Start a Project
Project Creation
New Simplicity Studio® 5 (SSv5) projects are created through a sequence of three dialogs:
- Target, SDK, and Toolchain
- Examples
- Configuration
An indicator at the top of the dialog shows you where you are.
You can start a project from three different locations in the Launcher Perspective. Where you start determines which of the three dialogs you will land on. Click BACK to move to an earlier dialog, if you need to make a change.
- From the OVERVIEW tab: Click Create New Project . Starts on the Examples dialog.
- From the EXAMPLE PROJECTS tab: Use the filters as needed, select a project, and click CREATE . Starts on the Project Configuration dialog.
- From the file menu : Select New >> Silicon Labs Project Wizard. Starts on the Target, SDK, and Toolchain Selection dialog. NOTE: SSv5 contains several project wizards. See About the Launcher for more information.
While you are getting started, you can leave the default values in place.
Target, SDK, and Toolchain Selection
If you have connected or selected a target, all information is pre-populated. Otherwise you can select target parts here. Click NEXT .
Note that if you want to use IAR in SSv5, select it here. If you are developing in the Project Configurator environment, it is difficult to change compilers once the project is created.
Examples
Use the checkboxes or keywords to find the example of interest, then select it and click NEXT .
Configuration
Rename your project if you want, and click FINISH . The three selections under "With project files" control which resources are copied and which are linked. If you modify a linked source, your changes will apply to any other project linking to that source.
Once you finish project creation, the Simplicity IDE perspective opens. For details on all the features and functions available in this perspective, see About the Simplicity IDE .
1 - Editor area (depends on the project).
2 - Project Explorer view: Lists the projects available in your workspace.
3 - Debug Adapters view: Lists the kits or SEGGER J-Links connected to your computer via USB or detected on a local network.
4 - Developer views: A set of views of use during the development process.
The editor in the Simplicity IDE perspective depends on the project:
- AppBuilder : Used for Zigbee EmberZNet and Gecko Bootloader; Project files end in .isc.
- Project Configurator : Used for Proprietary Flex, Bluetooth, and OpenThread; Project files end in .slcp.
- Hardware Configurator : Used for 8-bit device applications.
AppBuilder Projects
AppBuilder Projects are configured by modifying parameters in various tabs, especially the PLUGINS tab. See Developing with AppBuilder for details.
When you have configured the project, click Generate to create project files. Build the application image and flash it to your target device as in Building and Flashing .
To modify the target device's pin use and parameters, use the Hardware Configurator available on the HAL tab.
Changes made through the Hardware Configurator are stored in a board-specific .hwconf file.
Project Configurator Projects
Project Configurator projects are defined in .slcp files. Users can modify the project by adding, removing, and configuring components on the Software Components tab. See Developing with Project Configurator for details.
The project opens on an OVERVIEW tab.
The OVERVIEW tab has three cards with information, some with settings that may be changed:
-
Target and SDK selection , where you can change your development target and SDK.
-
Project Details , where you can change the project source import mode and force the generation of project and source files (in the autogen folder).
- Import mode controls which resources are copied and which are linked. If you modify a linked source, your changes apply to any other project linking to that source.
- Force Generation is used in rare cases when auto-generation is not triggered, usually because of some change made outside of SSv5 such as editing the .slcp file.
-
Project Generators allows you to change the IDE or build system project files that SSv5 will automatically generate (and update) as you configure your project. (Note: The compiler / toolchain used by Simplicity IDE is configurable in Project > Build Configurations . The default IDE is configurable in Preferences > Simplicity Studio > Preferred IDE .)
To configure the project through the component library, click the SOFTWARE COMPONENTS tab. A number of filters as well as a keyword search are available to help you explore the various component categories. Note that components for all installed SDKs are presented.
Expand a component category\subcategory to see individual components. Components installed in the project are checked (1), and can be uninstalled. Configurable components are indicated by a gear symbol (2).
Click the gear symbol next to the component name or Configure in the configurable component description to open the Component Editor. Here you can change parameters or edit the component source directly. Changes are autosaved.
As well as autosaving, project output files are autogenerated as you make changes. Progress is shown in the lower right of the Perspective.
Speed varies depending on your system. Be sure that generation is complete before building the application image.
Build the application image and flash it to your target device as described in Building and Flashing .
If you need to modify the target device's pin use and parameters, use the Pin Tool . To open the Pin tool you can either navigate to the SOFTWARE COMPONENTS tab and expand the Advanced Configurators category, or double-click the <project>.pintool file in the Project Explorer view.
Double-click a Software Component to open the Component Editor and configure that function. Pin Tool does not autosave.
Bluetooth GATT Configurator
Bluetooth projects are also configured with the Bluetooth GATT configurator .
The Bluetooth GATT configurator menu allows you to add and remove services and characteristics.
- Add an item.
- Duplicate the selected item.
- Move the selected item up.
- Move the selected item down.
- Import a Bluetooth GATT database.
- Add Predefined.
- Delete the selected item.
To add a custom service, click Profile (Custom BLE GATT) , and then click Add (1). To add a custom characteristic, select a service and then click Add (1). To add a predefined service/characteristic click Add Predefined (6).
Radio Configurator
The Radio Configurator is provided as part of the Proprietary SDK. Use the Radio Configurator to create standard or custom radio configurations for your RAIL-based radio applications.
The parameters in the Radio Configurator are arranged in tiles, some of which are grouped together. Different radio profiles offer different views and parameter sets.
- In the General Settings card, select a radio profile in the Select radio profile drop-down menu. A radio profile may be any supported radio link technology. These technologies can be bound by standards (for example the Sigfox or WMBus protocols) or can be fully customized. The fully customizable profile is called the "Base Profile".
- Select a radio PHY (radio configuration) in the Select a radio PHY dropdown list. Each profile has "built-in" configurations ready to use.
- Review and update the profile options. By default, no changes are allowed; fields are grayed out. To enable customization, use the Customized switch on the General Settings card. This allows access to all the parameters defined by the profile.