15 replies to this topic

[SebHoll]

OK, although the standard Casio SDK IDE is OK, the text editor is awful, and I really dislike the retro MDI layout. 8-) Is anyone using any better development environments that work well with the Casio compiler and emulator? Or isn't there any other apps that support the compilation of Casio add-ins? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated before I start a new game...

[kucalc]

I don't know of any other IDE to use for making addins. You can try playing around with Dev-C++ and CodeBlocks, though you will have a hard time configuring it to make it compile addins.

There was however the Revolution-FX GCC project. Here was what the basic code editor looked like:
http://sourceforge.n...e.php?id=132492
However, it never did make a official release as there was hardly any interest (or none) in developing it.

[SebHoll]

If I could find enough time (here I go again!!!), I might be able to code a custom IDE for Casio C programmers. However, I need to know how programs are compiled. I assume it involves passing the source file to a compiler using switches. Does anyone know exactly what the SDK calls to compile the add-in?

[kucalc]

That would be nice. I hope you can get some work on a new IDE done. :work:

I assume it involves passing the source file to a compiler using switches.

Yes, the IDE passes some arguments to the compiler. What you need to do I believe, is have the IDE create a makefile, then execute the makefile. I don't know how it's done off the top of my head, but I'll look into this and tell you.

[SebHoll]

Yes, the IDE passes some arguments to the compiler. What you need to do I believe, is have the IDE create a makefile, then execute the makefile. I don't know how it's done off the top of my head, but I'll look into this and tell you.

That would be very useful, along with any other info you know about the generation of these makefiles.

[SebHoll]

I've had a bit of free time to cobble together a few ideas... So far, we have an intergrated web browser that could possibly show web-based tutorials, but at the moment, I've just placed links to some CASIO forums (accessible from the Help menu). Here are a few screenies of some rough ideas...

[attachment=0:679c2]Casio Add-In Developer (2).png[/attachment]
I found an opportunity to use a code editor library that I designed a while back, so with a few tweaks it should be able to cope with C. It also has an Undo/Redo history. Finally, to the right, you may notice the project side pane where you could set project properties and will provide quick access to the project resources...

[attachment=1:679c2]Casio Add-In Developer.png[/attachment]
Let me know what you think, and whether you think this will be worth persuing...

[kucalc]

Wow!!! That actually looks pretty awesome and something that I would definitely use.

As for generating makefiles, if you look in the Build folder of the fx-9860G SDK (C:Program FilesCASIOfx-9860G SDKBuild), you'll find the text files that are used to build the makefile. If you look around in your projects folder, you should be able to find a file called Addin.mak. Maybe if you study a makefile, you may be able to learn how to generate one.

BTW, now after seeing that screenshot of the proSilver, I'm thinking about making proSilver the default theme for the site.

[SebHoll]

Wow!!! That actually looks pretty awesome and something that I would definitely use.

Thanks, but we've still got a long way to go yet...

As for generating makefiles, if you look in the Build folder of the fx-9860G SDK (C:Program FilesCASIOfx-9860G SDKBuild), you'll find the text files that are used to build the makefile. If you look around in your projects folder, you should be able to find a file called Addin.mak. Maybe if you study a makefile, you may be able to learn how to generate one.

OK, I've had a look, and it shouldn't be too difficult. At first glance, it looks like hmake is quite important... Also, I have yet to find out how the main-menu and eActivity icons are processed and compiled into the add-in.

One think that I think will be very problematic is trying to get an emulator to run the compiled add-ins. Obviously, I'd like to build the emulator into the IDE but I don't know how this could be achieved. I've had a look in the SDK folder, but nothing obvious stands out. Any ideas on this front?

BTW, now after seeing that screenshot of the proSilver, I'm thinking about making proSilver the default theme for the site.

lol

[kucalc]

Yes, hmake.exe is the utility used for executing the makefile. If you go to (C:Program FilesCASIOfx-9860G SDKTools), you'll find MakeAddInHeader363.exe which processes a file called AddinInfo.txt which can be found in any of your project folders. This adds the header to the addin.

[Andreas B]

One think that I think will be very problematic is trying to get an emulator to run the compiled add-ins. Obviously, I'd like to build the emulator into the IDE but I don't know how this could be achieved. I've had a look in the SDK folder, but nothing obvious stands out. Any ideas on this front?

Getting debug-functionality is the hard part. If you only need a quick way to test the app, getting xfer9860 to work on windows is trivial compared to writing an emulator. An emu could have the posibility of running both 1.02/.03 and future OS's.
Because the emulator would need to run Casio's OS, and because we cannot distribute it, people have to get it/dump it themselves (sortof trivial).

My suggestion is that we try to adapt some free IDE to the Hitachi toolchain. It would be better because a mature IDE is well.., mature, and it is probably be easier to adapt to an eventual GCC toolchain later. Preferably some open-source and cross-platform IDE.

[Andreas B]

SebHoll: Header format is found here: http://www.casiocalc... ... entry40859

where do i download this programs ! it is great

We don't have anything practical yet, except editors, which you can find everywhere.

[Fez]

Ive only just seen this and I would definatley use it when it's complete!. Will this one be able to support revolution fx. Like have the emulator(If it has one XD) understand and display rev fx functions?

[Andreas B]

Ive only just seen this and I would definatley use it when it's complete!. Will this one be able to support revolution fx. Like have the emulator(If it has one XD) understand and display rev fx functions?

An emulator/debugger like the one in the SDK is a huge task to create. We have to know details about the hardware first.

[Fez]

just the text editer would be greate. do you think you could upload what you have of it so far. We can create in the text editer then transfer over to Casio SDK

[SebHoll]

just the text editer would be greate. do you think you could upload what you have of it so far. We can create in the text editer then transfer over to Casio SDK

I stopped developing as soon as I realized how hard it would be to actually implement a emulator/debugger. Andreas's post was the nail in the coffin:

One think that I think will be very problematic is trying to get an emulator to run the compiled add-ins. Obviously, I'd like to build the emulator into the IDE but I don't know how this could be achieved. I've had a look in the SDK folder, but nothing obvious stands out. Any ideas on this front?

Getting debug-functionality is the hard part. If you only need a quick way to test the app, getting xfer9860 to work on windows is trivial compared to writing an emulator. An emu could have the posibility of running both 1.02/.03 and future OS's.
Because the emulator would need to run Casio's OS, and because we cannot distribute it, people have to get it/dump it themselves (sortof trivial).

My suggestion is that we try to adapt some free IDE to the Hitachi toolchain. It would be better because a mature IDE is well.., mature, and it is probably be easier to adapt to an eventual GCC toolchain later. Preferably some open-source and cross-platform IDE.