Migrating from SES to nRF Connect + VS Code

[afarre]

Hello,

We developed a large nRF52840 application using SES + nRF5_SDK_17.1.0, now we would like to migrate to nRF Connect + VS Code.

No problems setting up nRF Connect + VS Code, very good tutorial. But now the question is:

How to migrate an existing SES project (let’s say ‘examples/peripheral/blinky’) to nRF Connect + VS Code?

The tutorial “nRF Connect for VS Code - Migrating from other IDEs to VS Code” does not work. Even when video shows a SES project, it does not seem to expect a *.emProject file to import.

At the end, I am not able to find any procedure to import any nRF5_SDK_17.1.0 example to nRF Connect + VS Code.

Thank you.

[Maria Gilje]

Hello,

How to migrate an existing SES project (let’s say ‘examples/peripheral/blinky’) to nRF Connect + VS Code?

We don't recommend migrating existing project from nRF5 SDK to nRF Connect SDK (NCS).

The structure of projects in NCS is quite different than in nRF5 SDK. This screenshot shows the difference between blinky in nRF5 SDK v17.1.0 on the left and nRF Connect SDK v2.0.0 on the right:

Additionally, the libraries within NCS are different from the ones in nRF5 SDK, and much code would need to be rewritten.

The tutorial “nRF Connect for VS Code - Migrating from other IDEs to VS Code” does not work. Even when video shows a SES project, it does not seem to expect a *.emProject file to import.

This tutorial is for migrating NCS projects from another IDE to VS Code with the nRF Connect for VS Code extension, not for porting nRF5 SDK projects to NCS.

You can use VS Code as an IDE for nRF5 SDK projects, but building the project will need to be done with the command line.

If you still want to port your application to NCS (which we don't recommend), this course covers the general composition of a project(Lesson 3), as well as other fundamental topics within NCS.

I again want to stress that if nRF5 SDK v17.1.0 supports all the features you want in your application, that porting the project is not recommended.

Best Regards,

Maria

[afarre]

Thank you for your fast answer, I was stuck in a very frustrating point: while ncs seems to be the future, currently there no upgrade way, not only for current existing SES projects but also for current examples of sdk.

Now I know such upgrade it is not recommended.

Please read my post, from some months, ago:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../upgrading-ses-to-latest-version-5-70a-does-not-work-properly-with-nrf52832-dk-and-nfr52840-dk

to understand my interest in such moving forward. As you can read, SES jlink left working and I am forced to use older jlink version to keep SES working. Also, as you can read, DEJANS, a mate of you, is recommending to migrate to VS Code.

Once again, confusing and frustrating.

Best Regards,

Alberto

[Maria Gilje]

Hello Alberto,

afarre said:

Once again, confusing and frustrating.

I will try to clear things up. I believe some of the confusion stems from nRF Connect for VS Code (the extension) being confused with nRF Connect SDK (our newest SDK).

The choice of Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is up to each user, though we have some IDEs which we offer official support for as well as some IDEs which are recommended. SES has been supported for a while, and still is for most versions of both of our SDKs. For our newest release of nRF Connect SDK (NCS), VS Code is the only supported IDE.

Using VS Code as an IDE for nRF5 SDK projects is a feasible option. But note that the nRF Connect extension is made for NCS projects. This video tutorial shows how to set up the environment, and customize the interface to your preferences. It does not use the nRF Connect extension, but one extension for C/C++ language support and one for debugging ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers.

I hope this cleared up some of the confusion. Kindly let me know if anything else is unclear.

BR,

Maria