Multiple Instances of IPE

To enable multiple simultaneously operating instances of the IPE, several steps must be taken. Full documentation is available through the built-in help utility, and the steps below walk through the process.

1) Open MPLAB® X IDE, go to Help>Tool Help Contents>MPLABX IDE Help.

ipe_tool_help.png

2) Navigate to the “Before You Begin” section.

ipe_before_you_begin.png

3) “Launch Multiple Instances of the IDE.”

ipe_launch_multiple_instances.png

4) Follow the instruction below and apply to the IPE.

Invoking Instances of the IDE

MPLAB X® IDE requires each instance to have its own user directory. Therefore, plug-ins added to, or preferences set for one instance will not be reflected in another. In order to invoke multiple instances, launch the IDE with the –-userdir option and specify a directory.

Windows OS
Create a shortcut with the
–-userdir option. For example, on Windows 7 OS:
1. Right click on the desktop and select New>Shortcut.
2. Browse to the installed MPLAB® X IDE executable, by default at:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microchip\MPLAB\mplab_ide\bin\ mplab_ide.exe"
3. At the end of the line, enter the location of the user directory. You can either place your directory under the default location for this type of MPLAB® X IDE information:
—userdir "C:\Users\MyFiles\AppData\Roaming\.mplab_ide\ dev\anydir" or you can place it where ever you like: —userdir anydir//
4.Click **OK.

Linux OS
The installed version run without any parameters (clicking on the desktop icon) will run with a user directory of
$(HOME)/.mplab_ide. To change the user directory, run the $InstallationDir/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide shell script passing the argument —userid anydir. For example, to run MPLAB® X IDE in two different instances:

/$ /opt/microchip/mplabx/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide —userdir ~/.
anydir1 &
$ /opt/microchip/mplabx/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide —userdir ~/.
anydir2 &//

You can also create desktop icons that have the user ID embedded.

Mac OS
Open a Shell window and type the command line listed below to execute your installation of MPLAB® X IDE in an alternate user directory. You can either place your directory under the default location for this type of MPLAB® X IDE information:

$/bin/sh /Applications/microchip/mplabx/mplab_ide.app/Contents/
Resources/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide —userdir "${HOME}/Library/
Application Support/mplab_ide/dev/
anydir"

or you can place it where ever you like:
$/bin/sh /Applications/microchip/mplabx/mplab_ide.app/Contents/
Resources/mplab_ide/bin/mplab_ide —userdir
anydir

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