Swordfish

Just an update - octal has made great progress on the MPLAB-X plugin this week. The editor, with syntax highlighting, is a really nice touch. Here is a screen shot stepping through code using the MPLAB-X simulator. Thanks to Jerry also for an updated mplabx icd module...

So, how do we access and set up this plug-in?

I've attached an installation guide and the latest MPLAB-X plugin (mplabicd-04022015.zip). Please note that all of this fantastic work was done by Octal. He deserves all the credit for a great plugin. You will also need to install the "mplabicd.bas" library file (mplabicd-04022015.zip). This will correctly remap RAM for MPLABX use. This library file was created by Jerry and deserves all of the credit.

You must place mplabicd.bas in the correct location. For example, if your library files are located under:
then you need to create a sub-folder called "sys.import" and place the file there. For example,
To build for MPLABX, simply place the required option at the top of your program, like this

Hi at all,
for which version of MPLAB-X was made?

I've only tested on 2.30...

I've run it on v2.35, but I haven't tried it on any MPLABX v3.x since I haven't installed them yet.

Awesome! Thank you, we'll give it a go.

-Tom

Coccoliso wrote:Hi at all,
for which version of MPLAB-X was made?

I have tried it on v2.30 and v2.35. I'll try it on v3.xx during this week (need to create a new virtual machine in order to test it in a clean environment and with different versions of java virtual machines).
But be CAREFUL, from what I have seen on forums and from the readme files, there are two things related to MPlabX-IDE you have to take care of:
1- Seems that v3.xx crash with some old versions of JVM x64 versions. Microchip promised to solve that in few days (since the launch date, I didn't checked that).
2- in the new v3.xx , Microchip stoped completely support of PICKT2 debugger

Other that those issues related to MPLabX itself, I can't really see why the plugin wont work. I'll try and let you know as soon as possible.

Regards

Thanks octal.

Well,
the plugin can't be installed on MPLabX v3.xx. The plugin editor library seems to be NOT compatible with old versions.
Next weekend, I'll upgrade the plugin and recompile it for the new version. Microchip upgraded their java toolchain and requirements for MPLabX v3.xx. I'll check during this week all new requirements and upgrades imposed by Microchip (and new netbeans plugin handlers libraries).

Thanks octal. I just tried 3.05 with the same results. Just out of interest, if you update the plugin to work with 3.xx, would it still be compatible with 2.xx version or would we need two separate builds?

Hi David,
unfortunately this is the problem with all those languages and frameworks that uses declarative approach to make the program check API compatibility. There is no way to have a single plugin for both versions. Netbeans APIs changed a lot from version 6.9 to 7.xx. While I can just hack by hand the manifest file inside the nbm to make it acceptable for MPLabX 3.xx, I can't guarantee that all the API is 100% compatible. I'll manage to have a new version completely compiled and checked against the new API. This is safer.

Just my opinion, but once they release v3.10 (due out in the next week or so) there's probably few reasons not to update to it.
It seems they're working to fix the few things they broke when switching to V3. They are getting better, just slowly.

It's not like they're going to continue on w/V2, so after a bit is there really any need to have support for it around?

Hi Jerry,
v3 is based on the new API introduced with netbeans 7.xx and it's far better than the old one. I really appreciate their move. But v3 removes support for PICKit2 and this is problematic for most hobbyists using this tool.
In the readme file, in the Unsupported Tools section you can read:

I've always liked the PICKit2 and even though you can add programming support for some new devices to the PK2, that only gets you so far. You're stuck with the standalone programming app, you can't add debugging support, and some devices just won't work. Not enough capability.

At some point folks are going to have to switch if they want to use the newer devices. They're making us do that with MPLABX in the first place. What they're doing right now with V2 and the PICKit3 makes no sense... you basically load new firmware into it that makes it emulate a PICKit2, and as soon as you do that you're right back to square one without support for new devices! Sounds like they got rid of that "feature" in MPLABX V3. Good riddance!

You can always use the PK2 with MPLAB 8.92 and most of the current devices.