Run a demo using MCUXpresso IDE

Note:

Most MCUXpresso projects provide two targets (debug and release). For CM7 projects, they are actually flash target. For CM4 projects, they are linked to RAM. To debug and run the CM7 examples, set SW1[1:4] to 0010 as internal flash boot mode. Currently, MCUXpresso IDE does not support CM4 download/debug.

This section describes the steps required to configure MCUXpresso IDE to build, run, and debug example applications. The hello_world demo application targeted for the MIMXRT1160-EVK hardware platform is used as an example, though these steps can be applied to any example application in the MCUXpresso SDK.

Select the workspace location

Every time MCUXpresso IDE launches, it prompts the user to select a workspace location. MCUXpresso IDE is built on top of Eclipse which uses workspace to store information about its current configuration, and in some use cases, source files for the projects are in the workspace. The location of the workspace can be anywhere, but it is recommended that the workspace be located outside of the MCUXpresso SDK tree.

Parent topic:Run a demo using MCUXpresso IDE

Build an example application

To build an example application, follow these steps.

  1. Drag and drop the SDK zip file into the Installed SDKs view to install an SDK. In the window that appears, click OK and wait until the import has finished.

  2. On the Quickstart Panel, click Import SDK example(s)….

  3. In the window that appears, select MIMXRT1166xxxxx. Then, select evkmimxrt1160 and click Next.

  4. Expand the demo_apps folder and select hello_world. Then, click Next.

  5. Ensure Redlib: Use floating point version of printf is selected if the example prints floating point numbers on the terminal for demo applications such as adc_basic, adc_burst, adc_dma, and adc_interrupt. Otherwise, it is not necessary to select this option. Then, click Finish.

Parent topic:Run a demo using MCUXpresso IDE

Run an example application

To download and run the application, perform the following steps:

  1. See Table 1 to determine the debug interface that comes loaded on your specific hardware platform.

    • If using J-Link with either a standalone debug pod or OpenSDA, install the J-Link software (drivers and utilities) from SEGGER.

    • For boards with the OSJTAG interface, install the driver from KEIL.

  2. Connect the development platform to your PC via a USB cable.

  3. Open the terminal application on the PC, such as PuTTY or TeraTerm, and connect to the debug serial port number. To determine the COM port number, see How to determine COM port. Configure the terminal with these settings:

    1. 115200 or 9600 baud rate, depending on your board (reference BOARD_DEBUG_UART_BAUDRATE variable in the board.h file)

    2. No parity

    3. 8 data bits

    4. 1 stop bit

  4. On the Quickstart Panel, click Debug ‘evkmimxrt1160_demo_apps_hello_world’ [Debug].

  5. The first time you debug a project, the Debug Emulator Selection dialog is displayed, showing all supported probes that are attached to your computer. Select the probe through which you want to debug and click OK. (For any future debug sessions, the stored probe selection is automatically used, unless the probe cannot be found.)

  6. The application is downloaded to the target and automatically runs to main().

  7. Start the application by clicking Resume.

The hello_world application is now running and a banner is displayed on the terminal. If this is not the case, check your terminal settings and connections.

Parent topic:Run a demo using MCUXpresso IDE

Build a multicore example application

This section describes the steps required to configure MCUXpresso IDE to build, run, and debug multicore example applications. The following steps can be applied to any multicore example application in the MCUXpresso SDK. Here, the dual-core version of hello_world example application targeted for the evkmimxrt1160 hardware platform is used as an example.

  1. Multicore examples are imported into the workspace in a similar way as single core applications, explained in Build an example application. When the SDK zip package for evkmimxrt1160 is installed and available in the Installed SDKs view, click Import SDK example(s)… on the Quickstart Panel. In the window that appears, select MIMXRT1166xxxxx. Then, select evkmimxrt1160 and click Next.

  2. Expand the multicore_examples folder and select hello_world_cm7. The hello_world_cm4 counterpart project is automatically imported with the cm7 project, because the multicore examples are linked together and there is no need to select it explicitly. Click Finish.

  3. Now, two projects should be imported into the workspace. To start building the multicore application, highlight the hello_world_cm7 project (multicore master project) in the Project Explorer. Then choose the appropriate build target, Debug or Release, by clicking the downward facing arrow next to the hammer icon, as shown in Figure 3. For this example, select Debug.

Press the Build button to start the multi-core project build. Because of the project reference settings in multicore projects, triggering the build of the primary core application (cm7) also makes the referenced auxiliary core application (cm4) to build.

Note:

When the Release build is requested, it is necessary to change the build configuration of both the primary and auxiliary core application projects first. To do this, select both projects in the Project Explorer view and then right click which displays the context-sensitive menu. Select Build Configurations -> Set Active -> Release. This alternate navigation using the menu item is Project -> Build Configuration -> Set Active -> Release. After switching to the Release build configuration, the build of the multicore example can be started by triggering the primary core application (cm7) build.

Parent topic:Run a demo using MCUXpresso IDE

Run a multicore example application

The primary core debugger handles flashing of both the primary and the auxiliary core applications into the SoC flash memory. To download and run the multicore application, switch to the primary core application project and perform all steps as described in Run an example application. These steps are common for both single-core applications and the primary side of dual-core applications, ensuring both sides of the multicore application are properly loaded and started. However, there is one additional dialogue that is specific to multicore examples which requires selecting the target core. See Figure 1 to Figure 4 as reference.

Note: On MCUXpresso IDE, the feature to simultaneously debug two cores is only supported by CMSIS-DAP debugger.

After clicking Resume All Debug sessions, the hello_world multicore application runs and a banner is displayed on the terminal. If this is not the case, check your terminal settings and connections

Note: There are some limitations on MCUXpresso IDE debugging. For details, see Section 8.5 MCUXPresso IDE limitation in MCUXpresso SDK Release Notes for MIMXRT1160-EVK (document MCUXSDKMIMXRT116XRN).

Parent topic:Run a demo using MCUXpresso IDE