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CCS/MSP-EXP430F5529LP: BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII

Part Number: MSP-EXP430F5529LP
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII, MSP430F5529, TEST2

Tool/software: Code Composer Studio

Can anyone point me to a working example of using these two boards together (BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII & MSP-EXP430F5529LP)? I downloaded the one for the 432, but am finding it almost impossible to import or open with CCS. I've found oodles of content, but hardly any useful information.

  • Hi,

    To my knowledge TI doesn't provide a software example for this specific booster pack and launchpad combo. I double checked the BoosterPack Compatibility Checker and verified that these two devices will work together.

    Now, regarding CCS, what kind of issues are you experiencing when trying to import the MSP432 example project into CCS? I believe you'll need to download and install DriverLib for MSP432 (SimpleLink SDK) as well as the MSP432 header and support files required by CCS to get this project working in CCS. you can download the SimpleLink SDK here. To install the necessary header and support files in CCS you can navigate to Help --> Install New Software --> Select "--All Available Sites--" from the drop down --> Scroll down and select the MSP432 tool-chain.

    Finally, if the above steps don't work, you can always view the example in a text editor such as Notepad++. The example source files can be found in the Firmware --> Source --> BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R folder of the code found here.

    I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions. 

    Best regards, 
    Caleb Overbay

  • I installed a bunch of SDKs via the resource explorer and I think the MSP432 stuff is there, although I couldn't find the battery pack example through the resource explorer tree.

    I downloaded the "MSP-EXP432P401R_Software_Examples_windows.zip" file from here:
    software-dl.ti.com/.../index_FDS.html

    There is a CCS folder in that zip that seems like a good starting point, but I'm completely lost on how to open this example in CCS short of starting a new project and adding the files one by one.
    MSP-EXP432P401R_Software_Examples_windows.zip\Firmware\Source\BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R\CCS

    If I open CSS and "Open Projects From File System" and select MSP-EXP432P401R_Software_Examples_windows.zip\Firmware\Source\BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R, it loads 2 things that look like projects in the project explorer. The problem is when I select either project and click build project nothing happens. If I click debug, it gives me "the selection cannot be launched, and there are no recent launches" So obviously what appears to be a CCS project in the zip file isnt, and its not entirely obvious where I went wrong.

    Some other posts say you need to "import" the project, which I suppose maybe CCS cant save a portable project folder for some reason (I hope I'm wrong on that). So I tried creating a new empty CSS project by selecting the processor (MSP430F5529, which is the processor I actually have, whereas the example code seems to be targeting the MSP432). When I try to import it as a CCS project I get this error:
    >>>Error: Import failed for project 'BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R' because its meta-data cannot be interpreted. Please contact support.

    Apparently the other posts say I need to drill down and import from the file system. So I try that a bunch of different ways because the usual software "hints" as to whether or not I'm on the right path are not there. When I finally get the files imported I get a slew of compiler errors, mostly about missing source files. Fortunately I can deal with that, because at least compiler messages are more useful than any messages CCS provides. But I must be doing something fundamentally wrong. There is no way it should be this difficult to open and run an example project.

    Please tell me its something simple.
  • Hi,

    In your file path "MSP-EXP432P401R_Software_Examples_windows.zip\Firmware\Source\BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R\CCS", I see that you still have the .zip extension on the original download. You need to unzip(extract) the compressed files before attempting to import the project via CCS. I think this may be what is causing the issue.

    After unzipping the file, you should then import the project in CCS via Project --> Import CCS Projects... --> Select search-directory --> Browse to the Firmware\Source\BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R\CCS directory and then you should be able to select the project and import it to CCS.

    Best regards,
    Caleb Overbay
  • Sorry, I copied the wrong path in the 2nd. I'm importing from the folder not the zip (actually, CCS wont let me import from the zip as its only recognized folders).


    Just recapping the complex series of operations here
    1) I create a new empty CSS project. I suppose this is because there is apparently no way to edit the target processor after you create a project?
    2) Then I import (NOT CCS Projects, because even though that's obviously what I'm doing, why would it be that simple). I have to right click on the project "Import", then "Import" again on the context menu (which is below CCS Projects....)
    For what its worth, if I try to import as a CCS project, I get this error (in case anyone else gets this helpful message):
    >>> Error: Import failed for project 'CCS' because its meta-data cannot be interpreted. Please contact support.
    But if I import->import->filesystem, I do get files in the project created in #1. It gives me the option to overwrite the ".project" folder. If I overwrite that folder, the "build project" operation does nothing (literally nothing... no errors or warnings). So obviously I'm not supposed to overwrite the ".project" folder.
    3) Hit build and watch the compiler errors stack up.
    If I import from BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R I get 62 compiler errors (again, most of those are path issues, which I could deal with, but I'm clearly doing something wrong)
    If I import from BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R\CCS, I only get 4 errors stemming from a missing msp.h file.
  • Hi,

    Thanks for the clarification. The process you've outlined above doesn't seem correct. Which version of CCS are you currently using? I recommend using the latest version which can be downloaded here:

    Then you should be able to follow these steps to import the project to CCS:

    1. Select "Project" along the ribbon at the top of the CCS window
    2. Select "Import CCS Projects..."
    3. Select the "Select search-directory" radio button
    4. Click "Browse..."
    5. Browse to the project directory we've been referencing
    6. Select the CCS project in the "Discovered projects" pane
    7. Click finish

    Best regards, 
    Caleb Overbay

    Best regards,

    Caleb Overbay

  • I'm using CCS 7.4. Is this problem as simple as 7.4 cant read older projects?

    Project->Import CCS Project yields this error:
    >>>Error: Import failed for project 'BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII_FuelGauge_MSP432P401R' because its meta-data cannot be interpreted. Please contact support.

    I get the same result from the main folder and from the CCS folder although that doesn't really seem to matter. If I try to import way up in the directory, it enumerates all the projects.
  • Hi,

    Hmmm, I've seen this issue with several projects before. Sometimes creating a new workspace and attempting to import into the new one fixes the issue. Can you try this for me and let me know the results?

    If this doesn't work, we'll try constructing a new project and manually adding the necessary files.

    Best regards,
    Caleb Overbay
  • I already did that through the convoluted steps I outlined above.

    I can go through and manually add the files or fight compiler errors about the missing files, but at that point, I might as well just go through and write my own project from the ground up. I was hoping to see the thing run and quickly evaluate where to go from there. Shouldn't this be much simpler?


    By the way, I do appreciate you working through this despite my extreme level of frustration.

    I just switched from the esp32 modules and had a phenomenal experience with their documentation and clean, easy to run examples. Coming over to the TI ecosystem, I just feel like I'm drowning in useless content taking days to do the most basic of things.
  • Hi,

    I completely understand your frustration and I'd like to thank you for your patience so far! This process is typically much simpler and very quick but this seems to be a particularly difficult case. It's made even more difficult by the fact that I'm unable to reproduce the errors you're observing on my machine.

    So far everything you've mentioned leads me to believe that something is incorrectly installed/setup on your PC. Maybe something didn't fully install correctly such as CCS, the SimpleLink SDK, or the MSP432 support files. In this situation it may be best to start fresh and delete CCS and reinstall. During the reinstall process ensure you download the MSP432 and the MSP430 support files. Then uninstall and re-install the SimpleLink SDK for MSP432.

    I understand this process is time consuming and can be a hassle but I feel this is the best chance at getting things back on track. Thanks again for your patience while we work to solve this problem.

    Best regards,
    Caleb Overbay
  • Just uninstalled, deleted the ti folders, reinstalled and the same results (and rebooted).

    I also tried creating a new project targeting an MSP432 (instead of my 430), but am still getting the same compiler errors.
  • Getting this to open/import cleanly is proving to be pretty fruitless. Maybe digging into the compiler messages might help.

    First off, it appears that a bunch of source files are in driverlib/MSP432P4xx, but the project doesn't have that folder in the includes. So I add that via right clicking on the project Show Build Settings->Build->ARM Compiler->Include Options. That cut down a bunch of errors.

    I'm not sure where I get the driverlib for the 430 or how to convert this example to that hardware, but babysteps here.

    Now I have a ton of undefined errors along these lines.
    #20 identifier "EUSCI_B1_BASE" is undefined HAL_I2C.c /test2 line 76 C/C++ Problem

    or:
    FLCTL_BANK0_MAIN_WEPROT_PROT0
    FLCTL_BANK0_RDCTL_BUFD_OFS
    FLCTL_IFG_PRG
    SYSCTL
    SYSCTL_SRAM_BANKEN_BNK0_EN
    and so on

    I'm clearly still missing some more files, but I'm at a loss.
  • Hi,

    Thanks for trying to reinstall CCS. It looks like you're missing the header file to the MSP432 because the symbols you've described above are defined in this file. I would expect you to see an error that along the lines of not being able to find the msp.h file. Can you ensure that your project has the "C:/ti/ccsv7/ccs_base/arm/include" path included? This is the default path to the msp.h file and if you chose to install CCS elsewhere, it may be different.

    Best regards,
    Caleb Overbay
  • Ok, I finally got it compile (although I still don't have it in a useful form for the 5529). Here are the steps that should really be in the readme file, Although I guess these examples came out of the MSP-EXP432P401R, so I suppose someone just though this was inherently obvious?

    1. Create a blank CCS project (I'm still completely mystified as to why I cant just open a project, since that would probably have resolved all of the confusion in the first place)
    2. Make sure you target MSP432P401R. This is insanely important because apparently this example ONLY works on that specific processor (I sloppily tried it on the msp432p4011 thinking that would would cover all 432's... big mistake). This is probably where my background as a non-embedded programmer got me. Code usually "mostly" works on different variants of the same processor. I'm finding that is absolutely not the case for TI processors and is entirely non-obvious.
    3. Import from the file system (not from a CCS project because that would be too easy and intuitive)
    4. Don't import the project file, because again, that would make sense... Basically do the opposite of what your intuition tells you.
    5. Add the driverlib/MSP432P4xx to the includes via project build settings, because we didn't import the project file, which is presumably where that include was originally defined. This one worked for me
      ${PROJECT_ROOT}/driverlib/MSP432P4xx
    6. Now you're going to have 2 copies of startup_msp432p401r_ccs.c, system_msp432p401r.c, and msp432p401r.cmd. One in the root and one in the CCS folder. Delete one of them, I'm not sure if it matters which but I deleted the ones in the root.

    So now it compiles, but I don't have the MSP-EXP432P401R, so I guess the jokes on me.

    I think this has finally defeated me. I've spent days struggling with this and I haven't even written, or even really read any code. This really shouldn't be that difficult. I get that TI is a hardware company, but code examples should be much easier to deal with. A good, well commented example can convey far more information than hours of videos or reams of documentation (maybe you could pass that along to the documentation folks). I'm finding that examples are already slim and that they are not easily portable to other processors in the same family.

  • Hi,

    I apologize for the trouble you had getting this project to import into CCS properly. Again, I'd like to stress that this is not a typical scenario when using TI's code examples.

    I'd also like to note that the MSP430F5529 and the MSP432P401R are not the same family of devices so the code was never made to be portable between the two. Additionally, I believe the code example was created before the SimpleLink SDK was finalized which would have made the example portable to any of the MSP432 devices. This is something I'll bring up with our software team to fix in the future.

    Overall, I think a better path for this would have been to use the source files from the MSP432 project as a starting point without trying to import the project into CCS. These files are typically well commented. However, there are many significant differences between the MSP432 and the MSP430 product lines with the most significant being that the MSP432 is an ARM core. With that said, it would be a significant effort to get the same code working on an MSP430 device.

    Finally, I'm not certain why this booster pack was only given software support for the MSP432 family of devices but I assure you it would work just as well with the MSP430 family of devices. If you're still interested and could tell me a little more about your application I could help narrow down the correct device, code examples, and anything else that may be needed to get you started with an MSP430 in your system.

    Best regards,
    Caleb Overbay
  • I get the differences between the 430 and 432. I'm not sure about the difference between the MSP432P401R the MSP432P4011, but that's neither here nor there. The take away for me is that there is practically zero code interoperability between processors on example code. That takes an already thin library of examples and eliminates the majority without being very up front about that. I guess if anyone is expecting to learn through examples, they will be sorely disappointed, unless they get lucky and have the right processor.

    I can implement the i2c interface to talk with the battery gauge, but I was hoping to get started a lot quicker, and from a much higher level with a working example. I guess since these are marketed as evaluation kits, my assumption was that they would sort of work out of the box. Its just a painful process because just about everything in the TI software domain goes exactly opposite of my intuition. Now that I know the examples are not really functional in any practical sense, I can at least lower my expectations.

    As for my project, its a wireless sensor, so basically I have the MSP-EXP430F5529LP, BOOSTXL-BATPAKMKII, 430BOOST-CC110L, and an MPU9250 breakout board.

    Are there any referral resources for engineers. This is a pretty simple and straightforward project for someone who's gone through this painful learning curve, but I think I've reached the limit of my patience.
  • Hi,

    I understand your frustration with the BoosterPack examples and this feedback will certainly be taken into account during future updates. Additionally, you can find a fairly comprehensive list of examples showcasing how to correctly use many of the peripherals for any specific MSP430 device in MSP430Ware. These examples have been tested and verified to work on the specific device variant they were designed for including the MSP430F5529. I know this doesn't get you exactly where you need to be but many of our customers find these examples helpful and a good place to start when evaluating our devices. 

    Best regards, 
    Caleb Overbay

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