Migrating to V6
<sidebar>Sidebar: Flowcode Help Overview:NewInV6</sidebar>
Contents
Differences between version 5 and version 6
A bigger range of components
The usefulness to an engineer of a design tool is closely linked to the range of parts that can be incorporated into the design. Flowcode 6 includes component creation software for users to create their own designs: electrical, mechanical and systems. By making components easy to create we hope that the number of parts available in Flowcode will expand rapidly and the product will become more and more useful. There are already lots of components in V6 that are hidden from view on startup that we are using to test the capabilities of Flowcode. (open the Search filter and enter ‘all’ to see them)
Simulation
Flowcode 6 has superb simulation capabilities. The great thing about simulation is that it allows you to test your design on-screen before you deploy it. This saves time. Simulation also allows you to set scenarios for your project to test it under more conditions than you find on the bench. So simulation also allows you to increase the chance of your design being successful once it is in the field. Simulation also allows you to understand your design better and is a great learning tool.
Test built in
Electronic systems engineers design tend to do one of two things:
- Control an electronic system
- Monitor an electronic system
Flowcode version 5, and earlier, allows engineers to develop programs to control an electronic system. That’s great. But what is much more useful is to develop software to control a system and to also measure the system’s performance so that you are 100% sure that it is doing what it is supposed to. Flowcode 6 has loads of features that facilitate this.
Mechanical and 3D support
Engineers don’t design code, microcontrollers, or circuit boards. They design a system which makes use of code, microcontrollers, or circuit boards. With Flowcode we want to channel an engineer’s energy into thinking about the system; not into developing code for it. Flowcode 6 now includes full 3D support and a range of API calls that allow engineers to work at a systems level. We are just getting started here. Take a look at some of the Example files to get an idea of what is now possible. We can now simulate complete mechanical systems like plotters and 3D printers: not just the mechanical drive systems but also the file decoding systems. The 3D engine and API calls facilitate other types of design and simulation: from heating water in tanks using PID algorithms to robotics. This is very exciting. 3D design files for electromechanical parts are now freely available and can be easily imported into Flowcode and used in engineer’s designs.
Migration tips from a previous
Flowcode v6 will automatically attempt to migrate Flowcode v5 projects and components into the required v6 format. While the program attempts to re-create your panel as much as possible and maintain your components configuration settings there may be a requirement for the user to make minor adjustments to the imported program. Please bear in mind the following points:
Positioning of components on the panel
In version 5 the panel is a two-dimensional pane. Each component was written using visual basic, exported and registered as a OCX component which would be called by earlier versions of Flowcode (3 through 5). Graphical representation of these components are basically bitmaps placed onto a windows panel. In version 6 there are two panels where the components will be placed, the Dashboard Panel represents a two-dimensional space and the System Panel a three-dimensional space. Each component has been re-designed purely using the v6 component creator so there may be some cosmetic differences so based on v5 positions an estimate is made with regards to placement when importing into v6. This may not necessarily be exactly as you would see it in version 5 so you may need to make adjustments to the layout of any components that appear on the panel.
Software & Hardware channel selection
In version 5, components that had the ability to choose between software and hardware channels, however this was a manual choice and the user would have to determine which hardware channels were available based on the chip-type. The components were hard-coded to offer 4 hardware channels regardless of channels available on the chip. In version 6 the number of hardware channels that are presented to the user are now pre-defined based on the contents of the chip-definition files(i.e the number and type of channels the chip supports), so if a chip supports two hardware channels then in Flowcode v6 the user will be presented with the option to choose software, hardware channel one and hardware channel two. If a user had chosen hardware channel 4 in the v5 program, this value will not get migrated if the chip-type in flowcode v6 does not have channel 4 as an option. If this field is blank when you have migrated your project you will need to set the channel appropriately.
Also in version 5 any remappable peripheral functionality was simply hard coded to specific pins in the device definition file. In version 6 there are additional remap properties which allow the device peripheral pins to be configured in a very easy and straightforward manner. These remap properties may need to be setup after importing a v5 program into v6 if your target Microcontroller supports them.
Component migration table
| Component | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| GLCD | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| LED | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| LED RGB | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| LED 7Seg Single | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| LED 7Seg Quad | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Quad Encoder | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| PWM | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Servo | Mapped | The servo component has a new Initialise macro that will need to be added to your program before any other calls to the component. |
| Accelerometer | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| One-Wire | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Keypad | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Stepper Motor | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Formula Flowcode | Mapped | The Formula Flowcode component has a new Initialise macro that will need to be added to your program before any other calls to the component. |
| RC5 | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| LCD Display | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| USB HID | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| USB Serial | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| USB_Slave | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| FAT16 | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| MIDI | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| CAN | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| CAN2 | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| ADC | Mapped | No problems reported.
Note1: Styles, labels & custom images are not carried over from version 5. |
| Bluetooth | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Custom | DROPPED | This component will not be migrated from V5 due to the new component creation features. |
| Custom2 | DROPPED | This component will not be migrated from V5 due to the new component creation features. |
| EEprom | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| I2C | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| IrDA | Mapped | No problems reported.
Note1: For this component you will have to set CTS/RTS pins manually. This is because CTS/RTS port/pin values were not saved for this component in v5(bug). |
| Lin Master | Mapped | Awaiting fucntional test. |
| Lin Slave | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| RFiD | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| RS232 | Mapped | The RS232 component has a new Initialise macro that will need to be added to your program before any other calls to the component. |
| SPI | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| SwitchBank | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| TCP-IP | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Webserver | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Zigbee | Mapped | No problems reported |
| GPS | Mapped | No problems reported |
| Speech | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| Switch | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| RF | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| GSM | Mapped | No problems reported |
| WLAN | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Level | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Add | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Control | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Delay | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP FFT | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Filter | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Freq Generator | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Input | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Inverse FFT | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Kalman Filter | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Output | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP Scale | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| DSP System | Mapped | No problems reported. |
| MIAC | Mapped | No problems reported. |
