"Add New File To CMakeLists.txt" option missing

[Chris Pearson]

I am working through the Getting Started documentation for the nRF Connect SDK 1.5.1 on a Windows 10 machine running SEGGER Embedded Studio Nordic Edition Windows x64, Release 5.34a Build 2021011401.44914. So far the examples compile and download to my device successfully.

In the section Maintaining CMakeLists.txt in SES, the documentation refers to right-clicking the "Project 'app/libapp.a' to find the functions "Add New File To CMakeLists.txt" and "Add Existing File To CMakeLists.txt". However, these functions are not present when I right-click:

According to the documentation, the following is expected:

Also missing is the "Edit Compile Options in CMakeLists.txt" option at the bottom of the menu.

I have tried a couple of different example projects from the "Open nRF Connect SDK Project" menu and this is the case for all of them.

Am I missing something here? 

Thanks!

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

For a project to be able to add files to the CMakeListst.txt file, they need this tag:

https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/1.5.1/nrf/gs_modifying.html#ses-tags-in-cmakelists-txt

 

Projects in the sdk-nrf all have these tags, but zephyr samples does not, unfortunately. In that case, the tags need to be manually added to the CMakeLists.txt.

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Chris Pearson]

Hi Håkon Alseth. While we're talking about documentation, another thing I ran into is the configure tool in the  "Project->Configure nRF Connect SDK Project" menu. I don't think it's mentioned in the documentation at all, but it's definitely a useful tool.

[Chris Pearson]

Ah, good to know, thanks Håkon Alseth!

I do actually have a bunch of notes regarding the setup process through the nRF Connect for Windows "Getting Started Assistant". I ran into a few problems and, given how "friendly" that assistant is, they're things that should probably be taken care of to polish it up a bit. Where should such a list be sent?

Thanks!

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi Chris!

 

I have made our product manager aware of this specific devzone thread, so just feel free to add your comments to this thread.

Again, I have to thank you for taking the time to help us improve on these topics, as we do aim to ease the process of installing dependencies (sdk, toolchain, etc) and helping to make the process take as little time away from you, the developer, so that you can focus on developing and running firmware instead.

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Chris Pearson]

You're welcome, Hakon! I'm a strong believer in having easy to use tools to help transition developers who are new to a platform.

Here are some comments about the "Getting Started Assistant" and the setup documentation, plus one note about the SEGGER SES Nordic Edition. These aren't huge problems but, given how the Assistant is trying to be a "friendly" setup system, they are things that could be polished up. My setup was done under Windows 10.

• Step #1 has the user open an admin command prompt. Step #3 "Get the nRF Connect SDK code" could use a note about switching back to a regular user cmd.exe prompt.
  • The problem is that the Getting Started Assistant could be running in regular user mode, and if some software was already installed for that user only (such as git), the Getting Started Assistant will verify that the software is there but it will not actually be available in an admin command prompt.
  • This happened to me. I already had git installed in user mode, and the Getting Started Assistant flagged it as good, but of course it didn't work in an admin command prompt.
• The online documentation developer.nordicsemi.com/.../gs_assistant.html talks about the "Variables" section, but doesn't point out that the empty fields highlighted in red can be ignored at first. It also doesn't clearly state that the "ncs_tag" can be ignored if not working with a tagged release of the nRF Connect SDK.
• "The nRF Connect for Desktop" method of install does not mention installing Chocolatey, and the "Getting Started Assistant" refers the user to the manual setup. It seems a bit odd for the automated setup to refer to the manual setup, so perhaps Chocolatey should have its own section?
• Getting Started Assistant, step 2, shows a Linux `PATH` `export`, not a Windows `setx`. (I did  the setup under Windows, with the Windows Getting Started Assistant.)
  • `pip3 install west`
  • `export PATH="$PATH:/$HOME/.local/bin"`
• When starting SEGGER Embedded Studio as described in the first section of Step #7, the Getting Started Assistant should probably state that the first "nRF Connect Options" dialog box that opens should be closed as the next step will deal with those settings. 
• There's no mention of the Nordic directory that will be created for the Embedded Studio data files. This seems like a good directory to unzip the IDE into, just to keep everything neat.
• The "Open nRF Connect SDK Project / nRF Connect Options" dialog box will fail in a few ways related to using the root of a Windows drive. The particular use case is working through examples and using an alternate build directory to avoid adding to the SDK directories.
  • If the build directory is the same as what is currently open in SEGGER Embedded Studio
  • If the root of an empty drive is chosen as the build directory. The use case here was using a RAM drive.
  • If a "build" directory was created, such as `d:\build` for one project, and the root of that drive is used for the next project, nRF Connect Options won't outright fail and whatever already existed inside `d:\build` will be used for the project.

I don't know if the visiting product manager is responsible for nRF Connect as well, and perhaps this could be passed on if not:

A couple of notes for the Bluetooth Low Energy app under Windows 10:

• There doesn't seem to be any way to copy the MAC address from a device in "Discovered devices".
  • This could be a very useful feature, especially for setting the filter
• It would be nice to have a toggle checkbox next to the filter to turn it on and off. Currently the filter text has to be removed to turn off the filter. 
  • The use case here is for when a device isn't showing up in the scan and the user would like to quickly check if the filter is incorrect. The user might then make corrections in the code and want to simply turn the filter back on.

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi Chris,

 

This is gold to us!

I will create individual bug reports / feature improvements internally on the different subjects.

 

Again, thank you very much for taking the time to help us out. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Chris Pearson]

Hi Håkon Alseth. Here's another comment for you regarding the SDK setup.

I must have missed this the first time through, but the start of the "Getting Started Assistant" v1.1.2 has a big deprecation warning:

Deprecation warning

For nRF Connect SDK v1.2.0 (and later), this app has been replaced by the Toolchain Manager app. Go to the app overview to install and open the Toolchain Manager.

However, the nRF Connect SDK documentation clearly directs the user to use the Getting Started Assistant. Obviously there is a conflict there.

An additional problems with the Toolchain Manager is that it does not put any of the installed tools onto the path. (Windows 10 at least.) So, while it may have installed west, it cannot be used easily.

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi Chris!

 

Chris Pearson said:

An additional problems with the Toolchain Manager is that it does not put any of the installed tools onto the path. (Windows 10 at least.) So, while it may have installed west, it cannot be used easily.

 This is something I've also noticed, but I have forgotten to report internally when looking through our bugs. I believe we're mixing due to the launch of toolchain manager, and the manual setup via getting started.

I will report this!

 

Chris Pearson said:

Here's another comment for you regarding the SDK setup.

I must have missed this the first time through, but the start of the "Getting Started Assistant" v1.1.2 has a big deprecation warning:

Deprecation warning

For nRF Connect SDK v1.2.0 (and later), this app has been replaced by the Toolchain Manager app. Go to the app overview to install and open the Toolchain Manager.

However, the nRF Connect SDK documentation clearly directs the user to use the Getting Started Assistant. Obviously there is a conflict there.

Yes, this is correct. We have bundled the whole SDK (incl. deps) in the toolchain manager, but we clearly have improvements to do here.

The layout of where you would normally click, here highlighted:

 

These are, atleast in my mind, the path of least resistance when looking at heading/sub-headings.

By only looking at the left-hand frame, my mind assumes that this is the proper way: "I want to get started, install, and here's an assistant"

 

However, that is unfortunately not the simplest way to get started at this time. I'll work together with our technical writers to improve upon this.

 

Kind regards,

Håkon