BoxView IDE Quick Start: 8051 SDCC Project

This quick start guide to BoxView IDE will provide users with steps to set up their development environment, create a simple application, define a debug session, start the simulator, and view their application output. BoxView IDE provides several other help documents (all are available through online help ). In addition, BoxView IDE is distributed with several sample projects. The Tutorial provides a walk through of the IDE using one of the sample projects. The Users Guide provides detail information including the IDE Command Reference, Debug Menu Options, File Menu Options Project Menu Options, and Run Menu Options.

Development Environment Overview

BoxView Integrated Development Environment (IDE) features the high level language, embedded processor target debugger as part of the Eclipse software development environment. The Eclipse platform is an open, industry supported, extensible, software development platform.

After installing the product, load BoxView IDE from the desktop.

Several windows are displayed, including a navigator window which shows folders containing sample projects. There are three basic types of resources that exist in the Development Environment; a resource is a collective term for the projects, folders, and files viewed in the IDE:

Files

Files in the file system

Folders

Directories on a file system. Folders are contained in projects or other folders. Folders can contain files and other folders.

Projects

Contain folders and files. Projects are used for builds, version management, sharing, and resource organization. Like folders, projects map to directories in the file system. (When you create a project, you specify a location for it in the file system.)

The directory location on your computer where the resources will be stored is called a workspace. The sample projects are stored in the default installed location. The Development Environment supports multiple workspaces.

Create a new workspace by selecting File->Switch Workspace... from the main IDE menu.
Use the Browse button to define the directory that will hold your project files and folders:

Windows in BoxView IDE

The BoxView IDE contains many windows or views. A set of views is called a perspective. The IDE has 2 predefined perspectives: the Project Perspective and the Debug Perspective. The Project Perspective displays a set of windows valuable when manipulating project files. The Debug Perspective displays windows valuable when debugging a project. Users can change perspectives by choosing menu option Window->Open Perspective or by using the associated button on the IDE's button bar:

Users can add windows to any perspective by using the IDE's Window pull-down menu. Users can close windows in a perspective by selecting the window's close icon:

Create a Project

The Navigator window provides a hierarchical view of the resources in your workspace; users can open files for editing by double clicking on the filename in the navigator window.

Right-click with your mouse in the Navigator to open a pop-up menu that allows operations such as create new, copy, paste, import, refresh, etc.
Choose New->Managed 8051 SDCC Executable Project:

The New Executable project dialog will be displayed.

Define the new project name in the entryfield; for this example type ExampleProject
Choose the Finish button.

The Navigator will now contain your new project. Use the mouse to double click on the ExampleProject project in the Navigator window. Three files are created automatically by the IDE and are contained in the project:

Create a Source File

Create a source file in your new project that will contain a simple program.

Select ExampleProject and choose File->New->File from the IDE main menu. Alternately, users can select ExampleProject and right click to choose New->File in the pop-up Menu.

The New File dialog will be dispalyed.

Type simpleExample.c in the file name entry field.
Choose the Finish button.

An empty source file named simpleExample.c has been added to the ExampleProject project. The empty source file is opened in the IDE.

Write the content of the new application.

Fill the simpleExample.c editor window with the following instructions:

int val;
int val2;

int test (int v)
{
return v * 2;
}

int main(void)
{
val++;
while (val < 100)
{
val2 = val / 2;
val = test(val2);
}
return 0;
}

Save the simpleExample.c program by choosing File->Save or using the floppy disk icon on the toolbar.

Anytime a source file is saved, the automatic build operation will be triggered. Your simple program should assemble with no warnings or errors, so the Problems window will be empty.

Select the Console window for detail build information results:

Configure the Debug Session

Before the debugger can be started, establish a connection to the target hardware and configure the debug session.

Open the connection to the target, by choosing menu option Debug->Open Connection or use the Open Connection button on the IDE's button bar. Choose an embedded processor simulator for the interface type and press OK to connect:

Change perspectives, to obtain the best views for debugging, by choosing menu option Window->Open Perspective->BoxView Debug or use the BoxView Debug button on the IDE's button bar
Select from the main menu Run-->Debug
In the Debug session configuration dialog, select DSP Debugger in the Configurations listbox and choose the New button. The Debug fields on the right pane will be replaced with fields defining a new session configuration.
From the Main tab of the Debug configuration dialog, Name the debug session by typing ExampleProject in the Name entry field.
Fill in the Project entry field by using the Browse button to select ExampleProject
The Application entry field will be automatically filled in with the output contained in the chosen project.
Select the Debugger tab of the Debug configuration dialog
In the Debugger target drop box, define the connection type for the debug session to be Emulator
Select the Stop at main() on startuip checkbox.
Save the session configuration by selecting the Apply button

Debugging Your Application

Once the debug session has been configured, the debugger can be started.

Start your debug session for this named session by selecting the Debug button. Future debug sessions for this project can be started through the debug icon:

Many windows are populated in the Debug perspective when the application is started. In the debug window, note the application has stopped (as defined in our session configuration):

Below, the Source window shows an arrow in the margin for the Current Program Counter at the first instruction in the program. The Code Window shows the Current Program Counter by highlighting in yellow; the assembler lines representing the Selected Source Line are highlighted in green.

Set a breakpoint by double clicking in the margin of the source window on the val2=val/2 instruction.

Below the source window shows the added breakpoint on the selected instruction, the code window shows the breakpoint in burgundy, and the breakpoint window displays the line number of the source file associated with the breakpoint:

If your debug perspective does not contain a Memory window, add one by selecting Debug -> Memory from the main BoxView IDE Window.
If your debug perspective does not contain a Registers window, add one by selecting Debug -> Registers from the main BoxView IDE Window. Perform a right mouse click in the Registers window to display the window menu; select the option load registers->8051. Again perform a right click in the Registers window; select the option Registers Section-> Core to display the core registers. Once again performing a right click in the Registers window and select the option load registers->Operand-Hex.

Use the Step Into button of the Debug window (or IDE menu option Run->Step Into) to walk through the project .
Use the Resume button (or IDE menu option Run->Resume) to hit the breakpoint
In the Debug window, use the Terminate button (or IDE menu option Run->Terminate) to halt the execution.
Choose Debug->Close Connection to close the simulator target hardware connection

For more information on debug windows, review the Debug Menu Options Section of the Users Guide.

Files	Files in the file system
Folders	Directories on a file system. Folders are contained in projects or other folders. Folders can contain files and other folders.
Projects	Contain folders and files. Projects are used for builds, version management, sharing, and resource organization. Like folders, projects map to directories in the file system. (When you create a project, you specify a location for it in the file system.)