MPLABX chipKIT Importer Plugin Released

Created Thu, 27 Apr 2017 19:15:18 +0000 by EmbeddedMan

EmbeddedMan

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 19:15:18 +0000

After several years of everybody saying "now, wouldn't that be grand", we finally have an easy way for you to import any chipKIT (Arduino) sketch into MPLABX.

Why?

• MPLAB X is a much better editor than Arduino IDE (search/replace, etc. far better!)
• You can now debug (in hardware) a chipKIT sketch using MPLAB X's powerful debugger
• You can migrate your prototype sketch into MPLAB X and continue production level development there
• Cause who wouldn't want yet another IDE for chipKIT! 8-)

How to get it:

Download and install a relatively recent version of MPLAB X (the latest, at this point is 3.60), go to the Tools->Plugins->Available Plugins tab, and tick the box next to "chipKIT Importer Plugin", then click "Install".

There is complete online help text available. Read about the two different ways you can import (copy and leave in place) since they're subtly different and it's important to understand the difference.

This plugin comes with a pretty nice serial monitor that you can use to talk to your chipKIT board after you've programmed it.

You can build for normal bootloading over serial (and you can run the pic32prog bootloader application with one button click from within MPLAB X) or for debugging using a hardware debugger like PICKit3, RealIce, or ICD3.

It's pretty sweet to single step through your Arduino sketch and use the debugger to examine variables and set break points. Finally, a really powerful way to debug complex code for chipKIT.

The chipKIT dev team is very excited about this plugin, and we hope that you find it useful and fun. Please let us know if you have any trouble or questions about it.

guymc

Wed, 17 May 2017 01:34:47 +0000

I've been testing the chipKIT Importer with MPLAB X v3.55 and v3.60. Its working great with the chipKIT Lenny and PGM programmer/debugger.

The current version is 1.0.3. We'll keep posting minor updates as issues are identified and repaired. Updates are available from within MPLAB X IDE in the Tools:Plugins menu. Look for "chipKIT Import Plugin".

Cheers

guymc

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 17:18:14 +0000

A new version of the sketch importer (v1.0.6) has been released. This version adds support for the Flip & Click PIC32MZ board, as well as speed and stability improvements. The update is available from the MPLAB X plugin portal, or from Github:

[url]https://github.com/chipKIT32/chipKIT-importer[/url]

Cheers

StevenT

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 14:41:52 +0000

Thanks for the release Guy, is that the latest version?

EmbeddedMan

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 17:19:02 +0000

Version 1.0.6 is the latest version, as of this date. (see https://github.com/chipKIT32/chipKIT-importer)

However, we have now started on a v2.0.0 importer - I'm not sure what the status of this is (timeline, desired features, etc.) but I do see activity in the GitHub repo : https://github.com/chipKIT32/chipKIT-importer-2.0

*Brian

GrahamM242

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 08:33:47 +0000

Just wanted to say thanks for the importer - it makes debugging much easier, even with PicKit3's tenancy to slide a few instructions.