You Choose! - Next Flowcode Training Video Subject

[DavidA]

Hey All,

Some of you may have noticed that we have a YouTube channel which contains some Flowcode Training videos. Well now we would like to expand this idea a bit, and offer some better support by making some new videos which go more in depth into Flowcode.

To help us make the decision about what to make the next video about we thought we would ask you guys!

We want to make a new support type video which will go over the basics of a part of Flowcode, what we need is for users to vote in our poll on the subject of our next support video.

We are hoping to make this a regular occurrence in the future! So please help make this a success by voting for the video you would like us to make first!

The options are:

- Basics of the RS232 component
- Detailed explanation of chip configurations
- Basics of the gLCD component

Also we are open for suggestions for other topics you would like covered in the future, just write them down in a reply to this thread!

[acestu]

The problem is not the topic, it is the video quality, the tutorials on youtube are such bad quality you can not read any text, a series of HD video tutorials would be brilliant.....

thanks
Acestu

[Gypo]

I agree with these comments completely.

I have downloaded / viewed a whole host of videos from the web (including YouTube) only to find that the quality is so bad the video only serves to show something can be done with this or that and someone else has managed to do it.
None of them actually help others much in getting the project working.

With an idea of videos to do how about,,,,
1)
A few tutorials using Flowcode with various Microchip demo boards?
I know they are taking some of your custom in that people may buy their boards rather than yours but there are loads of us out here that has a variety of Microchip boards already and would be more that over the moon if you helped integrate them with Flowcode.
I know they can work with Flowcode already but there are quirks with some boards that make things difficult to achieve and being shown how to do it would be a good leap forward for guys like me.

2)
How about a collection of code snippets that can be added to an existing component code that makes it do something different or better, with of course a tutorial on how to integrate them too.
I personally have kept away from altering component code as I found it hard / confusing when I did try and so gave up and went back to assembler & C within MPLAB

3)
Complete solutions for comms etc. What I mean is when a CAN controller is made / programmed have the receivers circuits and code there too so that we have a complete circuit not just half of it.
Same goes for IP (or networking), SPI, I2C, LIN both ends would be good.

4)
Microchip puts some cracking application notes (circuits) on their site how about a section of projects using their circuits and Flowcode code???

Just a couple of ideas....
I look forward to seeing what comes up...

Regards
Gypo

[Docara]

I completely agree with the previous comments - they are not "training" videos they are merely overviews of what can be done with Flowcode components.

How can you be taught aanything in 2mins with no commentary??

[DavidA]

Hi!

The videos linked here are not the most current ones.

http://www.matrixtsl.com/flowcode_help/help_videos.php

These are listed here, they are a bit better with commentary etc, not perfect but certianly better than the ones linked here.

[miggarcbs]

Hi

Gypo said

"How about a collection of code snippets that can be added to an existing component code that makes it do something different or better, with of course a tutorial on how to integrate them too. "

I, beside my choose on Detailed explanation of chip configurations, also entirely agree with this idea from Gypo, as it will bring us much more power and flexibility.

[Docara]

From my other post:-

How to use the parts of PICs, AVR etc that you don't support natively and pass values between them eg RTCC
Doc

[kurt_k]

Hey Matrix Team,
Great suggestions in the post. Lots of pertinent topics. I would like to see more information regarding interrupts in Flowcode. What happens when setting an interrupt? Do I disable it when I jump to another macro? Do I need to enable when returning from a macro? How many interrupts can my stack handle? How do I generate a custom interrupt? And on and on ... I find the Matrix site woefully lacking information on how to use some of these tools. The abstraction is great but I think we still need some details as to what the code is doing behind the scenes. I really like programming in flowcode, I just wish I understood better.

Thanks,
Kurt

[Benj]

Hi Kurt,

If your in doubt you can just ask A lot of the time we have to be vague because we deal with so many different types of hardware.

What happens when setting an interrupt?

Essentially a bit in a register is set that allows the interrupt to fire and cause the program counter to jump to your interrupt service routine vector.

Do I disable it when I jump to another macro?

No once the interrupt is enabled it will remain enabled until it is disabled again.

Do I need to enable when returning from a macro?

Nope, see above.

How many interrupts can my stack handle?

It depends on the microcontroller you're using and the amount of Stack. 8-bit PIC devices have an 8 layer stack but the XC8 compiler we use also adds a software stack should you run out of hardware stack.

How do I generate a custom interrupt?

Have you seen the wiki page on this, it provides some examples with code.
https://www.matrixtsl.com/wiki/index.ph ... _Interrupt