The appropriate HEX file line will be automatically selected in Line Editor list box and split to values in the Detail Editor list box on the right hand side. Next, select a desired feature from Microcontroller Firmware Features list box and double-click it. However, the HEX file must be compatible with FWI file. If you prefer to use another HEX file, just click on “Load *.HEX file” button. If FWI file already contains a HEX file name to load, the later will load automatically after the FWI file is loaded. Click on “Load firmware information file *.FWI” button and select an appropriate FWI file. There are five list boxes to help this process: Microcontrollers Firmware Features List, Line Editor, Detail Editor, Feature Editor and Reports. All parameters have the following format:īoth parameter name and its value are basically strings of an arbitrary length, but PC USB Projects HEX Editor converts them to appropriate data types as they are processed.Ĭurrently, the following parameters are supported:ĪutoConfigureAndSave =” brackets> The following parameters alter the editor defaults. It also contains parameters that determine PC USB Projects HEX Editor operation. The values must be coded in hexadecimal, so decimal “10” is hexadecimal “A” and decimal “16” is hexadecimal “10”.įirmware information file (FWI) is an ANSI text file with descriptions of particular features of one or more HEX files that can be programmed to a certain family of microcontrollers. Delimiter is of course equality sign (“=”). There may be an almost arbitrary number of different values which appear in the combo box selection.Įach values has a name in “” brackets followed by its value. Sometimes it is useful to declare a list of values and their descriptions. The last part of a feature declaration is optional. This enables a FWI file writer to declare different byte based features instead of bit-based features that we have just mentioned. If letter “B” is used in the formatting, it means that the preceding number is the length of the data type in bytes. After pressing appropriate “Set” button a new feature is inserted into the EEPROM word in the desired location. This means that bit 0 of the value is bit 10 in EEPROM word and bit 6 is bit 16 in EEPROM location. The feature value is given by the following expression: ( and (0x7F)) > 9. The default EEPROM word length of 4 bytes in this case means that from 32 bits only bits 10,11,12,13,14,15 and 16 are relevant. Therefore the value to be edited is represented as a hexadecimal number composed only of the values of the declared bits. The first kind for formatting presumes that bits with a higher bit number are more important. There are two types of formatting: list of bits that the value is composed of, and the length in bytes. The formatting description is used for data presentation as well as for data recoding after alteration. Next, there is data formating in bow shaped brackets. The length of address depends on the microcontroller family. ![]() They all include a feature name and EEPROM address. ![]() It is therefore advisable to use the FWI file only with the firmware it is intended for, or with a newer version for the firmware for the same microcontroller. However, PC USB Projects firmwares are built incrementally, so earlier versions lack some parameters, or use the same EEPROM locations for program code. The microcontroller configuration words would be correctly interpreted, but firmware specific default values may be on different locations or missing. Though each FWI file is tailored to a specific microcontroller and its firmware, it may still be used with other HEX files for the same microcontroller. This is also in accordance with microcontrollers flash RAM organizations.Īnother PC USB Projects HEX Editor feature is the ability to interpret firmware information (FWI) files, which contain information of user selectable settings embedded in a HEX file. By default PIC18 has a 16-bit (2 bytes) preferred format, while PC32 has a 32-bit (4 bytes) preferred format. The split of the contents to particular addresses is governed by predefined microcontroller features and preferred data format. As the code line is selected it is split to a sequence of 8, 16 or 32-bit values on the corresponding addresses. Only the user required changes are made.Ī single hexadecimal code line in the HEX file is interpreted and may be easily altered by a user. It tends to preserve the file format as much as possible. PC USB Projects HEX Editor (get it from Downloads section ) enables a human programmer and a hardware designer to easily interpret and change the contents of a HEX file.
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