Task 1

The MPLAB Xpress Development 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.

Task 2

Create a new project in MPLAB Xpress for a PIC16F1855 using the MPLAB Xpress Development Board. Instructions are below if this is your first project.

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.

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Task 3

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 step two 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, set up the oscillator system and other configuration settings, and input and output selections for your device. When all this is completed you can generate project code including a main.c file. All these generated files will be included in your MPLAB Xpress project.

Task 4

In the open MCC window, the default parameters for the System resource can be used but you will need to add the EUSART peripheral to this project and set up the pin connections for the communication.

In the Device Resources area scroll down to locate the EUSART peripheral and expand. Double-click on the EUSART to add the peripheral to the Project Resources.

The Enable EUSART box should be checked. Enable Transmit should also be checked. The Baud Rate dropdown should be set to 19200. Finally, the Redirect STDIO to USART should be checked since this project will be using PRINTF statements to send data from the EUSART peripheral.

Task 5

In the Pin Manager section, connect the EUSART TX signal to pin RC0, and the RX signal to pin RC1, by clicking on the blue unlock button. Doing this turns it to a green locked symbol for the associated signal row and pin columns as shown below:

Task 6

Click the Generate button in MCC to create the appropriate header and source files for this configuration. A main.c file will also be generated for the project.

Upon successful code generation the “Generation Completed” notification should appear. Select OK to close the window.

New MCC Generated header and source files should now be present in the Project window of the MPLAB Xpress IDE including a new main.c source file.

Task 7

Click on the main.c source file in the Project pane to open the file and scroll through the code to locate the // Add your application code comment inside of the while(1) loop inside of the main().

At this point add a simple printf statement that will be used to execute a transmission over the EUSART and eventually display on the host computer. A simple statement enclosed in double quotes is all that is needed.

printf("Hello from MPLAB Xpress! \n \r");

You may wish to add a newline (\n) and a carriage return (\r) commands as shown.

Task 8

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

Task 9

Program the MPLAB Xpress board by dragging the project HEX file from the downloads section of the browser and dropping the file on 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.

Task 10

Open a terminal emulator program on the host computer and select the COM port associated with the MPLAB Xpress board. In this example a free program called TeraTerm is used. Note that the COM port number will probably be different from that shown below.

Configure the terminal emulation software to communicate at the 19200 baud rate that was configured earlier in the project when configuring the EUSART in MCC.