our own set of files with just the data the application needed. A lot of work on the front side but there could be benefits as well.

Best Regards,
Paul

[cncmachineguy]

OK. Looking forward...

Ioannis

Just to follow up on this, I finally did remember to bring my ICD3 home from work. Today I have it plugged in. I also have the test interface module pluged into it. From time to time through out the day, I jump to mplab and test the connection. So far so good. I don't really know if this will test the issue or not, but at least is a start.

[Ioannis]

With the test interface works OK. It just ensures that electrically the ICD3 is working.

But if you load a hex file, compile a project or try to program a chip then after a while it looses connection and returns an error message. The only cure is to disconnect the USB cable and reconnect in a few seconds.

Any version after 8.15a does this. In my Vista, XP and in a friends systems to (his ICD3). On the Microchips forum there are reports from others too...

Ioannis

[prstein]

Hello All,

Don't want you to think I've been slacking off too badly...

Attached is the most recent version of the header wizard. It's come a long way but there is still far to go...

Changes and additions to Build 3:

• -Now requires accurate location of PBP folder. This is used when populating the "Select PIC" combo box. The include file must exist in both the MPASM and PBP folders to be added. This prevents the application from attempting to parse files for microcontrollers that are not supported by PBP.
• When selecting PIC, tabs are updated to show or hide PORT, ADC, Comparator, and USART tabs depending on whether or not they exist for that device.
• In General tab, added DEFINE for oscillator speed.
• In General tab, added DEFINE for using bootloader.
• In General tab, added DEFINE for enabling PORTB pullups.
• In Port tab, straightened out reversing of TRIS and PORT bits.
• In Port tab, added handling so that PORT and TRIS will be output in a single line each if possible. Unused (i.e. non-existant) bits are set as zero.
• In ADC tab, added checkbox to set all potential ADC ports to digital.
• In ADC tab, added checkbox to configure internal ADC. At this point ONLY the standard PBP DEFINES are included.
• In Comparator tab, added checkbox to set all potential comparator ports to digital.

Comments, bug reports, suggestions always appreciated...

Best Regards,
Paul

[cncmachineguy]

Changes and additions to Build 3:

• -Now requires accurate location of PBP folder. This is used when populating the "Select PIC" combo box. The include file must exist in both the MPASM and PBP folders to be added. This prevents the application from attempting to parse files for microcontrollers that are not supported by PBP.

Great idea, but now I'm broke from testing at work again.

• When selecting PIC, tabs are updated to show or hide PORT, ADC, Comparator, and USART tabs depending on whether or not they exist for that device.
• In General tab, added DEFINE for oscillator speed.
• In General tab, added DEFINE for using bootloader.
• In General tab, added DEFINE for enabling PORTB pullups.
• In Port tab, straightened out reversing of TRIS and PORT bits.
• In Port tab, added handling so that PORT and TRIS will be output in a single line each if possible. Unused (i.e. non-existant) bits are set as zero.
• In ADC tab, added checkbox to set all potential ADC ports to digital.
• In ADC tab, added checkbox to configure internal ADC. At this point ONLY the standard PBP DEFINES are included.
• In Comparator tab, added checkbox to set all potential comparator ports to digital.

Comments, bug reports, suggestions always appreciated...

Best Regards,
Paul

All sounds really good, just have to wait till I get home to play. And I have work I must do before going home.