MPLAB IDE 7.51 Interim update available from Microchip.com

The MPLAB IDE v7.51 interim update is released and available here. See my previous post for an unofficial (and incomplete) list of changes.

Changes coming in MPLAB IDE 7.51

I compiled a list of MPLAB IDE 7.51 changes that may be of interest to forum.microchip.com members. Let me know if this is useful to you or not. If it is, then I'll try to do it for future releases.

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Editor

• Fixed MPASM inc files using basic text mode rather than MPASM text mode.
  [ http://forum.microchip.com/fb.aspx?m=203480 ]
  

• Corrected mouseover watch to use watch-window preferences for format.
  [ http://forum.microchip.com/fb.aspx?m=201407 ]
  

• Corrected problem running editor in Windows 98.

Debugger

• Corrected an issue where the debugger would execute too many instructions when performing a "Step Over" on some target devices.
  [ http://forum.microchip.com/fb.aspx?m=203114 ]

Project Manager

• Added 'Jump to' widget to "Add files", "Add new file", "Open project", and "Save project as" dialogs.

• Improved the "Save Workspace As" dialog that appears after you create a project with the wizard to now open in the same directory as the created project and with a suggested filename that mirrors the created project.

• Added selection of LINK30 CodeGuard Security build options. (to support a future C30 release)

• Corrected ASM30 toolsuite to pass --defsym macro option.
  

REAL ICE

• Added "don't show me again" checkboxes to most of the dialog boxes.

• Enabled "Auto Download Firmware" feature.

• Added "Reconnect" option to the debugger menu.

• Corrected an error causing an unexpected reset after a halt by improving the robustness of a HALT signal.

Simulator

• Added complex-breakpoint support to additional simulation engines.

• Improved complex-breakpoint dialog to be more keyboard friendly. See online help.

• Added ADC Alternate buffer fill-mode simulation for dsPIC33 and PIC24H.

• Added support for Flash config-word write operations using table write for PIC24F devices.

• Disabled Logic Analyzer and Trace display if simulator trace is not enabled in debugger settings.

• Corrected "Set PC at cursor" behavior when changing Program Memory pages.

• Corrected Motor-Control PWM on 16-bit devices to turn on even if a legal period value is NOT set.

• Modified simulator to no longer break after maximum number of stimulus notes in the output window. Warning: This can cause problems if the stimulus gets out of control and can cause the simulator to seem unresponsive.
  [ http://forum.microchip.com/fb.aspx?m=108056 ]

• Corrected Minimum TAD time for newer PIC18 devices.
  [ http://forum.microchip.com/fb.aspx?m=143144 ]
  

• Corrected SSPSTAT to be stimulatable on 18F452 and related devices.
  [ http://forum.microchip.com/fb.aspx?m=116484 ]
  

Displays

• Enhanced watch window to accept 0b syntax for binary constants in expressions.

• Enhanced watch window to support deeper nesting levels for pointers, structs, and arrays.

• Improved watch window to refresh expression parsing after a project build completes.

• Improved watch-window refresh time.

• Enhanced output window to allow user-defined fonts.

• Corrected an issue where the Data EEPROM display was not automatically refreshing the entire range after a HALT on dsPIC30F devices. NOTE: On some hardware debug tools, a read is still required.

Keeloq plugin

• Corrected address-boundary calculation that could cause a crash when importing an SQTP file.

DMCI plugin

• Enhanced Dynamic Data View to support Data Capture on REAL ICE and realtime watch updated on MPLAB SIM and ICE 4000. (BETA feature)

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Plus... numerous other miscellaneous bug fixes. For Tool-Specific New-Device support, please see the tool's readme file.

DMCI graphing Simulator realtime watch variable

A few days ago, I posted a video demonstrating the Data Monitor and Control Interface (DMCI) graphing an MPLAB REAL ICE data-capture variable. This morning, I captured a video of DMCI graphing a simulator realtime watch variable. This video is taken from MPLAB IDE 7.51.There is NO SOUND in this video.

DMCI graphing REAL ICE Data Capture

I captured a short video showing the Data Monitor and Control Interface(DMCI) tool as it graphs Data Capture values from REAL ICE as the target is running. This video is based on an early prototype of the new feature and may look a little different when it is released as a beta feature in MPLAB IDE 7.51.

The DMCI developer mentioned that this feature should also work with MPLAB SIM and MPLAB ICE 4000 when the realtime watch updates are enabled. I haven't tried it myself yet. Maybe I'll find some time later this week.
There's no sound in this video.

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