Installing PCM and PCH in separate directories

[PCM programmer]

In this thread, most people say they can install PCW versions in
different directories. One person says he puts the command line
compilers in different directories and it works fine.
http://www.ccsinfo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19614

But can this be done with MPLAB ? I installed PCM in the
default directory of c:\Program Files\PICC and I installed PCH
in separate directory of c:\Program Files\PICC-PCH.

But then how can this be setup in MPLAB 7.01 ? It seems that
MPLAB has a global setting (not a per-project setting) for the
compiler and the compiler location.

Also, in the Project/Select Language Toolsuite menu, it only has one
setting: "CCS C compiler for PIC 12/14/16/18"
It doesn't break it up into separate "CCS PCM" and "CCS PCH"
selections. Because of that, you can't specify separate Tool Locations
in the "Set Language Tool Locations" menu.

So maybe it's not possible to use PCM and PCH in separate
directories with MPLAB. Has anyone done this ?
(The reason for doing this is because different versions conflict with
each other).

[Mark]

Okay, this should work for you:

Use the other CCS compiler option. Set it up to use the other compiler. You will get an error in the build window that says it failed even though it actually compiled.

Now if you want to be slick and use lots of different versions try this out:

make this into a add.reg file

[PCM programmer]

Thanks Mark. I will study this and then try it.

[Mark]

For those of you who get confused by the 2 CCS entries, you can delete the wrong one in the registry.

[Mark]

Okay, I played with this a bit more. As it stands, the IDE doesn't think everything was built correctly so it doesn't load the hex file. Here is the first problem in the tlccs.ini file.

[PCM programmer]

I'd like you to explain it.
I don't know much about the registry. Can you tell us what it's doing ?

[Mark]

Some definitions

GUID

Short for Globally Unique Identifier, a unique 128-bit number that is produced by the Windows OS or by some Windows applications to identify a particular component, application, file, database entry, and/or user. GUIDs can be created in a number of ways, but usually they are a combination of a few unique settings based on specific point in time (e.g., an IP address, network MAC address, clock date/time, etc.).


Those are the funny long numbers that you see all throughout the registry.

MPLAB provides support for third parties. Nowadays you would write a custom DLL to hook into MPLAB. Microchip provides this to its Third Party vendors. Microchip also provided support for Legacy or older Third Party software which is what I am exploiting. When MPLAB loads, it looks for entries in the registry under Legacy Language Suites. Each entry or "Key" is just a GUID. The default value for this key is the name of an INI file for the Tool Suite. There is also an entry "DoNotLoad" that will prevent the item from being loaded if set to "1". Under this key there is another key whose name is also a GUID. Why its there, only Microchip knows it just needs to be there. There is another key named "Tools" (this is where each of the tools or MTC files will be listed). Under the "Tools" key we have another GUID for each tool (these are like a compiler, assembler, linker entries). The Default value for this key is the name of the MTC file. Under this key is another GUID. There is an entry for each tool. CCS only has 1 the compiler but my method creates 2. The second is a dummy one because MPLAB thinks that it must link the object files. I just copied the GUID's for MPLINK and put them under the CCS tools and then pointed the tool under CCS to a "dummy" batch file to make the IDE all .

The INI file:
The ini file controls how things are displayed and loaded. The LanguageSuite is the name that you see displayed when you select a tool suite in MPLAB. It also specifies file type extensions so that MPLAB knows how to load those files in the project window. The MTC entry lists all the MTC files for that suite.

The MTC file:
This file controls all the command line parameters that get passed to the compiler. The "Tool" entry is the name of the tool that you see when you open up a tool suite in mplab. If you study a few of the MTC files, you see how to add additional parameters and even how to add and hide them.

[PCM programmer]

Thanks for that explanation. If we try this, but then decide to
revert to the previous settings, is there any easy way to undo
your changes ?

[Mark]

If you create new entries then you can just delete them. If you modify the CCS one then you can just delete the extra key that I am adding for the CCS. Keep in mind that you aren't using the CCS version that I am modifying. The other CCS entry is controlled by a DLL. Worst case you can delete the registry entry and do a MPLAB install to fix anything you might mess up. I wouldn't worry about it though. It is pretty simple once you look at it.



PS: If you want me to create a totally new entry for you, just let me know and I will post the files or send them.

[guest]

Thanks Mark for your detailed information on how to set up more than one CCS compiler with MPLAB.

I tried to set it up for two versions of PCH (my production V3.150 and latest 3.221), both installed in separate directories i.e. \PCH_3150 and \PCH_3221.
I use MPLAB 7.01 and run everything under XP Pro.

After playing with it for a while I figured most of it out up to the point where the linker cuts in... :-(

I get the following error message when compiling:

Clean: Deleting intermediary and output files.
Clean: Deleted file "main.HEX".
Clean: Deleted file "C:\...\main.mcs".
Clean: Done.
Executing: "C:\Program Files\PCH_3221\Ccsc.exe" main.c +FH +p +t
Executing: "C:\Program Files\PCH_3221\dummy.bat" "C:\...\main.HEX" /o "main.HEX"
Could not spawn langauge tool. Check command-line options. (193)
Link step failed.
BUILD FAILED: Mon Mar 07 11:05:39 2005

(source path edited for readability)

I created dummy.bat by saving an empty text file with that name.

Any idea anybody, what's wrong?

[Mark]

Goto your Folder Options and make sure the Hide Extensions for known file types is turned OFF. Then right click on the dummy.bat file and make sure the file name is not dummy.bat.txt. This will happen if you create the batch file in Notepad and leave the file type as TXT.

[guest]

Thanks Mark for your quick reply.

Hide Extensions for known file types was already turned OFF in both the source code working directory and the CCS compiler directory.

I 'generated' dummy.bat using notepad and saved it as "dummy.bat" (WITH quotes) which saved it with the correct file name.

Any other ideas?

[Mark]

Stick this in the batch file

[guest]

Changed dummy.bat and now get:

Clean: Deleting intermediary and output files.
Clean: Deleted file "main.HEX".
Clean: Done.
Executing: "C:\Program Files\PCH_3221\Ccsc.exe" main.c +FH +p +t
Executing: "C:\Program Files\PCH_3221\dummy.bat" "C:\...\main.HEX" /o "main.HEX"
Skipping Link Step
Link step failed.
BUILD FAILED: Mon Mar 07 14:18:55 2005

Looks like the batch file runs o.k.

My TLPCH3221.ini file:

// Microchip Language Tools Configuration File
// CCS Language Suite

[Language_Suite]
LanguageSuite=PCH 3.221 C Compiler
DefaultFilename=default.ht
Object=HEX
Target=HEX
Library=LIB
Source=C
Header=H
LkrScripts=
Output=LST;ERR;SYM;HEX;TRE
Debug=COD
MTC_Files=PCH3221;mplink

My PCH3221.mtc file:

// Microchip Language Tools Configuration File
// CCS PIC C

[Tool]
Tool=PCH 3.221
SourceExtension=c
HeaderExtension=h
MultipleNodes=0

[0]
Description=CCS PCH 3.221
OptionList=PCH
Default=PCH
PCB=+FB
PCM=+FM
PCH=+FH
Data=0
MultipleOptions=0

[1]
Description=Pause after compile
Switch=+p
Data=0

[2]
Description=Generate Call Tree
Switch=+t
Data=0


hmmm...

[Mark]

Change the INI file to

Debug=COD;COFF

and see what happens