MPLAB® Harmony v3 Peripheral Libraries on SAM D21: Step 1

Last modified by Microchip on 2023/11/09 09:08

Create project and configure the SAM D21 MCU

Setup MHC Plug-in Window Open in Standalone Mode

Go to Tools > Options. You will see the Options window open.

Open the Options window

Options window

Go to Plugins > Window Manager and select Standalone mode. Click Apply and then click OK.

Change Windows manager settings

  • When you launch MHC for the first time, it displays a prompt asking for the mode in which you would like to use MHC.
    • Standalone mode (as a separate window)
    • Native mode (as an embedded window in MPLAB X)
  • Standalone mode is the default mode.
  • MHC will launch in the operating mode selected the first time, every time you launch MHC.
  • Step 1.2 above shows a way to change the MHC operating mode.

For this lab, MHC is configured to operate in Standalone mode.

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Create MPLAB Harmony v3 Project Using MPLAB X IDE

Select File > New Project from the main IDE menu.

Close all existing opened projects before you start creating a new project.

In the Categories pane of the New Project dialog window, select Microchip Embedded. In the Projects pane, select 32-bit MPLAB Harmony 3 Project, then click Next.

New Project window

If 32-Bit MPLAB Harmony 3 Project is not displayed, you will need to install MHC.

In the Framework Path edit box, browse to the folder you downloaded the framework to. If you haven't done this, or want to download it to a different folder, click the Launch Framework Downloader button, then click Next.

For more information on the framework downloader, see the "Download MPLAB Harmony Framework" section of the "MPLAB Harmony Configurator Overview" page.

Manage Framework pane

In the Project Settings window, apply the following settings:

  • Location: indicates the path to the root folder of the new project. All project files will be placed inside this folder. The project location can be any valid path, for example, C:\microchip\harmony\v3\training\dev.
  • Folder: indicates the name of the MPLAB X .X folder. Enter "sam_d21_xpro" to create a sam_d21_xpro.X folder.

This must be a valid directory name for your operating system.

  • Name: enter the project’s logical name as "getting_started_sam_d21_xpro". This is the name that will be shown within the MPLAB X IDE.

The Path box is read-only. It will update as you make changes to the other entries.

Click Next to proceed to configuration settings.

Name and Location pane

Clicking on the Show Visual Help button will open a help window, providing a detailed description of the various fields in the Project Settings window.

New Project Wizard

Follow the steps below to set the project’s configuration settings:

  • Name: enter the configuration name as "sam_d21_xpro".
  • Target Device: select ATSAMD21J18A as the target device.

You can select the Device Family or enter a partial device name to filter the list in Target Device in order to make it easier to locate the desired device.

After selecting the target device, click Finish to launch MHC.

Configuration Setting pane

The New Project wizard opens a Configuration Database Setup window to allow you to review the packages that will be used by the current project.

While the MHC tool launches, it will ask for the packages to be loaded. In the Load checkboxes list, select the csp package (by default this option is selected) and uncheck all the other packages (if any).

Click Launch to launch the MHC tool with the selected packages.

Configuration Database Setup window

The MHC plugin’s main window for the project will be displayed in Standalone mode, as shown in the following image.

main MHC plugin window

Before proceeding, set up the compiler toolchain. Click on the Projects tab on the top left pane in MPLAB X IDE. Right click on the project name getting_started_sam_d21_xpro and go to Properties.

Projects tab

Make sure that XC32 (v2.20) is selected as the Compiler Toolchain for XC32. Click on Apply and then click on OK.

XC32 setup

Tool Tip: If you closed MHC accidentally and would like to open it again, go to Tools > Embedded > MPLAB Harmony 3 Configurator in MPLAB X IDE.

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Verify Clock Settings

Launch Clock Easy View by going to the Tools menu of the MHC window and then select Clock Configuration.

Tools > Clock Configuration menu

A new window, Clock Easy View is opened inside MHC.

In the Clock Easy View, verify that the Main Clock is set to 48 MHz.

clock easy view

Tool Tip:

  • The Clock Easy View window can be minimized by clicking minimize button, as shown in the accompanying image.

minimize button

  • After minimizing the Clock Easy View window, you can see a small Clock Easy View tab at the bottom-left in MHC, as shown in the accompanying image.

clock easy view tab

  • The Clock Easy View window can be maximized by clicking maximize button or by double-clicking on the Clock Easy View window, as shown in the accompanying image.

maximize button

  • These tips apply to all other plug-in managers like Pin Configuration, DMA Configuration, Event System Configuration, and NVIC Configuration.

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