VSCode-nRF52833-S140-Template

Visual Studio Code nRF52 (nRF52833, S140) project template for Windows. This template is based on some solutions from the following repository: https://github.com/gera-k/VSC-Nordic-example.

Features

This template uses a modified Makefile from the nRF SDK and supports following features:

• automated c_cpp_properties.json generation for a PROPER InteliSense support (Python),
• build (gcc-arm-none-eabi),
• flash (nrfjprog),
• SoftDevices flash (nrfjprog),
• debugging (Cortex Debug),
• nRF SKD Configuration (CMSIS Configuration Wizard),
• SEGGER's Real Time Transfer console.

Tools

In order to setup the environment following tools are needed to be installed:

• Visual Studio Code
• C/C++ Extension - InteliSense, and C/C++ support for VSCode,
• Cortex-Debug - ARM Cortex-M GDB Debugger support for VSCode
• GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain - a cross-compiler for ARM
• xPack Windows Build Tools - GNU Build Tools for Windows
• Nordic SDK v17.0.0 or above - software development kit for nRF52 Series SoCs
• nRF Command Line Tools - set of tools for development, programming and debugging of nRF52 SoCs
• SEGGER J-Link Software - set of tool to be used with J-Link probe
• Python 3 - to generate the c_cpp_properties.json
• Java - to run the CMSIS Configuration Wizard

How to setup

1. Install all the tools, note the paths.
2. Clone this repository.
3. Adjust .bat file to match your setup:
   • Set NRF_SD_VER with a SoftDevices version provided with your nRF SDK (see <Nordic SDK>\components\softdevice\s140\hex),
   • Set all tool paths.
4. Set GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain path and its version in <Nordic SDK>\components\toolchain\gcc\Makefile.windows file.

Additional step (not mandatory). Setup a convenient keyboard shortcut to run tasks in VSCode:

• Open VSCode, go to: File -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts
• Search for Tasks: Run Task
• Setup a preferred shortcut, e.g. Ctrl+B to match other popular IDEs

Running

1. Run the .bat file to open the VSCode workspace.
2. Edit SRC_FILES, INC_FOLDERS, CFLAGS and ASMFLAGS of the Makefile to match your requirements (default ones are ok).
3. Run the c_cpp_properties task to generate a proper InteliSense input each time you edit the Makefile.
4. Run the flash_softdevices task - not flashing the SoftDevices can cause runtime errors.
5. Hit F5 to start a build -> flash -> debug workflow.

Tasks

Following tasks are configured for this VSCode template:

• build
• clean
• flash - flash the main binary
• flash_softdevice - flash the SoftDevices stack
• erase - erase flash
• sdk_config - run the CMSIS Configuration Wizard
• rtt - run the Real Time Transfer console
• c_cpp_properties - generate a c_cpp_properties.json based on the Makefile