To start working with the Damson IDE you will first need to create a project to store DAMSON files and launch configurations. To create a new Damson project either select File->New->Damson Project from the main File menu (this should be the second option) or right click on the white area of the Package Explorer window and select New->Damson Project. If the Damson Project option is not available then there has been some problem installing the plug-in.


Give the Project a name and then select Finish. A message box will offer to open the Damson IDE Perspective which is associated with the Damson Project type. You should select Yes. Alternatively the perspective can be changed by choosing “Window->Open Perspective->Damson Perspective”. Following this you sill be presented with the default Damson IDE view which will show the Damson Navigator containing your Damson project folder.

Creating a new DAMSON File

A new Damson file can be added to the project using the new Damson file wizard by first selecting the Damson project folder and then selecting File->New->Damson File. Similarly the wizard is available by right clicking on the Project and selecting New->Other and then locating the Damson File Wizard from within the Damson folder of the dialogue box. Note: It is possible to add a new Damson file without using the wizard (in this case right click on the project folder and select New->File giving the new file the *.d extension). Without using the wizard, the file will be empty rather than continuing a Damson code template.

The wizard only requires that a file name be specified. Upon selecting Finish the new file will be displayed in the Damson code editor and will contain a simple template which constitutes a minimal Damson program.

Configuring the DAMSON Binary Location

Before the Damson program can be launched the location of the DAMSON binary file must be specified. The is configured for each project and is accessible as a DAMSON project property by right clicking on a Damson Project and selecting "Properties". If the project is a Damson project then the DAMSON project property page will be listed on the left. When selected it allows the location of the damson binary file to be specified. This should be set to the location in which you downloaded the main Damson compiler (emulator/code generator and debugger).

Launching a DAMSON Program

In order to launch (or run) a Damson program from within a Damson project a run configuration must be created using the standard Eclipse interface. In order to create and configure a run configuration select Run->Run Configurations... or use the Run short cut () from the quick menu. Within the Run Configurations dialogue box right click on Damson Application and select New. A new configuration (called New_configuration) will be created which can be renamed appropriately. The configuration options are presented on the right hand side of the dialogue. The main tab holds the Damson specific configurations which are the Program and the Program Options. To select a program, click the Browse button and type “*.d” (for damson files) into the select text box to display all matching Damson files.


The following program options can be set and the configuration can be launched using the Run button (subsequent launching can be achieved via the launch button short cut );

• Run in DAMSON emulator: This will compile and run the damson program in the interpreted emulation mode and display the results (e.g. any timestamps, printf within the code and execution time summary in the Console Window of the Eclipse IDE.
• Disassemble (-dis): This will generate a disassembly file with the Damson intermediate instructions and alias memory layouts for inspection.
  
• Generate Routing Table (-rt): This will generate the damson routing tables between nodes which will be saved to a file with the same project name and a *.tab extension.
• Code Generate (-c): This will generate binary elf files for each node in the program, a loader file (*.ldr) to be used by the loader and a make file "dmake" for linking the elf modules with the damson runtime environment.
  
• Compile to binary (-o): This option has been depreciated.

If you are presented with an error dialogue suggesting that the damson executable can not be found then please ensure that the Damson Binary location is specified correctly.

Next: Debugging in Eclipse