v6.0.7 Issues

[medelec35]

Since v6.0.6 flowcode now detects a new 6.0.7 version is available to download,
I thought I would start a new thread for bugs since I did not want to hijack someone else's thread.

If anyone would like to report bugs on this unofficial thread, they are more than welcome!

Servo component not importing correctly from V5
If any V5 flowchart contains a servo component then when V6 flowchart is ran, Unknown or missing component warning will appear.

IMPORTANT!
Servo component is totally unusable
If either servo is imported from FC5 or you add a servo, it does not appear with in component macros:

servo.png

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Therefore it can't be used!

[kersing]

The update process reset my Professional License to a Home License. Not a big issue, still annoying.

The input icon Port?.H bit issue for PIC16 is more serious.

[GTF]

The ADC Dial component has gone missing for PIC 18.

The I2C LCD component still needs these fixes: (see the last posts in these threads)
http://www.matrixmultimedia.com/mmforum ... lcd#p57234
http://www.matrixmultimedia.com/mmforum ... lcd#p57186

Configuration settings are now working nicely!

[medelec35]

Keypad connections not correctly imported from V5 flowcharts.

[medelec35]

Minor bug:
When selecting a New project, the target device is not kept in focus on the Choose target of project options.

[SteveM]

Servo component is totally unusable
If either servo is imported from FC5 or you add a servo, it does not appear with in component macros:

Hi there,
Looks like this is a problem in the upgrader, and maybe a little lack of explanation on our part!
The 'Servo' component that looks like a physical servo is purely a simulation component that is used for System Panel animations. Just like the real thing, the servo 'motor' only responds to a signal from a multi-channel controller - and it is this other component, 'Servo Controller', which is equivalent to the old v5 servo component.
There's a better explanation on the Wiki page for the component, along with a couple of demonstration Flowcode files that show the Servo/Controller combo in action - you can have as many of the Servo 'motors' as you have channels selected for the controller, so simulations of quite complex models can be built.
I'll pop the upgrader bug onto our 'to-do' list - it really should be linking to the controller component, as this is where all the downloadable code lives!

Best wishes,
Steve.

[medelec35]

The 'Servo' component that looks like a physical servo is purely a simulation component that is used for System Panel animations.

Ah OK.
Thanks for that, my mistake.

So it's just the upgrader thats the issue.

There are people (myself included) like like to just drag and use, rather than keep visiting wiki prior to using.
Should the component be under the simulation section or name be altered so it suggests its for simulation only, to avoid confusion in the future?
I guess it could be an easy mistake for other people to make.

Martin

[mikn]

As an update request: It could be great if variable advices won't appear when I write comments.
Thanks.

[mikn]

Small issue with 3d System panel.
I closed it and work with 2D only, but every time I start FC and open my project, 3D panel is back to it's place.

[SteveM]

Hi mikn,
That doesn't sound right - we'll take a look at the new routines that memorise the window positions and see if we can identify the problem.
In the mean-time, if you only ever want to use the 2D panel, you can completely disable the 3D panel in the global options....
- Open the menu item "View -> Global Options"
- Click the "Application" tab.
- You can now click the option boxes for "Use dashboard as the default panel", and "Disable the system panel".
If you do this, you will also find that you can get components onto your panel a little faster by just double clicking them in the menus without needing to drag them across the screen - normally this would make them appear on the System Panel (3D).

Best Regards,
Steve.

[medelec35]

This may not be an issue?
Looking more into the servo.
A very good feature that is now added is to change maximum and minimum width.
Only minor issue is there is a -21.7% between required and actual pulse width with minimum set to 990us as measure width is 774.6us
& There is a -16.1% between required and actual pulse width with maximum set to 2100us as measure width is 1761.1us
Results obtained was using USB Testpod
I also compared testpod to Eb006 V9 and results are very close indeed.
using EB006 V9 on sampling 100K:
Minimum = 780us
Maximum = 1760us
I thought I would post my findings so it can be decided if tolerance is good enough or not?

Hardware is 16F1937 running with 19660800Hz crystal.

[medelec35]

All single LED's imported from flowcode V5 always default to pin A0 irrespective of there original pin assignment.

[medelec35]

Not sure if this should be a bug report or feature request?

Since I don't know if it was originally intended to simulate or not?

[medelec35]

Not testing all the baud rates.
With ECIO40
In hardware mode when baud is set to 2400, the actual baud is 13333!

RS232 baud 2400.png

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Martin

[Benj]

Hi Martin,

RXINT doesn't currently simulate - feature request - I've put it on the list for you.

Looking into the RS232 baud problem it seems that the hardware UART cannot run that slow with the clock speed equal to 48MHz. I've checked the maths and it looks like this.

9600 = ((48000000 / 9600) - 16) / 64 = 77
4800 = ((48000000 / 4800) - 16) / 64 = 156
2400 = ((48000000 / 2400) - 16) / 64 = 312

312 or hex 0x138 is being truncated to 8-bit 0x38 which is then setting the baud to the 13KHz value your seeing.

I've added a warning to the CAL file so that you get a compiler warning if this happens.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Flowcode 6\CAL\PIC\PIC_CAL_UART.c(87): WARNING: The baud rate you have entered cannot be reached (too slow for crystal speed)

This device has an optional 16-bit baud register so I can look into using this if needed. However some devices don't have this so it gets a bit complicated.

[medelec35]

Thanks Ben.
Happy with the fact if it's not going to work then produce a warning,

Martin

[Benj]

Cheers Martin,

Started looking into the 16-bit baud registers but using them changes the baud calculation again so would need a third setting for the CAL file which I'm not feeling 100% about at the mo. So it's probably a fairly big change we can do when we get some time to have a good run at it.

It might be that we then default to the 16-bit baud calc to get more accurate baud rates where possible but would probably need to go through the FCDs and define if the 16-bit baud is available or not before we can do this.

For now the warning is a good enough quick fix

[medelec35]

For example target device is 12F1840, using Timer1 configured for internal clock.
You will find that Timer1 Oscillator In (T1OSI, pin RA5) and Timer1 Oscillator Out (T1OSO pin RA4) pins are both disabled.
This is significant if using an 8 pin device and you require the use of these pins.

A work around is to place a C code block after Timer1 interrupt with:

Code: Select all

clear_bit(t1con,T1OSCEN);

Since clearing bit 3 of t1con disables the dedicated built in oscillator that requires external pins to work.
Not required if using internal clock.

This caught me out, so I thought i would post about it soother people are not caught out the same.

Martin

Edit: from Ben:

The Timer 1 issue has now been fully resolved across the 8-bit PIC family. It was a problem on pretty much all devices with timer 1 so weird we hadn't come across it before. Updated FCDX files will be included in the next release. If anyone wants any updated files in the mean time for testing then let me know.

[jgu1]

Hi Martin!

Is this a bug in FC or is it norrmal, but a feature (trick) you know..

Best regard

Jorgen

[medelec35]

Hi Jorgen,
Its a bug, so posted a work around.
I placed the information in tips and tricks, since bug affects both FC5 and FC6 & post does not get lost with all other bugs.
So the solution is a tip

Martin

Edit: I have merged thread to here as it may be more appropriate.

[jgu1]

Hi Again! and thank´for reply.

I can see that your information is a tip But if it is a bug, can we not fix it somewhere, both in FC5 and FC6. I prefer having Pic work properly right away without having to remember add C code.

I'm not good at C code.

Hope you understand what i mean

BR

Jorgen

[medelec35]

Hi I have just worked out the permanent solution for Flowcode V6.
Flowcode V5 is much more complex.

For V6:
You will need to load the .fcdx so make sure you have a back up of the original file.
Files can be found in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Flowcode 6\FCD\PIC if 64 bit windows
or
C:\Program Files\Flowcode 6\FCD\PIC if 32 bit windows

Scroll down to the

Code: Select all

<interrupt ident='TMR1' ....

and swap around the contents within rectangle boxes as shown:

Soultion timer1 issue.png

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The version that should work is the fcdx file with Prescaler Rate above Clock source Select.

I will move this to the issues selection as it may be more suitable there.

Besides there is not an official V6.0.7 bugs section!

Martin

[saakis]

Hi everybody,
running the servo example 1, in the component example page, is ok but trying to compile it I have error issues. The second example with the two servos is fine. What is going wrong?
Sakis

[Brendan]

A simple GUI Issue this...

I have one SPI and one RS232 component in the dashboard (system panel disabled).

Should I change any of the RS232 parameters in properties, the SPI Data Scope pops up, even though deselected in the View menu. I close the scope window, change any RS232 parameter, and up it pops again !

All the best,

Brendan

[Benj]

Hello,

The Timer 1 issue has now been fully resolved across the 8-bit PIC family. It was a problem on pretty much all devices with timer 1 so weird we hadn't come across it before. Updated FCDX files will be included in the next release. If anyone wants any updated files in the mean time for testing then let me know.

I'll have a look into the servo motor example for you.

The scope window pop up is annoying at best and should be removed from the components in the next update release. I've added this to my list to double check it gets removed.