F28M36H33B2: USB_UART Monitor

Hi Albert, 

In addition to what Sal mentioned, I wonder if the difference is that GUI Composer is not picking correct COM port, when running online or standalone. You could add Options menu to your application that allows to select a different COM port. You would need to: in widgets pallette there is an "options" menu which you can drag and drop into your app. When you run the application you should be able to click on that "Options" menu to bring up a dialog that allows you to adjust selected COM port and baud settings (you should be able to adjust these in Project Propeties as well). You would be able to verify that the same COM port is used in CCS and GUI Composer when GC runs online or standalone. 

Martin

Can you explain what you mean when you say, " I am not able to get the UART connection working while running the gui from the gui composer cloud web interface or when exporting the gui to standalone app" ? 

My Gui only connects to the target device when exported to CCS desktop view, not any of the other methods of running the gui. 

Are you able to load the symbols/program into the device properly?

Yes. With CCS desktop view I load the symbols and then it connects correctly. With the cloud interface I click the auto load checkbox in properties, it loads the program successfully but does not connect (variables does not get updated). With the standalone app I pre-load the program into flash and let it run, then try to connect the app to the target but it does not connect (variables does not get updated).  

Is it just that the UART/SCI communication is not being received by the GUI composer cloud interface or when exporting to the standalone app?

Both. I get no communication between the gui and the target when using the cloud interface or the standalone app.

Have you been successful in communicating over UART/SCI to the GUI cloud or standalone with other programs?

No I have not done this before.

I am not very familiar with the GUI composer or cloud tools. This may be an issue with the tool, but I want to rule our SCI or program issues first.

I don't think the problem lies with the SCI program since it is working fine when I run the gui in CCS Desktop view.

Hi Albert,

I'll be away for couple of days but I'll try to see if I can reproduce this issue on our end when I get back. As an additional test, would you be able to see if you get the same behaviour if try to disable auto programming? 

Martin

Yes I have done this as well and unfortunately it does not make a difference.

HI Albert, 

This is taking a bit longer than anticipated. However, we are speculating that GUI Composer is using the wrong core for expression evaluation. Symbols (i.e. .out file) provide global variable names, etc, However, there is a core type set of information that provide things like addressing mode, endiannes, word size, etc. I believe that GC is using 28x information to resolve/evaluate M3's symbols. 

When you run in CCS, that selection is bypassed because an app will use whatever is selected in Debug View. 

There is a way of working around this, but creating a custom target configuration file in CCS and then using it in GC. You would need to start CCS and create a new target configuration using CCS Setup program, choose your debug probe and device, then go to advanced tab, select 28x core and click bypass. Save this as "target_config.ccxml" then use instructions here

If link above does not work, then you would need to open GUI Composer Users Guide from Help menu and then select XDS link and scroll down to "Custom target configuration file" to upload this modified ccxml to your GC app. Bypassing 28x core should force GC to use M3 for expression evaluation. 

Martin

Hi Martin

Thanks for the suggestion. I am trying to do this but I am not sure if I am uploading it correctly. I don't have a "Target Program/Symbols" section on the Target Communication page to upload the .ccxml file to, as it describes in the User Guide.

I did however uploaded the .ccxml file by right click/ add file in the project explorer on the left in Gui composer. It still did not seem to work though. It still does not connect to the target with UART.

Hi Albert, 

I thought those instructions were accurate, but they are not. I'll file a bug to update User's Guide. The sequence of steps would be roughly the same but on previous page in the wizard. i.e. in the section where you upload .out file, you would need to click on "Upload" then choose target_config.ccxml from you local disk. This will upload that file and store it "targets" directory it is not visible in Projects View in GC, once that file is uploaded, click on drop down (you should now see two entries one with .out and second with .ccxml) and choose .out. 

In summary we are uploading two files, but we still want executable to have the .out selection as active. 

If you choose file->Export as project, and inspect generated .zip file you should be able to see .out and .ccxml in that "target" subdirectory that I mentioned. 

Martin

Hi Martin

I followed your new instructions but it still does not work. Here is what I did:

I created the config file in ccs to have a UART connection and to bypass c28.

If I now launch this new configuration in CCS and load my program onto the target, either RAM or Flash, and load symbols on the UART connection, I am able to see all variables updating in expressions view and on my Gui.

Then I upload this config file to my Gui composer project as per your instructions.

 Auto Program is not checked. I also have a USB_UART communication setup.

Then I run the Gui from the cloud. It tries to connect and then ends with a "Hardware not connected" message. This is also the same case if I Export the Gui to Stand-alone app and run it. I Only get a "Hardware not connected". I also configure the serial port in the Gui.

Hi Albert, 

I was thinking of a custom configuration that looks like a picture below. It is a little bit different than what you have. Rest of your configuration steps look ok. With custom target_config.ccxml I was trying to eliminate 28x from the picture. 

I have a slightly different control card 28M35HC52 with XDS100v2, I verified that JTAG based approach works with a config as shown below. However, I am having trouble getting simple UART example to work. I tried uart_echo example from ControlSuite, but it does not work as expected. Thus I am not able yet to try and duplicate your setup. 

Martin

Hi Martin

 I have made a target config just like yours and it does not work. How should I proceed from here? I really need to deploy the gui as a standalone application using UART monitor comms.

target_config.ccxmlHi Albert,

I have been struggling with our board and getting a simple UART echo example to work. I don't see any output from our control card.

I lead you the wrong path with how to create a custom xml file. I have synched up with another engineer and we believe that attached file should work. However, I still have not been able to get my board to work, thus I can't confirm that it will work. However, would you be willing to try one more file? Please download attached ccxml, You probably will need to delete the one that was previously uploaded and then upload this new one. You should have only one target_config.ccxml file. Please let me know if this works and I can explain how this was created, if you are interested.

Martin

Hi Martin

Thanks for the file. It seems that we are making progress but not yet there. I have uploaded the config file and started the gui. This is the message that I got after it tried to connect:

Connected to TI Cloud Agent.Connecting to target ...

Error downloading program symbols: Encountered a problem loading file: C:..../Temp/ti_cloud_storage/F28M36H33B2.data Could not determine target type of file Please unplug your F28M36H33B2, then plug it back in and try again.

Then I opened the config file in CCS and changed the device to F28M36H33B2 (it was on F28M36P53C2) and left everything else in the file exactly the same. I uploaded the file again and started the gui again. This is the messages that I got this time:

Connected to TI Cloud Agent.Connecting to target ...
COM15:9600 verifying connection...
Communication with Target Failed: Target failed to read 0x200053C8

Can't get it to work any further that that. Do you why it gives this error?

Thanks Patrick

Yes the baud rate and com port is correct and are the same as when I connect the gui with CCS desktop view, which works fine.

I also need to mention that during the connection period, when using your config file, at some point my target device stops running for some reason. 

regards

Albert

Can you enable the ticloudagent logging and attach the logs here?

You can enable logging by removing REM from the SET lines in this file <user.home>\TICloudAgent\ticloudagent.bat. 
Reload the browser page to pickup the change in the bat file.

Regards,
Patrick

Patrick

Here are the log files and a very simple M3 project with the serial monitor added. It has a global variable "CycleCounter" which you can bind to the gui and you should see it counting. I have tested it with CCS desktop view and it works when connected over UART.

GuiComposerUART_Test_M3.ziplogs.zip

Hi Patrick

Here is the ccsxml file that I use.

config.zip

Hi Albert,

Thanks for the ccxml file. I have a similar device as you have and I have been struggling to get the program to run in flash after power cycling the device. I am working with our C2000 team on the flash issue.

Do you have multiple COM ports for your program or other COM port that is visible in Windows device manager? If you do, you will need to make sure that you have selected the correct COM port when you run your GUI Composer app.

Here are the steps to add a COM port selection widget to your application and select the COM port when your run the application:

• In the Palette, enter option in the search box. Drag the Options Menu widget to your applications menu bar. The Options menu might not be correctly added to the position that you drop it into. You can fix this by switching to the HTML mode and move the option tag to the desired location in the menu.
• Run the application
• Select the Options/Serial Ports to open the COM selection dialog and choose the correct port

In the GUI Composer designer, make sure that you don't reflash your device. We don't currently have a way to flash the device with custom ccxml file. We are working on this feature. In the project properties dialog, navigate to the Target programming page. Make sure the Auto Program checkbox is unchecked, but keep the programloader to load symbols for the target monitor.

I also have adjusted the ccxml file that you have attached, it is similar to the one that Martin sent. But we don't need to include other core to be bypassed. Having the UARTConnection with the M3 core is sufficient. Please upload the attached ccxml to your application. You can upload this file the same way you upload the executable in the Target programming page. Make sure that you select your device program in the droplist after you have uploaded the target_config.ccxml file.

Let me know if this help you to progress any further. In the mean time, I'll try to get my device working.

0385.target_config.ccxml

Regards,
Patrick

Hi Patrick

I followed your instructions as above and still don't get it to work.

I have the COM port selection widget and it is selecting the correct COM port. I have the Auto Program checkbox Unchecked. I have my device program selected in the droplist after uploading the target_config.ccxml file.

It now does not give error message and only gives a message saying "Hardware connected", but nothing is being updated on the GUI as if the symbols are not loaded.

Just something I notice, when using your config file in CCS desktop view, it does not connect when I load the symbols from the flash configuration. But it does work when I load the symbols from the RAM configuration. In the cloud version, however, neither of them work.

Regards

Albert