User`s guide

MPLAB

IDE

USER’S GUIDE

Chapter 2. A Basic Tutorial for MPLAB IDE

2.1 INTRODUCTION

MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a comprehensive editor, project

manager and design desktop for application development of embedded designs using

Microchip PICmicro MCUs and dsPIC DSCs.

The initial use of MPLAB IDE is covered here. How to make projects, edit code and test

an application will be the subject of a short tutorial. By going through the tutorial, the

basic concepts of the Project Manager, Editor and Debugger can be quickly learned.

The complete feature set of MPLAB IDE is covered in later chapters.

This section details the installation and uninstall of MPLAB IDE. It is followed by a

simple step-by-step tutorial that creates a project and explains the elementary debug

capabilities of MPLAB IDE. Someone unfamiliar with MPLAB IDE will get a basic

understanding of using the system to develop an application. No previous knowledge

is assumed, and comprehensive technical details of MPLAB IDE and its components

are omitted in order to present the basic framework for using MPLAB IDE.

These basic steps will be covered in the tutorial:

• MPLAB IDE Features and Installation

• Tutorial Overview

• Selecting the Device

• Creating the Project

• Setting Up Language Tools

• Naming the Project

• Adding Files to the Project

• Building the Project

• Creating Code

• Building the Project Again

• Testing Code with the Simulator

• Tutorial Summary