Version 4 Comments

[dyeatman]

Darren,
Interesting things happening. Using the Help/About it shows I have 3.995 on all my components except for PCH which is 3.960. So I decided to try to get all of them up to 3.995.

Using Update S/W from the Help menu it tells me 3.995 is available but, when it installs it downgrades all my versions back to 3.960.

Using your provided link I was able to manually install and get the versions back to where they were previously. Based on all this I assume PCH is supposed to be 3.60 with the rest at 3.995?

Also, with the utility update the PIC Wizard is now available for me on the menu. However, it complains about files missing and aborts so I assume it is still in development at this point.

[rmozer]

Just a couple of comments...

If you install version 4 in some directory other than \program files\picc and run the update program it will always download the update to \program files\picc\downloads regardless of where the version 4 program is or where the updater is. It appears that several of the tools depend on being installed at the default location.

Like others, I have many existing deployed projects and I keep the compiler and the source code together should support ever be required. I can't just update compilers everytime a new version comes out without going through a complete test procedure on my application code. All updates have not proven to be improvements...

My installation reports as 3.960 but the update program says 3.995 is out. Updating doesn't change that.

Is there any documentation online that explains the C-Matrics or the "McCable and Halstead Complexity measures" that are reported when you display the "statistics"? Kinda cool but I don't understand the scale for the various categories.

Any idea when the rest of the existing tools will be migrated into version 4 (such as siow, project wizard, etc). The big question is when will the dsPIC and PIC24 16 bit processors be supported?

[Dinesh]

[Dinesh]

Darren,

Just tried the downloader method to down the latest update.
The downloader suggest there is a current PCWH IDE version 4.001.

On update it still reports the old version 3.960 for all modules.

Tried the URL method and the modules are 3.995 except for PCH still being 3.960.

On running the downloader again, current PCWH IDE is at version 4.001 and local at 3.995.

What version should the downloader download, PCW or PCH?

Can we have more URL links for other modules?

Cheers
_________________
W2k sp4 512MB (Motherboard:ASUS A7S8X)

[rmozer]

Same problem... still have 3.960 after trying to update to 4.001.

Dinesh, are you installing to the default \program files\picc or like me trying to install into a different subdirectory? I wonder if that is my problem...

[Dinesh]

[sjbaxter]

Now that v4.001 is available for download off the main website download page, does this mean that this is no longer a beta release ?!

Are all reported bugs fixed or is this now a case of 'pay CCS to become a beta tester' ??
_________________
Regards,
Simon.

[Dinesh]

[Guest]

Don't bother! I download version 4 and it won't co-exist with the old v3, wipes over the start menu entries, even when installed in a different directory.
Also first click of PIC Wizard to have a look caused an File not found error, then the whole program crashes with the usual "We are sorry for the inconvenience" windows message...
did ccs actually do any Beta testing?

[Jim Hearne]

After being unable to get the V4 betas to work with the ICD-U40 I upgraded to V4.001 as CCS support recommended.

Since then V4.001 and my existing (fully working) install of 3.248 (in a totally separate directory) both won't work with the ICD or debugger.

It goes through the motions of programming but then comes up with a verification failure.

Uninstalling everything and reinstalling the ICD only still doesn't get it working.
The hardware is exactly the same as it was working with 5 mins before I installed V4.001, I’ve even changed the PIC just to make sure.

It may be a complete coincidence but be careful with V4.001 !

I also found that it overwrites the V3 start menu entries.

Jim Hearne

[sjbaxter]

That is basically what I was refering to earlier. Should V4.001 be available on a public download site where developers can buy and download it thinking they are getting a fully working, stable release which has been thoroughly tested ?!

I suspect its there because of commercial pressures from within CCS, and NOT because it's ready.

I agree with a point made earlier in that the known issues and outstanding bugs need to be made available, on a release by release basis, so that testers and customers purchasing the product can get a feel of what is usable and what is being worked on. After all when you pay for a product, you expect it to do what it is intended to do straight out of the box ! I know that CCS provide a maintenance program, but that should be for minor bug fixes and general enchancements, and not for getting CCS through their beta bug fixes.

Don't get me wrong, I think CCS is a great product, but a lot of other products depend on this tool doing the right thing from the day it's purchased. So it needs to be 99.9% right, or as near as it gets, before being released.
_________________
Regards,
Simon.

[Jim Hearne]

I seem to have found part of the cause of why my V3.248 stopped working with the ICD-U40 after I’d installed V4.001 in another directory.

After much uninstalling and reinstalling I tried programming the pic 18LF458 with another programmer and it programmed ok, I then went back to the V3.248 ICD and it programmed and debugged fine, no more verification errors.

What seems to have happened somehow is that V4.001 was corrupting the chips when i attempted to program them via the ICD.

Despite attempts at reprogramming and erasing via the V3.248 ICD as well it was only the erase on a different programmer that managed fix the problem.

I've since reinstalled V4.001 and it now works with the ICD, really strange ………

One other thing I’ve found:

The version of V4.001 from the download page wouldn't accept my reg files, the little window that pops up said they were out of date even when specifically pointed at them but copying them into the directory manually and then running V4.001 accepted them fine !

Lots of fun, I’d better and go and get some work done with v3.248 before I break it again.

Jim Hearne

[Jim Hearne]

V4.001 is now available on the download page, it seems to be out of beta though it shouldn't be !

I was a beta tester though i found it so buggy i never did much testing.

The reg files i was given for the beta still worked with V4.001 but we still have a valid license from V3x till the end of the month so it might be covered by that.


Am i the only person who really hates the new interface, even if it did work without bits disappearing, things getting lost behind other things, windows with no close buttons etc !

Jim Hearne

[Jim Hearne]

So, i've just been trying to use V4.001 seriously for about 2 hrs and it's a bit frustrating.

Various bugs, is anybody else getting these ?

1. The program is too slow, this is on a AMD Athlon 64 XP3000

2. Toolbar icons are too small (on a 1280x1024 19" screen), the option for bigger icons that didn't work in earlier versions now seems missing.
3. Toolbar position not remembered.
4. I've had the bottom half of all the toolbar icons disappear until I reloaded the program.
4a. Sometimes the toolbar can't be moved from it's default vertical position.

5. Clicking on the pic wizard comes up with an error saying can't find "templates\CAN_BUS_18.iac" and the program then crashes.

6. The target type setting in the debug window isn't remembered and forces you to set it each time you load the debugger.
7. If the debug window is closed the enable debugger icon disappears from the debugger control menu and there's no way to renable the debugger without quitting the program.
8. The "compile>debug" icon doesn't seem to do anything.

9. New edit windows come up as a new tab on a new undocked text window, shouldn't they appear as new tabs on the existing window unless "dock editor window" is unticked ?
10.If you click new edit window more than twice it comes up with blank windows with nowhere to enter any text, once I had one come up with no title bar, no close X and the close on right click greyed out.

11. Access violations after clicking on "project>open project". Then all menus give the same error, have to kill PCW. (Random)
12. All editor screens come up black after opening a project. (Random)
13. Sometimes the last project or file is reloaded when the program is loaded, other times they aren't.

14. If a file is reloaded (automatically at start-up) that has more than one full stop in the name the compile fails as it appears it assumes the full stop is the end of the file name.
Eg "program v1.0.c" fails as it tries to compile "program v1.c" , this is despite the fact it has loaded the file into the editor quite happily.
Interestingly this problem seems to have infected my V 3.248 compiler since I've install V4.001.
It's not an old problem as I've been using this format of file name for years with CCS with no problem.

15. Where has the "Right click>find in project" gone, that probably my most used function. "Right click>find" just seems to do the same as "Right click>find next".
Ok, just realised I have to set it in the search options but the search settings aren't saved with the files so I've got do that everytime I load up, save them please, or put "find in project" back on the right click

The new interface is pretty but it takes up too much room around the text window and seems to be a mixture of different types of menus and icons.

Can we have the V4 C code improvements with the V3 interface please

Jim Hearne

[PCM programmer]

PCM vs. 3.001 was released for download in early June 2001. I recall
that the first version that was considered to be usable was 3.045.
It came out in late September 2001. That's almost four months.

Vs. 3.001 was an upgrade from vs. 2.734, which had a DOS-based IDE
(ran in a DOS window) and was 16-bit. Version 3.001 was 32-bit and
had a windows based IDE, plus other improvements.

The change from vs. 3.xxx to 4.001 is at least as big as the
previous change. I think it should have been kept in beta longer.
I had hoped that CCS was going to do a different method of releasing
the new product this time.