User manual

MPLAB

REAL ICE

™

In-Circuit Emulator User’s Guide

• Resource Usage Examples

• More on Trace/Log ID Numbers

• Quick Trace Reference

7.3.1 Requirements for Trace

The following is required to use trace:

• For 16-bit devices (dsPIC30F/33F, PIC24F/H): MPLAB IDE v7.43 and above,

MPLAB C30 v2.04 and above. For these devices, only C code can be traced, not

assembly.

• For 8-bit devices (PIC18): MPLAB IDE v7.52 and above, MPASM toolsuite v5.10

and above, MPLAB C18 v3.10 and above.

• In-line assembly code (assembly code within C code) cannot be traced.

7.3.2 How Trace Works

Trace for the MPLAB REAL ICE in-circuit emulator (Instrumented Trace) is a solution

for providing basic trace information. Through the use of TRACE() and LOG() macros,

you can report program locations or variable values to MPLAB IDE while the applica-

tion is running. You may type these macro names in manually or right click in the editor

and select the macro to be inserted from the context menu. To log a variable value, the

variable should be highlighted before selecting from the context menu.

FIGURE 7-1: EXAMPLE OF INSERTED LOG MACRO

There are three trace methods available at this time (see Section 7.3.3 “Types of

Trace”.) The mediums can be found on the Project>Build Options>Project

, Trace tab.

The choices include Native Trace (utilizes PGC/PGD communication lines), SPI Trace,

and I/O Port Trace. Not every method is available on every part, i.e., the options are

device specific. The Instrumented Trace library supports C and assembly projects on

PIC18F MCU devices, and C projects only on 16-bit devices.