This article is an update from a previous posting from David Dubrow about the Remote Connections View found on Carbide. In this update we will review some of the newer features of the Remote Connections tool as well as provide updated screenshots.

The feature is designed to improve the quality of a debugging (or trace) sessions.

The Remote Connections view is a UI framework that allows Carbide users to create remote connections and test/configure debug services over those connections. These connections are then shared inside the IDE. We currently support on-device debug launch configurations and OST Trace (software trace). These configurations may be exported and shared in different workspaces or with other users.

Some of the benefits of the Remote Connections view is that the user can validate that the connection is present to guaranty that the agents on the phone target are the very latest. Debug sessions will improve greatly as a result.

The Remote Connections view displays all the remote connection objects. Under each object, there is a node for each supported service and its current status. In this example you can see that USB supports On-Device Debug (TRK service) and OST Trace (Tracing service).

Remote Connections View

From the view a dialog can be invoked to create or edit connection objects and their settings. Also, as the settings are changed, supported services can be tested on that connection.

Remote Connections View - 1st dialog

Finally, the dialog accesses a server containing the latest remote agents for installation on a device.

Remote Connections - 2nd dialog box

At any instance of use like a launch configuration of on-device debugging, existing connection objects that support that service can be selected and edited or new ones can be created without having to go to the remote connections view.

Hopefully, this feature will make connecting to devices through Carbide a lot more user friendly

The Qt group has posted a short getting started video on using the “garden” release of Qt for S60 with Carbide.c++ on YouTube.

Very nicely done as it highlights exactly what people can do with both Qt and the Carbide tools to get applications up and running quickly in the emulator or on devices.

Great job.

Carbide.c++ v2.0.2 is now available via the Software Update manager within Carbide. Click the Help > Software Updates > Find and Install… menu item, enable the Search for updates to the currently installed features option, then click Finish. Carbide will then locate, download, and install the update. A quick relaunch of Carbide will make the new capabilities available.

This is a minor release so not too many features:

• New Qt tools added. These are v1.4.3 tools and will support Qt 4.5 development for S60.
• Updated WINSCW compiler - changes will improve Qt and Raptor/Symbian Buid System v2 builds
• Bug 7473 - Added PKG files to the Qt template projects so SIS files can be built and installed on a device.
• Bug 7542 - Updated Remote Connections UI to provide better descriptions when choosing between USB or TRK 2.x USB (supports USB only).
• Bug 7915 - Improved the timing out mechanism in Carbide so that TRK doesn’t time out when target’s are slow to respond
• Bug 8276 - The main issue that caused Stepping line by line to be slow has been fixed. However, there are some cases where the slowness still appears. For example, when accessing files across a network, and the network is down or if a source file is missing. For the first issue, re-establishing the connection resolves the slow debugging issue.

Most of the current on going work involves changes made under the hood to get Carbide ready for when the Symbian OS, S60 SDK, and a host of other tools are made available as part of the new open source Symbian Foundation.

Enjoy.

The release of Carbide.c++ 2.0 includes basic support for the prerelease version of Qt for S60 SDK (sorry, no basic Qt support). This support provides importing and creation of Qt projects, as well as debugging and building them within Carbide. In addition, there is a Qt perspective that provides a custom environment for working with Qt projects.

Getting Qt up and running involves a few basic steps:

1. Download the Qt for S60 SDK prerelease
2. Install the Qt SDK according to the install.txt file provided in the SDK
3. Launch Carbide and verify the SDK is present using the SDK Preferences panel. If not, add it to the SDK list.
4. Import the Qt .PRO project file into Carbide and begin development

Once the .PRO file is imported you can use all the Carbide features to debug and build the project just like any other. Carbide automatically monitors the .PRO file and any changes detected and will update the project file to keep the two in sync.

See the Qt project support section in the Carbide.c++ User Guide for additional details.

On Dec 5, 2008 the Nokia Native Tools team released Carbide.c++ v2.0.

This new version includes a host on new technology and UI changes, all of which are described on the Carbide.c++ 2.0: What’s new page.

There is one additional feature that arrived late and required a lot of work on our end, and that is the Carbide.c++ v2.0 is FREE to all users. You can find out more and download it on the Forum.Nokia.com site’s Carbide.c++ page and install any of the three editions: Developer, Professional, and OEM.

So, if you been putting off updating, now might be the best time.

Enjoy.

For those of you who haven’t been reading very long or have forgotten, the preferred channel for any Carbide.c++ problems, suggestions, or questions is our Bugzilla database, which is accessible at:

https://xdabug001.ext.nokia.com/bugzilla/

Once you have a Bugzilla login, though, there’s an even easier way to get in touch with us. From the Carbide.c++ Help menu, select New Bug Report:

This brings up a handy form where you can enter the relevant details for your suggestion or problem and the reporter plugin will fill in all the Bugzilla fields and submit the issue for you. It can even gather information on your Carbide configuration, bundle it up, and attach it to your bug report. A real time-saver.

I doubt any of you will ever need to submit bug reports since Carbide.c++ is perfect in every way (ahem), but the Bug Reporting dialog can help you generate defect or enhancement reports more quickly and completely.

In run-mode the Carbide.c++ v2.0 debugger now supports the auto-targeting of processes that are already running or created during the execution of a debug session. Previously, the debugger forced users to explicitly attach to a running process. Now, the debugger attempts to target all the EXEs specified in the Executables tab of the launch configuration.

• If the executables are already started, it gets the load address of the executable and targets it for debugging, resolving any breakpoints it finds.
• The debugger will target any executable not already started whenever a “process load” event occurs, resolving its breakpoints as well.

These changes should make the debugging of DLLs and EXEs a bit easier and more reliable.

Many moons ago I mentioned in Online Carbide Documentation Push that I wanted to publish our Carbide docs to the web for all to see and use. The main reason for this push was to make all Carbide info available via Google searches. The second reason I’m happy to have the material online is so that anyone can now link to the info using standard URLs. No more long title paths like Carbide.c++ User Guide > Creating programs > Using the editor > inserting spaces in a source file references in these posts.

Well, that day is finally here, now you can simply browse the Carbide Online Help Center for all of your Carbide documentation goodies.

It’s taken us awhile to make it happen and some higher priority features were completed first, but the info is now live and ready for use. Based on the Eclipse Infocenter it’s all the product docs shipping with the Carbide.c++ v2.0 release. We’ve integrated it with our build process so that when the next release of Carbide is ready, any new or updated docs will appear as well, ensuring you always have the latest info.

What’s not there?

Well, for now none of the S60 SDK or Symbian OS docs are available. Primarily that’s because the S60 docs are released by a separate team at this time and more work remains to get the okay for them to appear here. But we’re working on it. As for the Symbian OS docs, Symbian already has those available online via the Symbian Developer Library so there is little reason for us to duplicate their work.

So, browse around, Google it up a bit, and enjoy. If you have any comments or suggestions I’d love to hear them.

Coming soon to a desktop near you will be the latest version of Carbide.c++, namely version 2.0. Most of you know already that Carbide is made from a diverse set of plugins that operate on the Eclipse framework. Many of the improvements we provide come not from us but from the Eclipse community that spent countless hours adding new features to the Eclipse Ganymede release, version 3.4. Using that release as a base we added in the CDT 5.0 plug-ins as well as updated and new Carbide plug-ins. The sum of all this effort is a new Carbide.c++ release, currently v2.0B1, with release planned for later in the year..

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So, I’m up in Dallas passing on information to one of the many internal Nokia groups on the current features in Carbide as well as some upcoming technologies we plan to support RSN. With all the new features to be shipped with Carbibe 2.0 it’s sometimes hard to remember that others have not already spent 3+ years working with it nor know all of its little secrets. OK, to be honest I don’t know them all either, but with all the development work happening between Eclipse, CDT, and Carbide, there’s a lot to learn with each new release.

One of the features that got misplaced was the exporting and importing of the key bindings. The capability is still there, just not where people expect to find it.

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