How to develop GUI to control the 16F688 microcontroller via PC?

[estradasphere]

hi,

I'm a beginner in microcontroller based hardware design. I have a very simple flash starter kit from microhip with a 16F688 microcontroller on it. Since two weeks I've been writing and compiling some basic programs in C (flashing LEDs, pulse generation etc.) . Now I want to develop some GUIs to control the microcontroller via my PC, but I absolutely don't know how to start with it. Can somebody give me some advices or suggest me some software tools suitable for beginners?

thanks in advance

 

[alec82]

Re: pic programming

hi
a simple way for you is using serial port(rs232) to control ur micro from pc.u can use hyperterminal its integrated in win 2000 and later.

 

[budhy]

Re: pic programming

I've been writing and compiling some basic programs in C (flashing LEDs, pulse generation etc.)

Now try to write Serial Port Input Output routine, with those routine your PIC can communicate with PC via HyperTerminal.

After you have familiar with PIC-PC communication, for a good looking of GUI, your can write a program with Delphi, Visual C etc.

 

[siongboon]

Re: pic programming

Yes. The basic thing you need to understand is the
communication between PC and your PIC microcontroller.
You can use Serial, parallel communication.

PIC microcontroller has it's own serial peripheral,
which makes serial communication an easy task.
To learn more about RS232 communication with PC,
you can refer to the following website.
https://www.beyondlogic.org/
It is a very detail information on RS232 from
hardware to software.
More references,
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

You can also use Computer Parallel port for I/O bits communication.
It works too.

I prefer using the serial communication,
programming is rather striaght forward,
and uses only two I/O pins.
There are various Serial communication tools
like Microsoft Window Hyperterminal, Docklight, many others....
There are available free, and helps you to
debug your serial communication.

After you learn the communication part,
you can write your own GUI software and firmware to
do what ever you want.

GUI software can be Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual .net
for software operating in Microsoft Windows.
There are many other development tools, but I am not very familiar
with the others.

www.siongboon.com

 

[estradasphere]

Re: pic programming

Yes. The basic thing you need to understand is the
communication between PC and your PIC microcontroller.
You can use Serial, parallel communication.

PIC microcontroller has it's own serial peripheral,
which makes serial communication an easy task.
To learn more about RS232 communication with PC,
you can refer to the following website.
h**p://www.beyondlogic.org/
It is a very detail information on RS232 from
hardware to software.
More references,
h**p://www.siongboon.com/projects/2006-03-06_serial_communication/
h**p://www.siongboon.com/projects/2006-10-28_pic_microcontroller/

You can also use Computer Parallel port for I/O bits communication.
It works too.

I prefer using the serial communication,
programming is rather striaght forward,
and uses only two I/O pins.
There are various Serial communication tools
like Microsoft Window Hyperterminal, Docklight, many others....
There are available free, and helps you to
debug your serial communication.

After you learn the communication part,
you can write your own GUI software and firmware to
do what ever you want.

GUI software can be Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual .net
for software operating in Microsoft Windows.
There are many other development tools, but I am not very familiar
with the others.

www.siongboon.com

^


hi siongboon,

first of all, thanks to all who answered my question. i can communicate with the microcontroller via my pc using MPLAB IDE and a simple compiler that I found at Microchip web site. The flash starter kit has a second microcontroller which works as an interface between the USB port of my PC and the 16F688 microcontroller.

actually i'm an analog circuit designer and not yet familiar with programming tools. I don't have any idea how and where to find e.g. the visual c++. how do i purchase visual c++?

thanks