PICkit™ 2 Starter Kit

Getting Started
microEngineering Labs PICBASIC PRO™ Compiler

Overview

This document provides a guide to creating a BASIC language project in MPLAB® IDE using
microEngineering Labs, Inc.’s PICBASIC PRO™ Compiler for PIC® MCUs. Programming the
project with PICkit 2 is also covered.

Please note that this document is not intended as an introduction to or tutorial on the BASIC
programming language. The PICBASIC PRO programming language is covered in the
PICBASIC PRO Compiler manual. Another reference is the introductory book Programming
PIC Microcontrollers with PICBASIC by Chuck Hellebuyck.

Completing PICBASIC PRO setup for use with MPLAB IDE.

1. Ensure all necessary software and files are installed. This includes the MPLAB IDE, The
PICBASIC PRO Compiler demo, and the lessons for the Low Pin Count Demo Board. See
the Quick Start link for the Starter Kit on the PICkit Starter Kit CDROM, and click the
“Quick Start in BASIC with the PICBASIC PRO Compiler” link.

2. To ensure MPLAB is aware of the microEngineering Labs, Inc.’s PICBASIC PRO

Compiler, run the batch file C:\PBPDEMO\PBPPLUG.BAT. This file is installed with
PICBASIC PRO Compiler demo.
NOTE: In Windows Vista, it may be necessary to right-click the BAT file and select “Run
As Administrator.”

3. For the PICBASIC PRO Compiler to work properly, the following directories need to be
added to the Windows’ search path:
C:\PBPDEMO
C:\Program Files\Microchip\MPASM Suite

For Windows XP, right-click the “My Computer” icon on the desktop and select Properties.
Select the “Advanced Tab” in the System Properties dialog, then click the “Environment
Variables” button. In the “System Variables” box, select the “Path” variable and click the
“Edit” button. Add the above paths to the end of the “Variable Value” text line, separating
each path with a semicolon.

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For instructions on other Windows operating systems see the microEngineering Labs website
at http://melabs.com/support/mplab.htm

4. Restart your computer before continuing.

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Creating a PICBASIC PRO project in MPLAB IDE

1. Connect the PICkit™ 2 Microcontroller Programmer to the PC with the included USB cable.
Plug the 6-pin header on the demo board into the PICkit 2 ICSP™ connector.

2. Start MPLAB IDE from the shortcut icon on the desktop.

3. From the MPLAB IDE menu bar, select

Project > Project Wizard…

4. This opens up the Project Wizard. Click

Next to continue.

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5. Wizard Step One: The project target device is the PIC16F690 included on the Low Pin
count Demo Board. In the wizard, select the “PIC16F690” from the drop-down box and
click Next.

6. Wizard Step Two: Here we select that we want to use the “microEngineering PicBasic Pro
Toolsuite” for the project language toolsuite from the Active Toolsuite drop-down box.

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7. The first time PICBASIC PRO is selected as the toolsuite, it is necessary to tell the MPLAB
IDE where the compiler executable is. In the “Toolsuite Contents” box, select the
“microEngineering PicBasic Pro Compiler” then click the Browse… button. In the file
dialog, browse to C:\PBPDEMO and select the PBPWDEMO.EXE file. Click Open.

The “Location” box will now show the full path to the executable. Click Next to continue.

8. Wizard Step Three: Create a new project. The BASIC code file that we will use for this
project is installed with the Low Pin Count Demo Board Lesson Files. Select the Browse…
button and navigate to the folder C:\Pk2 Lessons\LPC Demo Board\PICBASICPRO as
the project directory. In the Save Project As dialog, type the project name “PICBasicDemo”
and click Save. Click Next.

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9. Wizard Step Four: Add the existing BASIC code demo file to the project. The file tree view
box on the left should already be expanded to the project directory, where the demo file
pk2_tutorial.bas was installed as part of the Starter Kit Lessons. Select the file and
click the Add >> button to add it to the project. Click Next when done.

10. Wizard Summary: Click the Finish button. A new workspace and project are created in the
MPLAB IDE. A “workspace” contains information on the selected PIC MCU device, the
active programmer and/or debugger, open windows and their location, and other IDE
configuration settings. The workspace is also associated with a “project”, which contains the
files needed to build an application (source code, include files, linker scripts, etc.) along with
associated language (compiler) tools and build options.

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11. One last step before the project is ready to be compiled. The tutorial BASIC program uses
the PIC16F690 pin 4 as the input RA3 instead of as the /MCLR external reset. This requires
changing the settings in the 16F690.INC include file for PICBASIC PRO. To simplify
things, an edited version is included. Copy it into the PBPDEMO directory.
Copy file
C:\Pk2 Lessons\LPC Demo Board\PICBASICPRO\16F690.INC
over the existing file in
C:\PBPDEMO\

IMPORTANT
The 16F690.INC file included with the Low Pin Count Demo Board lessons must be
copied into the C:\PBPDEMO\ directory over the existing file as described in step 11. If
this is not done the tutorial program will not work!

Compiling and Programming the PICBASIC PRO Demo Program

1. Open the project window by selecting View > Project. The project window displays the
project files and is shown below on the left with the source file we added in the Project
Wizard, pk2_tutorial.bas.
Select menu item View > Output to open the output window, shown below on the left. The
output window displays the results from various associated tools, including the PICBASIC
PRO Compiler under the “Build” tab and the PICkit 2 under the “PICkit 2” tab (not yet
shown).

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2. Open the BASIC language program file by double-clicking the file name pk2_tutorial.bas in
the Project window. The program file will open in an editor window on the MPLAB IDE
workspace. The tutorial will go over the code itself in a later section.

3. To compile and build project code, select Project > Compile from the MPLAB IDE menu
bar.
The results of the Compile will appear under the “Build”
tab of the Output Window, and the compiled code is now
ready to program in the PIC16F887.

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4. Ensure the PICkit 2 Microcontroller

Programmer and Low Pin Count Demo
Board are connected as shown on Page 1 of
this document. From the MPLAB IDE
menu bar select Programmer > Select
Programmer > PICkit 2.

The Output Window shows connection to

the PICkit 2 Microcontroller Programmer,
and that the target microcontroller (a PIC16F690 on the LPC Demo Board) was found.

If the PICkit 2 or demo board was not plugged in, connect them and select the MPLAB IDE
menu Programmer > Connect to try connecting again.

5. On the PICkit 2 Low Pin Count Demo Board, the pushbutton (SW1) signal goes into the
PIC16F690 at pin 4, which is being used as the RA3 input pin in the demo program. This
pin may also be used as an external reset for the PIC16F690, and the PICkit 2 is connected to
this pin to control the MCLR function if it were being used. To prevent the PICkit 2 from
interfering with the SW1 pushbutton signal, a few settings need to be changed in MPLAB.
Select Programmer > Settings in the MPLAB IDE. This will open the “PICkit 2 Settings”
dialog. On the “Settings” tab, check the box next to “Run after a successful program”. This
will cause the PICkit 2 to release the MCLR signal when you program it. Also check the
box next to “3-State on ‘Release from Reset’”. This instructs the PICkit 2 to tri-state the
MCLR signal instead of driving it to
VDD. This allows SW1 to change the
signal and be used by the program.
Click OK to close the dialog.

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6. Select menu Programmer > Program to program the compiled code into the PIC16F690.

The results of the programming operation will appear in the Output Window under the
PICkit 2 tab.

7. The demo code is now executing in the PIC MCU on the Low Pin Count Demo Board! The
potentiometer RP1 may be turned to change the number of LEDs turned on, and the button
SW1 pressed to reverse the direction they turn on in.

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PICkit™ 2 Getting Started with the PICBASIC PRO Compiler

Exploring the Demo BASIC Code

The demonstration BASIC program pk2_tutorial.bas creates a “bar graph” display of the
4 LEDs on the Low Pin Count Demo Board, with the number of lighted LEDs corresponding to
the position of the potentiometer RP1. Pressing the switch SW1 reverses the LED display
direction.

The program demonstrates configuring and using IO port pins, converting an analog voltage
from the potentiometer with the PIC16F690 ADC peripheral, and reading the SW1 pushbutton
state.

The schematic for the Low Pin Count Demo Board may be found in the Appendix of the Low
Pin Count Demo Board Users Guide. It will also be helpful to reference the PIC16F690 Data
Sheet for PIC16F690 operation, peripheral, and register definitions.

The pk2_tutorial.bas program file begins with a title block and description of the program
requirements. These are comment lines, as is any text that follows a single quote. The program
itself begins with setting up the Analog to Digital (A/D) converter. The project only requires
eight bits of resolution and setting the clock source for the A/D conversion. Two simple
DEFINE statements in PICBASIC PRO handle this setup. The PIC16F690 internal oscillator is
used as the clock source (known as the Fosc) for both the microcontroller and the A/D
peripheral. The internal oscillator defaults to 4 MHz on reset and this is divided down by four to
create a 1 MHz internal instruction clock. The clock for the A/D converter has different options
to choose from and the Fosc/8 source is selected with the second DEFINE statement.
' Define ADCIN parameters
Define ADC_BITS 8 ' Set number of bits in result
Define ADC_CLOCK 1 ' Set clock source (1=Fosc/8)

Variables are created to store information in the program. A variable for the A/D value and the
number of LEDs are created as byte variables. A single bit variable is created to indicate which
direction to drive the LEDs based on a switch press.
' Establish variables
adval var byte ' Create adval to store result
bars var byte ' Variable to store the number of LEDs to light
switchstate var bit ' Bit variable to indicate if the switch was pressed

The next section presets all the necessary PIC16F690 internal registers. The ANSEL register
used to select IO pins for digital or analog mode. It is set to a one because only the AN0 pin
needs to be an analog input. The rest of the A/D pins are setup as digital I/O.
' Initialize Internal Registers

ANSEL = 1 ' Intialize AN0 to A/D only

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The internal comparators are shut off by clearing the CM1CON0 and CM2CON0 registers.

CM1CON0 = 0 ' Initialize Comparator 1 off

CM2CON0 = 0 ' Initialize Coparator 2 off

The TRISx registers control the direction (input or output) of port I/O pins. All of PORTC is set
to outputs by clearing the TRISC register. All of PORTA is set to inputs by setting all the bits in
the TRISA register.
TRISC = 0 ' PORTC all outputs for LEDs
TRISA = $FF ' PORTA all inputs for switch

The PORTx registers set the output pin states when written to, and return input pin states when
read. The PORTC register is cleared so all the LEDs are off.
PORTC = 0 ' Preset LEDs off

Just before the main loop of code the “switchstate” bit variable is preset to one. This will make
the LEDs scroll from left to right initially.
'*** Main Program Loop ****
switchstate = 1 ' Preset Switch State to Drive LEDs to Right

The main loop starts with the “Main” label. Then the ADCIN command is used to measure the
voltage at the AN0 pin and store the eight bit result in the variable “adval”.
Main
'*** Read A/D value *****
ADCIN 0, adval ' Read channel 0 to adval

The result value is then shifted to the right six bits so the two most significant bits (MSB) are
remaining giving a result of 0,1,2 or 3 that is stored in the variable “bars”.

'*** Drive LEDs *********

bars = (adval >> 6) 'Shift for 2 MSB for values 0 to 3

The value of “bars” is then used as an index to select a value to send to the PORTC register
using the LOOKUP command. Each selection lights a number of LEDs that matches the value
of “bars” plus one.
There are two LOOKUP commands though and each is selected based on the value of the
“switchstate” value using the IF-THEN-ELSE command.
if switchstate = 1 then 'Test for LED direction
lookup bars,[1,3,7,15], PORTC 'Drive LEDs to Right
else
lookup bars,[8,12,14,15], PORTC 'Drive LEDs to Left
endif

The LEDs will light immediately because the LOOKUP command is placing the value directly
into the PORTC register. This outputs the value on the PORTC pins.

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Then the program then monitors the switch SW1. If the logic level at the PORTA pin 3 pin is
low then a switch press is sensed and a list of commands is executed. If it’s not low then the rest
of the commands are skipped and the program jumps to the “goto main” command line.
'*** Read State of Switch with 100 msec Debounce
if PORTA.3 = 0 then 'Switch is pressed

When the switch is pressed, the program delays for 100 milliseconds and checks it again. This
forms a very basic debounce on the switch. If the switch is still pressed then the value of the
“switchstate” variable is toggled.
pause 100 'Delay 100 msec
if PORTA.3 = 0 then 'Test switch again
switchstate = ~switchstate 'Toggle Switch State Flag

The switch could still be pressed after the toggle is complete so the program waits for the button
to be released before moving on. The program loop is so short, without this step the switch
could be sensed a second time even though it was only pressed once.

hold
if PORTA.3 = 0 then hold 'Wait for switch to be released
endif
endif

Finally the program loops back to the “Main” label using a GOTO command to start the process
all over again.
goto main 'Loop back for new A/D sample

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PICkit™ 2 Getting Started with the PICBASIC PRO Compiler

Quick Reference

Compiling and programming with PICkit 2 in MPLAB IDE

Programmer > Select Programmer > PICkit 2 (Not needed if already selected)
Project > Compile
Programmer > Program

Next Steps

To find out more about developing code in the MPLAB IDE, see the MPLAB IDE Quick
Start Guide included in the “Reference” section of the PICkit Starter Kit CD-ROM. The
most recent version of this document is also available on the included MPLAB IDE CD-
ROM.

The PIC16F690 Data Sheet is the best resource for learning about the operation of the
microcontroller and its peripherals. The schematic diagram of the demo board is found in
the Appendix of the Low Pin Count Demo Board User’s Guide.

Microchip’s Online Discussion Groups at forum.microchip.com are a good place to ask

questions and get information on developing with PIC MCUs. The [Development Tools] –
Programmers sub-forum is the best place for PICkit 2 related topics.

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