In principle any SWD programmer can be used to program any nRF52 device. This is the only programming/debugging interface on the IC, so it has to be available. We integrate with Segger tools, so I would suggest a Segger debugger or production programmer. If this is during development you can also use a DK as programmer (see Debug output), but you cannot use it in production due to license restrictions.
We do not integrate with ST-Link and it is not officially supported, but it is possible to use it. You can find some threads about it here and elsewhere, for instance this post links to a video tutorial.
Hi i have now nrf52840 Preview DK here and i would like to flash my .hex file over the Programmer tool of nordic. But it doesent regognize the DK board.. I powered my DWM externly and connected from P20 the SWDIO and SWDCLK. Is there way to flash it ?
You also need to short the GND_DETECT pin on the P19 or P20 header to ground. This is how the onboard debugger knows that it should debug an external device instead of the nRF on the DK.
However, you write that it does not recognize the DK board. What is it in this case? It would be a good idea to ensure that you can debug the nRF on the DK first, just to verify that the tools etc are set up correctly. Another note tough. While a PDK (preview DK) should work when you just need to use it as a debugger, it has not been sold for a long time, so I assume you got a board from a colleague. That is even more reason to double check that the basics work, as the PDK may have been modified in various ways.
