Matrix user forums

Steve:

I have a beeper (audible alarm) on my target system and it would be great to be able to simulate that. Mine has an internal oscillator so a simple I/O "high" is sufficient for it to sound. It would be nice to be able to connect a virtual beeper to any output pin.

Jim

Steve/Ben:

Unless it is already there and I missed it, would it be possible to add a "beeper" component in v4.1? Something that evokes one of the available Windows sound effects when activated.

Jim

After solving my configuration bit(s) problem and converting my v3 Flowcode to v4 I spent the weekend using v4 and I'm really impressed. In particular, the ADC Properties options allowed me to abandon my v3 "custom" .fcd file with A/D conversion code modifications. I was able to optimize the clock a...

Steve: My problem seems to have been in setting the chip configuration bits. The PIC was resetting itself and I thought it was a software problem. I reconfigured the chip (18F252) to disable everything other than brownout and the v4 converted v3 code seemed to run fine. Remember that the v3 code fit...

Ben/Steve: I'm not too worried about it but I am curious to know what you find. I haven't yet been able to get a working v3 program, compiled under v4, to fully play on the 18F parts so I need to slog through this until I'm more fully familiar with the v3/v4 differences. I'm sure I'll have more ques...

Guys - thanks for the replies. I missed the limited Fosc/ choice difference in the 16F87X data sheet. Since I intend to add FP math routines to my application it's time to add more program memory so I'll move to the 18F252 or the 18F2525. Ben: Out of curiosity, why does v4 produce fatter compiled co...

Steve/Ben: I received and registered my v4 pro upgrade last week and this weekend I tried to convert one of my v3 files to v4. The v3 version runs on a 16F876 with about 400 bytes of program memory to spare. This version uses "thermometers" and a C code block for writing custom characters to the LCD...

Ben:

I think my best bet is to wait for the improvements in the v4 release.

Thanks,

Jim

Thanks Daniel - I'll try that. I use the thermometer because it allows the high and low byte read whereas the ADC component (potentiometer) only allows a single byte read or the integer read (in v3.2 and earlier, the thermometer didn't allow the integer read). I do a peak detection using successive ...

Hi Jim you can do this via a calculation icon. Here is the way to combine the two byte variables. INT_Var = lo_Var INT_Var = INT_Var + (hi_Var << 8) and to get the int variable back into two bytes. lo_Var = INT_Var hi_Var = INT_Var >> 8 Ben: When I use the calculation that you recommended I get an ...

Steve: Thanks for the reply and I understand your position. My fear of course is that components or .fcd code that I modify per your Forum posts will not be upwardly compatible with newer releases of Flowcode. Upgrading, then, is somewhat like playing Russian roulette and troubleshooting, when requi...

Ben:

That did it. Thanks!

Jim

Thanks Ben! I didn't know it was already available. You guys are truly wizards.

Jim

Is there a Flowcode routine out there that takes the high byte and low byte from, say, the Thermometer component and outputs an integer value?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

Ben: I'm having trouble with modified .fcd files under v3.6. If I modify the .fcd file code (using Notepad) and then save it without renaming it everything works fine. If I rename the file (either by "saving as" or by directly modifying the file name) it shows up as a target choice in the "chip" pul...

Ben: That's great news regarding v4 components and, yes, I could really use your help with the v3.6 16F876.fcd file. My objective has been to maximize the ADC conversion rate for the 16F876 running at 4 MHz (consistent with the recommendations in the Microchip data sheet). This is important to me be...

Ben: It isn't the ability to simulate custom characters that I was referring to. The simulator is handy but I find it more useful to debug on the target system because of timing concerns. What I'm referring to seems to me to be more like a revision control issue and a question of who has the ultimat...

Thanks Ben. Will the v4 LCD component incorporate your update and the custom-character-enabling code? I may be wrong but it seems that these general enhancements are not being rolled up into successive versions and it seems to me that they should be. Surely you wizards are better equipped to accompl...

Ben: Thanks. Since you added the variable MX_ADC_SAMP_TIME rather than just entering the value "40" (as in the v3.2 code) my optimistic side says that you plan to do something with it - like configuring the sample time and conversion clock relative to the processor clock. I keep hoping you guys will...

Hello JCMB Please could you try out this new component for me and see if it fixes the problems you were having. Simply drop the contents of the archive into your Flowcode V3/components and then restart Flowcode. You may want to make a backup of your LCD component files first incase there is a probl...

I noticed that there are substantial code changes to the AD portion of the v3.6 16F876.fcd file (relative to the v3.2 version). Can you explain the changes? In particular, can you describe how the variable MX_ADC_SAMP_TIME is used? In my v3.2 application I modify the 16F876.fcd to minimize the sampl...

Steve:

Good news for me would be another release of v3 with floating point. The FP support (without having to add C-code blocks) is the only thing I'm waiting for. Everything else I needed to do on my project I have done with your help and v3.

Jim

Steve:

Happy New Year! Is it time to start getting excited about the (imminent) release of v4?

Jim

Steve/Ben:

What's the latest projection for release of Flowcode v4 for PIC micros?

Regards,

Jim

Steve:

Thanks - that's great. I didn't realize I had that option. Any encouraging news on floating point for PICs?

Regards,

Jim