XWisp

introduction

command line interface

windows interface

The windows installation associates the XWisp program with the .hex and .xwisp file extensions. For other platforms a line like:

   #!/usr/local/xwisp/xwisp.py

On windows, double-clicking an .xwisp file opens a window, which is filled by interpreting the .xwisp file. On other platforms a .xwisp file can be made executable (and insert the #! line), or (both windows and other platforms) a file can be started explicitly by a command like

   xwisp file.xwisp

Each line in the .xwisp file is interpreted as a command. The available commands are:

button [ at coordinates ] [ text text ] xwisp command(s)
	The button command puts a button in the window at the indicated coordinates. The button shows the indicated text. When the button is clicked the indicated XWisp command line command(s) will be executed, prefixed by the xwisp_defaults as explained below.

close_window
	The close_window command closes the 'activity' window. This will of course only happen if no previous command caused an error.

label [ at coordinates ] [ text text ]
	The label command puts the indicated text in the window at the indicated coordinates.

macro name expansion
	The macro command defines name as a shorthand for the indicated expansion. This is usefull to define things like the serial port that must be used at one place.

name text
	The name command cause the indicated text to be used as the window's title.

nextrow
	The nextrow commands cause a next window item (button or text) that does not specify a location to appear in the first column of the next row (instead of immediately to the right of the last window item).

The coordinates must be expressed with a letter for the row and a digit for the column, a1 being the upper-left corner. When 'at coordinates' is omitted the screen item (button or label) is by default put to the right of the previous one, but a nextrow command cause it to be put one row below the previous screen item, in the first column.

A text must be a single word, but underscores in the text are displayed as spaces.

Before the .xwisp file itself is read, the global xwisp.ini file (the same directory as the xwisp.py file, default is "C:\Program Files\XWisp") and the local xwisp.ini file (in the same directory as the .xwisp or .hex file) are read an processed.

When an XWisp command is executed the macro xwisp_defaults is put in front of the command line. By default this macro expands to an empty string, but it can be defined in the global or local xwisp.ini file, or even in the .xwisp file itself.

When a .hex file is double-clicked xwisp processes

   button text go_hex_file xwisp go hex_file

specifying the target

When a target chip is specified XWisp will try to verify that a chip of the specified type is present by reading the chip's ID. When it does not find the specified chip the program will abort with an error message.

When no target chip is specified XWisp will try to determine which chip is present by reading the chip's ID. This is done using two different algorithms, one for the 18F chips and one for the other chips. Reading the ID from a chip using the read algorithm for a different type of chip could have unintented effects, like erasing the chip. No such effects have actually been observed, but when the content of the chip must be read it is advised to specify the target chip explicitly instead of relying on the autodetect.

The older 16c84 and 16f84 (without 'a') chips do not have an ID, so the program just checks that no valid ID is read and then assumes that the specified chip is indeed present.

installation on windows - simple version

installation on windows - separate Python

Download and install Python (version 2.1 or higher) from www.python.org.

Download and install the Python Win32 Extensions from http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/.

Download and install xwisp_src_setup.

In the XWisp directory (by default C:\Program Files\XWisp) double-click on register.py.

installation on windows - batch file tweaks

On NT-derived windows versions you can insert the following line in your startup batch file, to make it possible to type just xwisp (without .py):

   set PATHEXT=%PATHEXT%;.py

Or more permanently:

Bring up the System control panel and select the "Environment" tab.

Is the PATHEXT variable in the "System Variables" list?

Yes: Add the file extensions above to the end of the value, separated by semicolons

No: Click on one of the System Variables, then type "PATHEXT" into the Variable text-field and ".com;.exe;.bat;.cmd;.tcl;.tsh;.tk" into the Value text-field.

Press the Set button to save the changes to the environment.

Restart any consoles to see the changes to the environment.

installation on other platforms

You will have to create yourself a suitable Python environment, either using a 'classic' Python or using Jython running on Java. Luckily most modern Linuxes come with Python, but you might have to enable it during installation.

known problems

Exceptions (like a serial port which is not available) are handled badly or not at all.

Problems are reported (only) in the DOS window that hides beneath the windows interface.

When the result window is resized the actual output frame is not adjusted.

As yet there is no Linux/Unix support, but I have reports from customers using XWisp on Linux succesfully. You might need to convert XWisp.py to Unix line endings first (use dos2unix).

The communication with the programmer is slower than with wisp.exe.

The installer sometimes fails to associate .hex and .xwisp with the xwisp.py program (when an association already exists?). In that case an (new?) association must be created manually: ASSOC .py=PythonScript FTYPE PythonScript=python.exe %1 %*

On my main PC (2GHz, win2k) using the on-board serial port does not work reliably. I could not reproduce this problem on other PCs. An USB->serial converter worked perfectly.

For 12Fxxx targets: the bandgap and oscillator calibration is not automatically preserved.

Some programs (the explorer!) can create file associations that override the ones created by XWisp. You will have to remove such associations from the registry by hand. Look under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Classes/Applications and HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Winodws/CurrentVersion/Explorer/ComDlg32/FileExts.

When is XWisp is run on Jython/Java don't rely on the default port, specify a port explicitly.

acknowledgements

XWisp uses:

Python: a cross-platform scripting/programming language

the Python Win32 Extensions

pySerial cross-platform serial port interface

py2exe to create a standalone windows executable from the python sources

Setup2GO to create the windows installers

history