SDK Middleware Doesn't Appear in Mcuxpresso

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SDK Middleware Doesn't Appear in Mcuxpresso

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gregs5451
Contributor III

Configured SDK as shown below.

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Installed SDK. Go to create New Project. Middleware tab is blank?

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Windows browsed to downloaded .zip file. Contents shows Middleware folders and data. Why is this not showing up in Mcuxpresso?

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11 Replies

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philmcmillan
Contributor II

I found this discussion very helpful, thanks all!  danielchen@fsl‌, might I be able to make a suggestion to the engineers on the SDK team?   It would be very helpful to have a matrix or table that shows which peripherals are supported in the Peripherals Tool for that particular release of the SDK.   There is no issue to pull in the code for an example, but like gregs5451‌ and mykepredkomimetics‌, I spent too long trying to troubleshoot this and thinking I was doing something wrong - would be really nice to have some the detailed peripheral support for the part listed in a Release Note for that SDK.   Just my 2 cents to make further improvements to a great product! 

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danielchen
NXP TechSupport
NXP TechSupport

Thanks for your good suggestion, I will discuss it with SDK team.

Regards

Daniel

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myke_predko
Senior Contributor III

Hi danielchen‌,

There really needs to be more transparency from NXP in the SDK process.  This was discussed in What is the SDK Version for Parts listed in the "MCUXpresso Supported Devices Table"? and it keeps causing us developers to knock our heads against the walls of varying hardness when working with parts.  

I like working with SDK 2.7.0 but the parts I want to work with have SDKs of 2.3.1 and 2.2.0 which is a lot more difficult and requires a certain amount of ingenuity and hard work to make sure you have the right drivers and source code (none of which is documented).  I have asked repeatedly if and when the SDKs for the parts I'm working with are going to be brought up to the latest standard (and have offered to help in the process) with no response (which tells me they're not).  I have also asked what is the process for creating an SDK for a part and only received silence (to which I assume the process is manual as well as time consuming and because it is not well designed it can't be automated, which makes me question NXP's technical capabilities).  

There is no document listing what drivers, middleware, etc. and MCUXpresso Wizards are available for specific devices.  I don't know how to be maze-bright selecting an NXP part without posting a million questions here and then loading the part's SDKs to try and understand how much work it will take to get the part working in the application I am developing.   

Does NXP management understand that the MCUXpresso and SDK tools, while very good when they are at the latest levels (which only seems available for the parts built in select Freedom and Tower boards), are often difficult and cranky to use with requiring differing amounts of testing and experimenting required to get code working for all other parts?  This adds a great deal of uncertainty when developing applications becasue the level of wizard support is unknown and it is just about impossible to figure out, without NXP support on this board.  Along with that, understanding which sample boards can be used for verifying the operation of peripherals and other features of the target board is not intuitive or documented in locations that can be easily found.  

I'm saying this as a customer that is growing more and more reluctant to consider NXP devices going forwards in the future because I don't know what the SDK plan and feature availability is for the parts I'm using right now; I might as well look to other OEMs as the effort required to evaluate their parts is the same as evaluating a new to me Kinetis or LPC part number.  

myke

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philmcmillan
Contributor II

I have a similar but possibly different issue.  I am trying to add USB Host middleware to an MCUXpresso project in the IDE (v11.2) using the "Manage SDK Components" dialog (for a FRDM-K28F board).  The Middleware section will not appear in the peripheral tool and there is no way to configure Host Roles, Use Case presets etc.  

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danielchen
NXP TechSupport
NXP TechSupport

Hi Phil:

The visibility of "middleware " components in MCUX IDE, for SDKs with SDKs with manifest version older than 3.2.0 is controlled by a checkbox in preferences. 

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Regards

Daniel

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myke_predko
Senior Contributor III

Hey danielchen‌,

I just tried it with the latest version of the MCUXpresso IDE and the MK22FN1MA0xxx12 SDK (2.3.1) - when you disable the hidden middleware components, something does come up there now....

2020.08.03 - MCUXpresso with Middleware Enabled.jpg

But, it doesn't list the USB components (which both philmcmillan‌ and I are looking for).

So I guess my previous comment still stands - if you want USB for these devices you have to copy in the components from example projects.  

myke

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danielchen
NXP TechSupport
NXP TechSupport

Yes, your previous comment still stands. For SDK packages from earlier SDK releases, the manifest file does not contain information for proper appearance of middleware components.

Regards

Daniel

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myke_predko
Senior Contributor III

philmcmillan‌,

Just checking and saw that the FRDM-K28F has an SDK of 2.6.0.  I *thnk* (and the NXP engineers will have to confirm this) that only SDK 2.7.0 and later have USB come up in the middleware tab.  I don't have experience with a board with SDK 2.6.0 (just earlier ones).  

I think you'll have to find a FRDM-K28F example project that has the features you're looking for, copy the project and build your application from there.  

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myke_predko
Senior Contributor III

Hi gregs5451‌,

I think the issue is with how NXP maintains the SDKs - I'm in the same situation with the parts that I want to use.  

You didn't say which of the middleware features you want to use.  In my case, I wanted to use the USB (CDC) Device and I found the best solution was to take the example USB CDC communications example and copy in the folders and files that were specific to the feature.  

It's not as easy as just clicking a box in the project wizard, but it gets you to where you want to be.  

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.  

myke

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gregs5451
Contributor III

Hi Myke,

Thanks for the reply.

I just needed some kind of confirmation that I'm not doing anything wrong and that the tool is not working as expected.

Yes, I will have to copy and paste and hack-hack-hack. Of course I'm sure the preferred way is to "check the box", just in case you miss something. I certainly prefer not to have to deal with cryptic compiler error messages...

Thanks again,

gregg

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danielchen
NXP TechSupport
NXP TechSupport

Myke is right. I will report an issue to develop team. Thanks

Regards

Daniel

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