CPU Beans

Processor Expert | Help | Supported CPUs, Compilers and Debuggers

A CPU bean is an Embedded Bean encapsulating one CPU type. As with all other beans, CPU Beans have properties, methods and events. A Processor Expert project may contain several CPU beans. The project generated for one CPU is called an Application. CPUs included in a project are displayed in the upper part of the Project panel (depending on the Project panel settings); just one of them must be active (selected as the Target CPU) before starting the code generation.

The Build options accessible in the Bean Inspector of the CPU bean allow to set properties of the Compiler and Debugger (if it is supported).

In the CPU Bean Inspector (page Used) it is also possible to select the peripherals which cannot be used by Processor Expert. These peripherals will not be available for the beans in the project and may be freely used by any external module.

Portability

• It is possible to change the target CPU during the development of an application and even to switch between multiple CPUs. This can be done simply by adding another CPU to the project and selecting it as the target CPU.
• To connect the new CPU peripherals to the application beans correctly, it is possible to specify CPU on-chip peripheral names ( See chapter CPU Peripherals for details. ). This way the same peripheral could be used on different CPU derivatives even if the original name is different.
• Specific application options for single targets are set in Project Options

Note: CPU peripherals names and Application Options are in the same popup menu as CPU inspector. See the last part of this page to learn how to open it.

How to Add a CPU to the Project.

• In the Bean Selector window, select the CPU category and find the desired CPU bean.
• Double-click the desired CPU icon to add it into the project. When the CPU bean is added, it appears in the upper part of the Project panel. If selected as the target CPU, the processor will be displayed in the Target CPU window.

How to Select a CPU as the Target CPU.

The first CPU added to the project is automatically selected as the target CPU. It means that code will be generated for this CPU. When there is more than one CPU in the project, the target CPU can be changed this way:

• Move the mouse pointer to the CPU icon on the Project panel..
• Click with the right mouse button - a popup menu will appear.
• Click "Select CPU as target" - the CPU is selected as target.

This setting doesn't affect the setting of the target in the Targets tab in CodeWarrior's project panel. When the user changes the target CPU in Processor Expert project panel and the CPU doesn't match with the current CodeWarrior target settings the linker dialog is invoked during the code generation allowing the user to switch the linker settings.

How to Change CPU Settings.

The only way to modify CPU settings (properties, methods, events, chip selects, timing, user-reserved peripherals, also compiler and debugger settings, etc.) is to invoke the Bean Inspector for the selected CPU.

You can do that with the following steps (assuming that the CPU is included in the project):

• Command in CPU pop-up menu:
  1. Move the mouse pointer to the CPU icon in the Project panel.
  2. Click with the right mouse button - a popup menu will appear
  3. Click CPU inspector - the CPU Bean Inspector will appear
• Or use double-click on the CPU icon in the Project panel.

Look at the given CPU help page to learn about what each feature and setting means.
For a detailed description of the current CPU properties, methods and events, select Bean Inspector | Help | Help on Bean in Bean Inspector.

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