Nordic SDK & Custom boards

RE: Nordic SDK & Custom boards

Steven — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 10:07:59 GMT

OK, I will watch the videos that you suggest and let you know if that addresses the question, thank you.
Can I suggest that when you get these questions that you also amend the SDK docs so that these omissions are addressed and the answers recorded in the docs? It would make it easier for newcomers to get started without hunting through many obscure forum posts.

RE: Nordic SDK & Custom boards

Steven — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 10:00:22 GMT

For future reference, (this using SES Release 5.42):

- In the project explorer right click on the project file, select options from the drop down menu.

-In the project options window, select "Private Configurations -> Common" from the drop down menu at the top right of the GUI".

- Under Code -> Preprocessor double click preprocessor definitions.

- Change "BOARD_PCA10040" to "BOARD_CUSTOM"

- Add your board header file to the SDK folder : eg ..\NordicSemi\nRF5_SDK_15.2.0_9412b96\components\boards

- In boards.h edit the line:

#elif defined(BOARD_CUSTOM)
#include "custom_board.h"

to your chosen .h board header filename eg:
#include "my_board.h"

- Edit the board file to suit your custom board.

RE: Nordic SDK & Custom boards

Jørgen Holmefjord — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 09:48:13 GMT

Hi Steve,

I'm sorry that you feel that the documentation is lacking details. The board header files is not very complex, and the documentation describes how to utilize one of the existing files to adapt it to your custom board. Then all you need to do is to add this new file to the board include file, and modify the board define in the project.

Let me know what exactly you need more details on and I will help you out (if not someone in the community can help you even faster ;-) ).

Regarding my short answer, I added the link to the documentation as a complement to the answer from Tim that was already posted. We check all tickets on this forum, but not all require attention from Nordic support engineers, as they are handled by community members.

Best regards,
Jørgen

RE: Nordic SDK & Custom boards

Jørgen Holmefjord — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 09:26:22 GMT

The define can be found under preprocessor defines in the "Common" configuration in SES project options:

To get more familiar with using SES with nRF5 SDK, I recommend you to have a look at this video tutorial playlist.

RE: Nordic SDK & Custom boards

Steven — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 09:14:40 GMT

Hi Jorgen,

the sum total of the wisdom dispensed by nordic on this matter amounts to a single paragraph in the SDK docs at the link you provided:

Adding support for a custom board

To add support for a custom board, you must create a custom board support file with the name custom_board.h. This file must be located in a directory in the Include path. You can then select to use the custom board by adding the define statement #define BOARD_CUSTOM.

The easiest way to create the custom_board.h file is to start with an existing platform definition file (for example pca10040.h) and adapt it to your needs.

Is that really all there is to say on the matter? Clearly this is not sufficient to inform a user to do something fundamental- to step away from the Nordic dev boards and implement a project for a custom board.

Sorry, that is not good enough and really very poor customer support, both in the extent of the docs and the care and detail provided in your response - see the previous response from Tim. If it takes a community member to provide detailed support I think that speaks to the attitude of Nordic employees towards their users.

RE: Nordic SDK & Custom boards

Steven — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 09:08:23 GMT

Hi Tim,

thanks for the reply.

I guess the part I don't understand here is that currently, in SES, "BOARD_PCA10040" is highlighted in boards.h, indicating that this board is enabled in the project. How this is done is not clear to me.

A search for BOARD_PCA10040 returns no result - I'd assume that somewhere is a #define BOARD_PCA10040?

A look at the GCC example shows that there is a compiler flag CFLAGS += -DBOARD_PCA10040

As I am using SES I would expect this to be a config option in PROJECT->OPTIONS, I can't see anything there or anywhere else.

Confusing.

RE: Nordic SDK & Custom boards

Jørgen Holmefjord — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 08:14:33 GMT

Hi,

See Using the SDK with other boards under Getting Started in the SDK documentation.

Best regards,
Jørgen

RE: Nordic SDK & Custom boards

Tim Adu — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 18:35:13 GMT

Hey Steven,

I'd recommend one of two options:

Use an example project. You could pick an example project that's very close to what your custom project would look like. For example if you needed a project with I2C, you could start with the twi_scanner project.
Use a template project. I believe there are two template projects in the SDK:
1. examples > peripheral > template_project
2. examples > ble_peripheral > ble_app_template

When you have decided on either (1) or (2), then you'd have to modify the paths to the SDK files in your custom project. You can do that through the Solution Editor in Segger Embedded Studio.

And yes, you'd also have to create your own board file and add it to the boards.h file. You'd have to remove the BOARD_ PCA10040 macro in the preprocessor definitions list and create your own macro, effectively enabling your own board definition.

Hope it helps.

Timothy