Step 1

The MPLAB Xpress Evaluation Board should be connected to an available USB port on the host computer through a USB cable to the micro B connector on the board. Drivers should install successfully the first time the board is connected and may take a minute or so. The connection is shown in the picture. No other components are required.

Step 2

Create a new project in MPLAB Xpress for a PIC16F18855 using the MPLAB Xpress Evaluation Board.

Create A New Project Instructions ►

Create A New Project Instructions ▼

1

Launch the new project wizard

Launch the New Project Wizard using one of the following methods:

• From the Toolbar: Click on the New Project icon , or
• From the Menu: Select File > New Project, or

The project wizard will walk you through the process and prompt you for all the required information. Your selections may be changed after the project has been created by modifying the project's properties.

2

Choose Project

a

Choose 'Microchip Embedded' from the Categories column (center).

b

Choose 'Standalone Project' from the Projects column (right).

c

Click the Next button.

Click image to enlarge.

3

Select Device

a

Choose the device family from the Family drop-down box.

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If you have used MPLAB^® X IDE previously, choosing 'Recently Used' from the Family drop-down box will filter the 'Device' list to the 3 devices you have used most recently.

b

Choose your device's part number from the Device drop-down box. You may also type in the part number directly, and the list will adjust to the characters you enter.

Click image to enlarge.

4

Select Project Name and Folder

a

Input a project name. This will be your project's name that the IDE will create.

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Note: The name cannot have any empty spaces!

Click image to enlarge.

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 How To Create A Project Video

This video shows how to 'Create a Project' in MPLAB Xpress.

Step 3

Open MCC from the MPLAB Spress IDE menu: Tools > Embedded > MPLAB Xpress Code Configurator.

Launch MCC Instructions ►

Launch MCC Instructions ▼

Open the MPLAB® Code Configurator (MCC) under the Tools > Embedded > MPLAB Xpress Code Configurator menu of MPLAB Xpress.

A window will appear showing three steps. If you need the latest version of Java^™ you can click on step one, otherwise, click on the step two button to open the MPLAB^® Xpress Code Configurator.

A file will automatically download in your browser similar to the picture shown. Click on that file to open it. This is a Java application that will launch the MCC.

The process can take several seconds depending on your internet connection speed. Several windows may appear asking if you want to run the program. When the process is complete you will see a new screen appear, separate from the MPLAB Xpress IDE, that is the MCC control screen. In this screen, you can select peripherals for your project, system setup for the oscillator and other configuration settings, input and output selections for your device. When all of these are completed you can generate project code including a main.c file by clicking on the Generate button near the center top of the screen. All these generated files will be included in your MPLAB Xpress project.

Step 4

There are three default Project Resources in MCC associated with any MPLAB Xpress project: System Module, Pin Module, and Interrupt Module. For this project, we will leave the settings of these resources in their default state.

Step 5

The Timer 0 (TMR0) peripheral needs to be setup. From the Device Resources panel, double click on TMR0 module under Timer to add it to the project.

space

Once TMR0 is added to the project and selected, the easy setup interface appears. Change the Clock Prescalar to 1:512, Clock Source to FOSC/4, and Timer Period to 500 ms (see image). All other options remain as default.

Step 6

Using a similar procedure to that used in step 5, CLC1 module is added to the project resource. CLC1 has different modes of operation and we are using the JK flip-flop mode to toggle the output. According to the properties of the JK flip-flop, if both J and K inputs are high, the output toggles on every rising edge of the clock signal. Select T0_overflow from the dropdown menu as clock input and connect the wire to the first NOR gate by simply clicking on it. To set J and K input high, invert the second and fourth NOR gates' output by simply clicking the output side. Changes are highlighted in the image.

Step 7

The MPLAB Xpress Evaluation Board has four LEDs and from the schematic, we can see they are connected to the Pins: RA0, RA1, RA2 and RA3. Since we want all four LEDs to toggle, connect the output of the CLC1 to the LEDs by simply clicking those four ports using the pin layout interface as shown:

space

Notice in the previous image, port RA0 and RA1 are showing a link symbol instead of lock symbol as port RA2 and RA3. In order to get the CLC to work, CLCIN0 and CLCIN1 input pins need to be assigned and RA0 and RA1 are selected as default. Using the Peripheral Pin Select (PPS) feature of the PIC16F18855, these ports can be used as CLC output without changing the input pins but for the simplicity of this tutorial, we are moving these input pins to RA4 and RA5 by simply clicking those two ports as shown:

Step 8

Click the Generate button in MCC to create the appropriate header and source files for this configuration. Upon successful code generation the “Generation Completed” notification should appear. Select “OK” to close the window.

Step 9

Compile and download the project .hex file by clicking on the Make and Program Device button at the top of the MPLAB Xpress IDE.

Step 10

Program the MPLAB Xpress Evaluation Board by dragging the project .hex file from the downloads section of the browser and dropping the file onto to the Xpress drive.

The Programmer LED on the Xpress board should quickly flash from green to red and then back to green indicating that the .hex file was successfully programmed to the PIC16F18855.

The Red LEDs will begin flashing on the Xpress board.