User guide
Nios II IDE Help System
Notice that the perspective of the Nios II IDE changed from the Nios II C/C++
development perspective to the Debug perspective. A perspective is a different
configuration of the Nios II IDE workbench. Refer to Related Topics
for more information
about perspectives. You can switch between perspectives anytime by pointing to Open
Perspective on the Window menu or by clicking on the shortcut buttons near the upper-
right of the Nios II IDE window.
When targeting Nios II hardware, the Debug As command does the following:
1. Creates a default run/debug configuration for the target board.
Note: This step usually completes automatically without user intervention. If it
cannot, the IDE displays an error message and you must manually set up a
run/debug configuration. The most common reason for manual intervention is
having multiple JTAG download cables installed. In this case you need to select
one manually.
2. Builds the project. If the project is not up-to-date, then the IDE builds it first to
generate an up-to-date executable file.
3. Establishes communication with the target board, and verifies that the expected
SOPC Builder system is configured in the FPGA.
4. Downloads the executable file (.elf) to memory on the target board.
5. Sets a breakpoint at main().
6. Instructs the Nios II processor to begin executing the code.
After using the Debug As command once, you can click
Debug on the toolbar to start
the debugger again.
To resume and suspend execution:
Click Resume in the Debug view to resume execution. You can also resume
execution by pressing F8.
Click Suspend in the Debug view to suspend execution. If the processor
suspends outside the scope of the current file, the IDE opens the source file
corresponding to the current program counter.
Click Terminate in the Debug view to end the debug session and disconnect
from the target.
Note: The Debug buttons are context sensitive, depending on the currently highlighted
selection in the Debug view. Make sure you select an item under Nios II Elf
Debugger, as shown below, to ensure you are debugging the desired thread.
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