MPLAB® Data Visualizer

Welcome to the early access program. You are using an early version of this software. We are working hard to improve your experience and appreciate your patience and support during this phase. Features and functionality are in active development and may change without notice. As early adopters, your feedback is invaluable to us. Please report any bugs or suggestions for enhancements.

Introduction

This package bundles the MPLAB Data Visualizer as an extension for Visual Studio Code. Please refer to the product landing page for more information and links to the User's Guide.

This extension provides mostly the same functionality as the classic plugin to MPLAB X and the standalone version. The Notes section below lists some notable exceptions.

Features

It can be difficult to troubleshoot data on an embedded target while your application is running. In the same way a debugger helps you debug your application code, MPLAB Data Visualizer helps you debug your data. With MPLAB Data Visualizer, you can see how key data points in your application change during runtime, e.g. visualize values captured by a sensor on your development board.

MPLAB Data Visualizer has the following features:

Capture data streamed from a running embedded target via serial port (CDC) or the Data Gateway Interface (DGI).
Monitor power data.
Decode data fields at runtime using the Data Stream Protocol format.
Stream data, as well as read and write global variables, using the Data Visualizer Run Time (DVRT) protocol.
Visualize the raw or decoded data in a Graph as a time series or XY plot, or display the data in a terminal.
Actively monitor data or input data to an application using widgets on the Dashboard.
Concurrently stream data and debug target code.
Automatically load Data Stream and Dashboard configuration for the data stream.
Analyze plotted data using cursors to measure bandwidth, pulse width and more.
Log data to file as it is being captured, using CSV or compressed Feather (Apache Arrow) format.
Save a plot snapshot to a CSV or JSON file.

Screenshot of Data Visualizer

Usage

To start the Data Visualizer, select 'MPLAB: Data Visualizer' from the VS Code command palette and the Data Visualizer view should appear shortly.

The Data Visualizer extension depends on the following extensions, which will be installed automatically.

MPLAB Extensions Core
MPLAB Extensions Platforms

The Data Visualizer process will log diagnostic output to the "MPLAB Platforms" and "MPLAB Data Visualizer" panels in the VS Code output window.

Notes

Please note the following differences between the classic MPLAB Data Visualizer and the integration with VS Code this extension currently provides.

There is no relation to an active code project or debug session as in MPLAB X. This means, e.g. that a DVRT session has to be configured manually, and that DGI program counter polling is not available.
Plugins that work with MPLAB X, such as MPLAB Touch and Machine Learning Partners, are not compatible with this version.
When a new folder is opened or a new folder is added to a multi-root workspace, VS Code can reload, or reset the state of installed extensions. The Data Visualizer session will then be terminated (DV-2607/DV-2609).
A small number of user settings does not have a UI for reverting them once set. This includes e.g. the setting for not showing the "Start visualizing data" dialog when activating a data source (DV-2606).
The default location for a data log file is undefined. Please explicitly select a location for the log file using the file browser to ensure it's location (DV-2602).
The Dashboard's full screen mode does not work. To achieve a similar effect, it is possible to maximize the Dashboard panel tab inside the DV Window manually, and then select the command 'View: Toggle Zen Mode' in the VS Code command palette (DV-2591).
When a field is dragged from the DVRT or Variable Streamer panels into the Dashboard, the added widget may not have that field set as it's data source. Select the field as a data source manually (DV-2611).
If loading a workspace file with a DVRT session, and the specified ELF file is not found, a confusing warning can be displayed. Check that the specified ELF file exists on the specified path. DV-2603.

📝 License

SEE LICENSE IN License

MPLAB Data Visualizer