Mergehex equivalent in SES

[Eliot Stock]

I'm looking into migrating my project from gcc/make to Segger Embedded Studio, because I have some tricky debugging to do and SES should be a bit easier to use than GDB for it.

My current build system, in make, will produce a load of hex files (app, bootloader, SD, bootloader settings), then use mergehex to put them all together into one monolithic hex file, then flash that:

flash-all: all

    @printf "Generating bootloader settings hex.\n"

    $(NRFUTIL) settings generate --family $(FAMILY) --application $(HEX) --application-version 1 --bootloader-version 1 --bl-settings-version 2 --app-boot-validation VALIDATE_GENERATED_CRC --sd-boot-validation VALIDATE_GENERATED_CRC --softdevice $(SOFTDEVICE) --no-backup $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/bls.hex

    @printf "Merging bootloader in.\n"

    $(MERGEHEX) -m $(BOOTLOADER) $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/bls.hex -o $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/bl_bls.hex

    @printf "Merging soft device in.\n"

    $(MERGEHEX) -m $(SOFTDEVICE) $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/bl_bls.hex -o $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/sd_bl_bls.hex

    @printf "Merging application in.\n"

    $(MERGEHEX) -m $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/sd_bl_bls.hex $(HEX) -o $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/sd_app_bl_bls.hex

    @printf "Erasing flash. Note that this will destroy any bonds on the device. Remember to also destroy them on the central (phone).\n"

    $(NRFPROJ) --eraseall

    @printf "\nProgramming merged hex.\n"

    $(NRFPROJ) --program $(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)/sd_app_bl_bls.hex

    @printf "\nClearing the reset reason register.\n"

    $(NRFPROJ) --memwr 0x40000400 --val 0xFFFFFFFF

    @printf "\nResetting.\n"

    $(NRFPROJ) --reset

It will also clear the reset reason register.

How do I do all this with SES? Can it do all these things directly, or do I still have to call out to nrfproj and mergehex? How do I do that?

[hmolesworth]

I think you are looking for this in SES:

Project->Options->Common->Loader->Additional Load Files

So for an example here is the included Softdevice hex file for the nRF52840

../../../../../../components/softdevice/s140/hex/s140_nrf52_6.1.0_softdevice.hex

Multiple hex files can be included in this way

[Eliot Stock]

That'll look after flashing them OK. What about generating the bootloader settings hex file though?

[hmolesworth]

I assumed you could treat it as a separate hex file and load as such; I haven't tried that though; maybe a Nordic engineer can clarify that. If there are common addresses residing in different hex files only '1' bits can be overloaded to '0', of course, and the file specification order in the additional files list becomes significant..

[Vidar Berg]

Hi,

You can invoke custom scripts/commands as a part of the build process, see "User Build step"

I think you should use the Post-build command to generate the settings page. 

[Eliot Stock]

Looks good! Thanks.