for those of you who have already
installed mplab x and looked around
you no doubt have noticed a few
differences from mplab 8. many of those
differences are just cosmetic
some are simply the relocation of menu
commands and configuration settings
however there are a few features that
are very different from what you are
used to
let's take a look at some of the more
significant changes to mplab
the first and probably most crucial
difference is that mplab x uses a new
set of usb drivers for tools such as the
real ice and icd3
there is a tool installed with mplab x
called the driver switcher that makes
the job of selecting the new open source
drivers very easy
the process is discussed in detail in a
separate episode of mplab x tv
another difference is that mplab x is a
pure project based environment
this means that any activity you wish to
perform requires a project
as a consequence the process for
importing a hex or l-file has changed
when you select from the file menu file
import
hex elf the ide will launch a wizard
that will prompt you for all the
information required to create a project
wrapper around the hex or l-file
although it is a new process it is
asking for essentially the same
information that was required in mplab 8
but you don't need to remember to
configure all those things manually
perhaps the most visibly different
aspect of mplab x is its project file
structure
unlike mplab 8 which kept all project
related information in two files
the mcp project and mcw workspace files
mplab x takes a radically different
approach there's no longer any one file
that you can double click on from your
file manager
because mplabx stores project
information in a series of xml formatted
text files
these files are stored within a very
specific subfolder structure within your
project folder
when you first create a project you'll
see a subfolder called
nb project that contains another folder
called private
these two folders contain all of your
project information
and should never be removed or manually
altered one of the most beneficial
changes you will find in mplab x
is that hardware programmers and
debuggers along with assemblers and
compilers
are now selected on a per project basis
in mp lab 8 when you selected a tool it
applied to every open project
in mplab x every project has its own
tool assignments
you can even use different compiler
versions with different projects at the
same time
because of this we now have the
capability to do simultaneous debugging
of multiple projects
the one change it will take the most
effort to get used to is the way you
build your projects
no longer do you have to explicitly
select debug or release from the toolbar
now the type of build is implicit in the
activity you are performing
the build and clean and build buttons
are exactly the same as the make and
build all buttons in mplab 8
except that they always build in release
mode so you won't be using them quite as
much in mplab x
instead there are two new buttons that
you will likely use more often
the make and program device button and
the debug project button
both of these buttons will make your
project but the program device button
will build in release mode
while the debug project button will
build in debug mode
both buttons will then program the
target and in the case of the debug
project button
it will optionally start the target
running immediately
related to this is the concept of a
debug session
once you have pushed the debug project
button you will be in an active debug
session during this time all debugging
features are available to you
but you may not change any of the
project settings or reprogram the target
if you rebuild the project
to do either of these things you must
first press the end debug session button
while there are many more minor changes
we've just covered all the really big
ones
once you become comfortable with them
the rest should fall into place with
little effort
for mplab xtv i'm rob ostopian
you