FreeMASTER 3.1.4 Update - Release Announcement

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Version 3.1.4 of the NXP FreeMASTER tool has just been published online. 

This version is backward compatible and fully replaces older 3.1.x releases (see previous announcements). The latest version brings new features and bugfixes described below.

The updated installer is available along with documentation and other resources at http://www.nxp.com/freemaster.  

Release description

FreeMASTER is a powerful data visualization tool developed and provided by NXP to help users monitor and control embedded applications running on NXP’s targets. It works with almost all NXP Arm ® Cortex®-M microcontrollers from both Edge Processing and Automotive business lines as well as with DSC and legacy Power Architecture, ColdFire and HCS12/Z platforms. Note that the license terms and conditions does not allow using FreeMASTER with non-authorized systems from other vendors.

Version 3.1.4 is a minor update of the 3.1.x mainline release line. If there is any previous 3.1.x version already installed on the host computer, the FreeMASTER 3.1.4 overwrites the installation and it remains referred as a general mainline version 3.1. Older 2.x and 3.0 versions are not removed. 

Version 3.1.4 is backward compatible with all previous versions. It supports variable monitoring, oscilloscope real time graphs, fast transient recorder graphs and connectivity to 3rd party applications. An HTML rendering engine based on Chromium with full support of JSON-RPC, HTML5 and JavaScript is available to create custom dashboards and other user interfaces that can run inside FreeMASTER or standalone in local or remote web browser. Older Internet Explorer rendering, ActiveX interface and protocols defined for versions 2.x are also still supported.

FreeMASTER Lite service which is part of the FreeMASTER installation package provides the communication core for Windows and Linux systems. It is accessible similarly as the FreeMASTER desktop application over the JSON-RPC interface. FreeMASTER Lite also embeds the popular Node-RED framework for graphical programming and provides many examples of use with the FreeMASTER tool. Find more information related to Node-RED in the dedicated training video. 

Note: Installing FreeMASTER Lite will require you to enter an activation code. Get your free code on the License Keys tab at the license information page.

FreeMASTER Node.js Installable Modules enable convenient use of the FreeMASTER JSON-RPC components in a Node.js applications managed by the ‘npm’ package manager.

New Features

Version 3.1.4 introduces brand new features extending data visualization and communication options:

Extended clipboard support

Clipboard cut, copy and paste operations are now supported in the Variable Watch view and Project Tree view. Thanks to JSON text format, the clipboard can also be used to copy and paste variables and project items between different projects.

ELF/DWARF V1 support

This format used to be supported until FreeMASTER 2.0. It is now back as there are customer still using older CodeWarrior tools which generate debugging information in this format (e.g. CodeWarrior for DSC 8.3).  

ActiveX and JSON-RPC API extended

New API added to enable runtime manipulation, activation, creation and deletion of project items like Watch-blocks, Oscilloscopes, Recorders, Array Viewers and Pipes. The project can now be also saved or saved-as programaticaly using a script calls.

A new FireCustomEvent and OnCustomEvent API may be used to communicate between all ActiveX and JSON-RPC scripting clients attached to FreeMASTER application. 

New methods enable to Read or Write multiple variables within a single RPC call. This may be used to optimize performance by reducing RPC communication and processing time. These methods are also supported in FreeMASTER Lite.

HTML Console Log view

Log view can be displayed as a floating/dockable pane in FreeMASTER. The view shows console messages generated by JScript applications running in IE and Chromium views.

RS232 control of RTS and DTR signals

Extended control over RS232 port enables to configure RTS, DTR, CTS and DSR handshake signals.

New address calculation operators

New offsetof operator is now supported in variable address expression. This operator can be
used as offsetof(TYPE, MEMBER) and it returns an offset of a structure member within a structure type.

This might prove useful to access members of structures at dynamically defined addresses.
For example: having a "ptr" variable holding a pointer to a structure instance, a member's
address may be defined as valueof(ptr)+offsetof(type,member).

New hint message displayed in a variable definition dialog lists all supported operators usable in a variable address field.

Graph font scaling

Font size of graph objects (legend and axis labels) can now be controlled and scaled up or down to achieve better visibility on 4k and other large monitors. The settings are saved
in computer's local registry.

Bugfixes and other extensions:

• FreeMASTER
  • Fixed premature OnCommPortState and OnBoardDetected events fired before ELF fully loaded.
  • Fixed ELF enumeration loading so the variables which use the enumerations are loaded properly.
  • Fixed copy/paste issue of the root item in the project tree.
  • Fixed clipboard behavior in 'textarea' elements inside CEF-rendered pages.
  • Fixed symbol type resolution in Variable definition dialog when working with ELF symbols.
• FreeMASTER Lite
  
  • Added debug logging functionality allowing to trace configuration file parsing
  • Fixed variables' information loading from configuration file
  • Fixed ReadELF function failures on missing elf property in connection definition inside configuration file

Release target audience

Both FreeMASTER and FreeMASTER Lite are primarily targeted to our customers, engineers and developers of NXP embedded applications from Industrial, IoT and Automotive areas who want to monitor and control their applications at runtime. FreeMASTER is also a strong framework which can be used to create interactive demos and user interfaces helping to use the embedded applications by yet wider target audience.

Prerequisites

FreeMASTER tools run on the host computer and communicate with the target microcontroller application using Serial, CAN, Ethernet/WiFi network, JTAG, BDM or other physical interface. The microcontroller communication drivers are available as part of MCUXpresso SDK, S32 Design Studio or as a standalone installation package. Get familiar with the communication protocol and the microcontroller driver API before using the FreeMASTER tool.

License terms and conditions permit use of FreeMASTER solely with systems based on NXP microprocessor or microcontroller systems.

Packages

A single self-extracting installation package which contains both FreeMASTER desktop application and the new FreeMASTER Lite service is available for Windows platforms. A package with the FreeMASTER Lite service is also available for Linux.
Access the installation and documentation at the FreeMASTER home page at https://www.nxp.com/freemaster.