2.8 Using MPLAB® Code Configurator (MCC)

This section describes how to use MCC standalone with Microchip Studio. MPLAB® Code Configurator (MCC) is a free graphical programming environment that generates seamless, easy-to-understand C code to insert into your project.

Using MCC (Standalone) in Microchip Studio

This short video shows you how to install and use the MCC Standalone application with Microchip Studio.
Note: Use Microchip Studio 7.0.2594 or later.
Note: See MPLAB Discover Tips and Tricks.

MCC Melody:

Evolved from MCC Classic, MCC Melody offers an improved and flexible architecture to easily configure devices, peripherals and libraries and generate code. It visualizes components’ dependencies to simplify development and offers easy maintenance by enabling content versioning at the driver level. You can easily migrate across microcontrollers (MCUs) with MCC Melody to keep up with your application needs.
Note: See Getting Started with MCC Melody in the MCC Melody Technical Reference.
Note: To find the MCC Melody API reference for AVR or the supported devices, see: MCC Melody API References and Device support.

MCC Standalone Download:

MCC can be downloaded and run as a separate application. You can find more information and download the standalone installer from the below WEB page: Download and get help on MCC Standalone.

Creating a New Project for MCC Development:

After installing MCC Standalone, you can use it for AVR development with Microchip Studio.

Here is how to do it:

1: Create a new 8-bit AVR Application Project using XC8 or GCC.

2: Open MCC by a) pressing the MCC button or b) opening the Tools menu and selecting MCC Standalone.

3: Note: If it is the first time you start MCC, you probably need to select content from the content manager to download. Select Melody as the framework.

4: Add the needed drivers and libraries from the device resources. Press the generate button to generate the configuration. The project view in Studio will then be updated automatically.

5: Build and start debugging in Studio.

6: If needed, reconfigure the project in MCC. Remember to press the generate button after your changes. Then the project will be generated and updated in Studio.

Note on main.h: The file main.c is created by Studio when creating a new project. MCC also generates main.c, which overwrites the one from Studio. A copy is made of the original and named main.c_bck to prevent losing those modifications. This file is saved alongside main.c in the project folder but not visible by default in the project tree in Studio.

MPLAB Cloud Tools Ecosystem

  • MPLAB Discover is a tool to help find relevant projects quickly. Various filters help you efficiently find a Microchip tested example, as close as possible to your application requirements, to use as a starting point for your development.

  • MPLAB Xpress is an online IDE with many of the basic features of MPLAB X IDE.

It is also possible to import MCC Melody projects from MPLAB Xpress into Microchip Studio, as demonstrated in this video:

Video: Importing MCC projects from MPLAB Xpress

Do the desired configuration, then generate files and export the project, which is saved as a zip file that can be imported into Microchip Studio.

Start Microchip Studio and select Import MPLAB Xpress Project:

Import Dialog:

Use the dialog to import a project exported from MCC online. Remember to press Generate in MCC to create the files before selecting Export.

Use Browse to locate the exported file of type zip:

  • Project to Import is the project name from the zip file. If more than one project is present, a drop-down menu lets you select the one to import. If this field is gray, in most cases, there is only one project.
  • The project name will be set by the project name from MCC but can be changed
  • The location is Microchip Studio default but can be changed
  • The solution name is auto-filled from the imported project but can be changed
  • The compiler is defined by the MCC project and cannot be changed

Press OK to import the project.

Reconfigure the Project in MCC

Do the reconfiguring in MCC in a browser. Generate and export the project.

Select Update from MCC export File either from the icon on the toolbar or from the right click menu.

Select the updated export file. A summary is displayed:

Modified files in the project are listed and will not be overwritten unless selected. Use View Difference to display changes made.

By default, a zip file placed in the folder ".project-backup" is the backup of the current project.

This file works as safety if it is necessary to undo the changes. However, it is better to use a version control system like git.