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All Tips and Tricks

Many of these tips rely on changes in Preferences. This can be accessed through the Window > Preferences selection, or the Preference s** button on the toolbar.

Useful Windows 10 paths

Default Install Path: C:\SiliconLabs\SimplicityStudio

Downloaded location for Thunderboard BG22 Kit resources: ~SimplicityStudio\v5\offline\hwtools\boards\BRD4184

Command line or direct GUI access to Simplicity Commander: ~SimplicityStudio\v5\developer\adapter_packs\commander

Bluetooth Mesh SDK location: ~SimplicityStudio\v5\developer\sdks\blemesh

Protocol SDK locations for Bluetooth, Flex, Zigbee, and Z-Wave: ~SimplicityStudio\v5\developer\sdks\gecko_sdk_suite\<GSDK version>\protocol

Useful Mac OS paths

Default Install Path: /Applications/SimplicityStudio.app/Contents/Eclipse (recommend changing to one word SimplicityStudio.app)

Downloaded location for Thunderboard BG22 Kit resources: ~offline/hwtools/boards/BRD4184

Command line or direct GUI access to Simplicity Commander: ~developer/adapter_packs/commander

Bluetooth Mesh SDK location: ~developer/sdks/blemesh

Protocol SDK locations for Bluetooth, Flex, Zigbee, and Z-Wave: ~developer/sdks/gecko_sdk_suite/<GSDK version>\protocol

Default Project Locations

Default project locations in your Windows 10 workspace C:\Users\<user>\SimplicityStudio Ex: C:\Users\daseymou\SimplicityStudio

Default project locations in your Mac workspace /Users/<user>/SimplicityStudio Ex: /Users/mahallam/SimplicityStudio

Optionally Disable Automatic Updates

By default, SSv5 checks for updates when you first open it. You can manage update frequency through Preferences > Install/Update > Automatic Updates .

Either uncheck Automatically find new updates and notify me or change the Update Schecule selection to use a schedule such as once a week.

If you have turned automatic updates off, you can check for updates by clicking Install on the toolbar, then Manage Installed Packages , and then Check for Updates on the Product Updates tab.

See About Update Frequency for details on the selections available.

Performance Enhancements

To improve SSv5 performance, try one or more of the following suggestions.

Disable SDKs not being used

If you have installed many different versions of different SDKs and GSDKs over time, go to Preferences , type SDK in the filter field, and uncheck the ones not currently being used.

Disable unused targets or toolchains

If you have installed multiple toolchains but are not using all of them, or are not using all of the targets, disable the unused ones. Go to Preferences and type toolchain or target in the filter field, and uncheck any unused items.

Use different workspaces for different GSDK versions or compilers

Overloading a workspace with projects and different versions of SDKs can slow down SSv5 operations. Keep separate workspaces for specific project and/or SDK versions and/or toolchains. Note that this is necessary if you are using different versions of the IAR compiler to match different versions of the GSDK.

HELP: Jim, I haven't worked with multiple workspaces. It seems as though I can only have one active workspace at a time, that I select it in "Switch Workspaces" and launch, then Studio restarts, now that is my default workspace. Just unchecking "use default" and going to a different folder when I created a project was not sufficient to make that a worksapce. Is that correct?

Increase heap size

Close SSv5. Use a text editor to open following file within the Simplicity Studio root path, for example: C:\SiliconLabs\SimplicityStudio\v5\studio.ini

In the following figure, the line -Xmx960m was changed to Xmx5g to increase the heap from 960 MB to 5 GBytes. Choose larger or smaller depending on your system resources.

SDK installation or updates are not working

The cause might be your IT department using proxy servers, and potentially also man-in-the-middle security monitoring. See the following knowledge base articles for more information on how to work around these situations:

Configuring Simplicity Studio to Work with Proxy Servers

Installing SSL Security Certificates for Simplicity Studio Updates

Speed up debug session startup

Go to Preferences > Run/Debug > Launching, and under General Options uncheck Build (if required) before launching .

This will interfere with your workflow if you are accustomed to making a change and clicking the Debug button in the toolbar.

Speed up reading large source files

Enable folding of #if/#ifdef’s and if/else, do/while, for, and switch statements in source code. Go to Preferences and type folding in the filter field, and check the three "Enable folding … " options.

Speed up the indexer

If the Indexer is taking a long time to run, close other projects. If still slow, in the Project Explorer view, right-click the project and select Index > Rebuild.

HELP I don't see this option. Is the project the .isc or .slcp file?

Restore a perspective layout

To reset a perspective to its original layout, right-click the perspective button in the toolbar and select Reset .