Espressif IDF Eclipse Plugins
IDF Eclipse Plugins aiming to provide better tooling capabilities, which simplifies and enhances standard Eclipse CDT for developing and debugging ESP32 IoT applications.
Table Of Contents
- Prerequisites
- Installing IDF Eclipse Plugins
- Installing ESP-IDF Tools
- Creating a new Project
- Creating new project using ESP-IDF Templates
- Import an existing IDF Project
- Configuring Launch Target
- Compiling the Project
- Flashing the Project
- Viewing Serial Output
- Configuring the Project using sdkconfig Editor
- CMake Editor
- Debugging the Project
- Configuring Build Environment Variables
- Configuring Core Build Toolchain
- Configuring CMake Toolchain
- Configuring the flash arguments
- Upgrading IDF Eclipse Plugins
- Troubleshooting Guide
- How to raise bugs
- FAQ
Prerequisites
- Java 8 and above : Download and install Java SE from here
- Python 3.5 and above : Download and install Python from here
- Eclipse 2018-12 CDT and above : Download and install Eclipse CDT package from here
- ESP-IDF 4.0 and above : Follow the download instructions from here
Getting started with the IDF Eclipse Plugins
Eclipse provides two ways to install the IDF Plugins
- Installing IDF Plugins using update site url
- Installing IDF Plugins from Local
Installing IDF Plugins using update site url
You can install the IDF Eclipse plugins into an existing Eclipse CDT installation using the update site url. You first need to add the release repository url as follows:
- Go to
Help
->Install New Software
- Click
Add…
- Enter
Location
of the repository https://dl.espressif.com/dl/idf-eclipse-plugin/updates/latest/ - Enter
Name
asEspressif IDF Plugins for Eclipse
- Click
Ok
- Select
Espressif IDF
from the list and proceed with the installation
Installing IDF Plugins from Local
- Download the latest update site archive for IDF Eclipse Plugins here - https://github.com/espressif/idf-eclipse-plugin/releases
- Unzip the archive
- In Eclipse, choose
Help
->Install New Software
- Click
Add…
button - Select
Archive
from Add repository dialog and select the filecom.espressif.idf.update-1.0.0-xxxxxxx.zip
from the extracted folder - Click
Add
- Select
Espressif IDF
from the list and proceed with the installation - Restart the Eclipse
Installing ESP-IDF Tools
ESP-IDF requires some prerequisite tools to be installed so you can build firmware for the ESP32. The prerequisite tools include Python, Git, cross-compilers, menuconfig tool, CMake and Ninja build tools.
For this getting started follow the instructions below.
- Navigate to
Help
>Espressif IDF Tools Manager
>Install Tools
- Provide the
ESP-IDF Directory
path to get started with the installation. Check the Console for the installation details. Installation might take a while if you're doing it for the first time since it has to download and install xtensa-esp32-elf, esp32ulp-elf, cmake, openocd-esp32 and ninja tools.
Note: Make sure you run this step even if you've already installed the required tools, since it sets the IDF_PATH,PATH,OPENOCD_SCRIPTS and IDF_PYTHON_ENV_PATH based on the idf_tools.py export command.
ESP-IDF Directory selection dialog:
Create a new Project
- Make sure you are in
C/C++ Perspective
- Go to
File
>New
>Espressif IDF Project
(If you don't see this, please reset the perspective fromWindow
>Perspective
>Reset Perspective..
) - Provide the
Project name
- Click
Finish
Create a new project using ESP-IDF Templates
- Make sure you're in
C/C++ Perspective
- Go to
File
>New
>Espressif IDF Project
(If you don't see this, please reset the perspective fromWindow
>Perspective
>Reset Perspective..
) - Provide the
Project name
- Click
Next
- Check
Create a project using one of the templates
- Select the required template from the tree
- Click
Finish
Import an existing IDF Project
- Make sure you're in
C/C++ Perspective
. - Right click in the Project Explorer
- Select
Import..
Menu - Select
Existing IDF Project
fromEspressif
import wizard menu list - Click
Next
- Click on
Browse...
to choose an existing project location directory - Provide
Project name
if you wish you have a different name - Click
Finish
to import the selected project into eclipse workspace as a CMake project
Configuring Launch target
Next, we need to tell CDT to use the toolchain for our project. This is accomplished through the Launch Bar, the new widget set you see on the far left of the toolbar. And this will be shown only when you have a project in the project explorer.
- Click on the third dropdown
- Select
New Launch Target
- Select
ESP Target
- Provide properties for the target where you would like to launch the application. Enter a
Name
for the target and select theSerial Port
your ESP device is connected to on your machine. The OS and architecture need to match the settings for the toolchain. You can see those settings in the Preferences by selecting C/C++ and Core Build Toolchains.
Compiling the Project
- Select a project from the Project Explorer
- Select
Run
from the first drop-down, which is calledLaunch Mode
- Select your application from the second drop-down, which is called
Launch Configuration
(Auto-detected) - Select target from the third drop-down, which is called
Launch Target
- Now click on the
Build
button widget which you see on the far left of the toolbar
Flashing the Project
ESP-IDF has a tool called idf.py
which is a wrapper around make flash command with some handy operations. Flash operation can be initiated with just a click of a launch button(second button from the left) and it's auto-configured to flash the application with the default flash command i.e, idf.py -p PORT flash
.
To provide the customized flash arguments, please follow this link for further instructions.
Viewing Serial Output
To see what program do we need to configure Eclipse terminal to connect the serial port.
- Click on the
Open a Terminal
icon from the toolbar - Choose
Serial Terminal
from the terminal drop-down - Select
Serial Port
for your board. Example:/dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART
- And, configure the remaining settings and click on Ok to launch the Eclipse terminal and which will listen the USB port
Configuring the Project
IDF plugin will allow you to configure sdkconfig
without leaving the Eclipse environment.
SDK Configuration editor
Project configuration is held in a single file called sdkconfig
in the root directory of the project. This configuration file can be modified using SDK Configuration Editor
To launch the SDK Configuration editor:
- Navigate to
sdkconfig
file - Double click on the file to launch the SDK configuration editor
- Use
Ctrl+S
orCommand+S
based on the OS environment to save the changes. You can also use EclipseSave
button from the toolbar - To revert the sdkconfig editor changes, either you can close the editor without saving them. Or you can right click on the
sdkconfig
file and selectLoad sdkconfig
menu option to revert the changes from the editor.
CMake Editor
CMake Editor Plug-in is integrated with IDF plugins for editing CMake files such as CMakeLists.txt. It provides syntax coloring, CMake command content assist, and code templates.
CMake editor preferences can be controlled using Eclipse > Preferences > CMakeEd
Debugging the Project
Please refer to JTAG Debugging guide
Configuring Environment Variables
Eclipse auto configure the required environment variables in the Preferences > C/C++ Build > Environment
section If IDF Tools are installed using Help
> Espressif IDF Tools Manager
> Install Tools
menu option.
Mandatory required environment variables:
- IDF_PATH
- PATH
- OPENOCD_SCRIPTS
- IDF_PYTHON_ENV_PATH
Due to any issues if the required environment variables are not configured, Please follow the step by step instructions below.
- Click on the
Environment
preference page underC/C++ Build
. - Click “Add…” again, and enter name
IDF_PATH
. The value should be the full path where ESP-IDF is installed. - Similarly we shoud configure OPENOCD_SCRIPTS, IDF_PYTHON_ENV_PATH and PATH environment variables
This is how they looks like:
IDF_PATH
/Users/kondal/esp/esp-idf
OPENOCD_SCRIPTS
/Users/kondal/.espressif/tools/openocd-esp32/v0.10.0-esp32-20190313/openocd-esp32/share/openocd/scripts
IDF_PYTHON_ENV_PATH
/Users/kondal/.espressif/python_env/idf4.0_py3.7_env
PATH
/Users/kondal/.espressif/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp32-2019r1-8.2.0/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin:/Users/kondal/.espressif/tools/esp32ulp-elf/2.28.51.20170517/esp32ulp-elf-binutils/bin:/Users/kondal/.espressif/tools/cmake/3.13.4/CMake.app/Contents/bin:/Users/kondal/.espressif/tools/openocd-esp32/v0.10.0-esp32-20190313/openocd-esp32/bin:/Users/kondal/.espressif/tools/ninja/1.9.0/:/Users/kondal/.espressif/python_env/idf4.0_py3.7_env/bin:/Users/kondal/esp/esp-idf/tools:$PATH
Configuring Toolchains
We need to tell Eclipse CDT what is the core build toolchain and CMake toolchain which need to be used to build the project. However, this will be auto-detected if you've installed the tools using the Help > Espressif IDF Tools Manager > Install Tools
option from the Eclipse.
If due to any issues if these toolchains are not detected, Please follow the step by step instructions below to add a new toolchain.
Configuring Core Build Toolchains
- Open Eclipse Preferences
- Navigate to
C/C++ -> “Core Build Toolchains
preference page - Click on
Add..
from the User defined Toolchians tables - Select
GCC
as a toolchain type - Click on
Next>
- Provide the GCC Toolchain Settings:
Compiler: /Users/kondal/esp/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc, Operating System: esp32, CPU Architecture: xtensa
Configuring CMake Toolchain
We now need to tell CDT which toolchain to use when building the project. This will pass the required arguments to CMake when generating the Ninja files.
- Navigate to “C/C++ -> “CMake” preference page
- Click
Add..
and this will launch the New CMake Toolchain configuration dialog - Browse CMake toolchain
Path
. Example:/Users/kondal/esp/esp-idf/tools/cmake/toolchain-esp32.cmake
- Select GCC Xtensa Toolchain compiler from the drop-down list. Example:
esp32 xtensa /Users/kondal/esp/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc
NOTE: Eclipse CDT has a bug in saving the toolchain preferences, hence it's recommended to restart the Eclipse before we move further configuring the launch target.
Launch Configuration
To provide the customized launch configuration and flash arguments, please follow the step by step instructions below.
- Click on the
Launch Configuration
edit button - Switch to the
Main
tab - Specify the
Location
where this application has to run on. Sinceidf.py
is a python file, will configure the python system path. Example:${system_path:python}
- Specify
Working directory
of the application. Example:${workspace_loc:/hello_world}
- In additional arguments, provide a flashing command which will run in the specified working directory
- Flash command looks like this:
/Users/kondal/esp/esp-idf/tools/idf.py -p /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART flash
- Click OK to save the settings
- Click on the
Launch
icon to flash the application to the selected board
Troubleshooting
Error Log
The Error Log view captures all the warnings and errors logged by plug-ins. The underlying log file is a .log file stored in the .metadata subdirectory of the workspace.
The Error Log view is available under Open the Log view Window > Show View > Error Log
.
To export the current log view content into a file, press the Export Log toolbar button or select Export Log...
from the context menu. Then, enter a file name.
Always provide an error log when reporting an issue.
Console View Log
The Console View provides all the warnings and errors related to the current running process or build. To access the console view.
From the menu bar, Window > Show View > Console
.
Espressif IDF Tools Console
The Espressif IDF Tools Console is part of Console view, this will be opened only during the installation of IDF tools from the Eclipse.
If any issue while installing the IDF tools using Help > Espressif Tools Manager > Install tools
, please check the Espressif IDF Tools Console to see the errors reported.
If this is not active, it can be switched by clicking on the Display Selected Console
icon from the console view.
How do I upgrade my existing IDF Eclipse Plugins?
If you are installing IDF Eclipse Plugins into your Eclipse for the first time, you first need to add the new release's repository as follows:
- Window > Preferences > Install/Update > Available Software Sites
- Click
Add
- Enter the URL of the new repository https://dl.espressif.com/dl/idf-eclipse-plugin/updates/latest/
- Click
Ok
If you've already installed IDF Eclipse Plugins using update site URL, you can get the latest changes using below
- Help > Check for Updates
- If updates are found, select
Espressif IDF Plugins for Eclipse
and deselect all other items - Click
Next
to proceed with the installation
How to raise bugs
Please raise the issues here https://github.com/espressif/idf-eclipse-plugin/issues with the complete environment details and log.
FAQ
- Which version of Java should I use?
Java 8 and above
- Which version of Eclipse should I use?
Eclipse 2019-12 CDT and above
- How do I know the installed version of Java in my system?
You can check using "java -version" command from the terminal
- Espressif Menu options and Espressif IDF Project menu is not visible in my Eclipse
Make sure you have installed Java 8 and higher and you're in the C/C++ perspective
- How do I access the error log?
To view the Eclipse error log: From the main menu, select Window > Show View > Other. Then select General > Error Log.
- How do I know the installed IDF Eclipse Plugins version?
You can check using Eclipse menu > About Eclipse > Installation Details > Installed Software > Search for "Espressif"
- How do I uninstall IDF Eclipse Plugins from the Eclipse?
Eclipse > About Eclipse > Installation Details > Installed Software > Search for "espressif" > Select the espressif IDF plugins > Uninstall..
- Unable to install IDF plugins in Eclipse?
Please check the error log from the main menu, select Window > Show View > Other. Then select General > Error Log.
- Do IDF Eclipse Plugins support CMake IDF project creation?
Yes, you can create IDF CMake project using File > New > Espressif IDF Project
- Can I import my existing IDF project into Eclipse?
Yes, you can import using Import Menu. Import... > Espressif > Existing IDF Project
- Deleted C/C++ build envrionment variables still appearing?
Uncheck Eclipse Oomph Preference Recorder. Which can be performed by following. Eclipse Preferences >Oomph > Setup Tasks > Preference Recorder > Uncheck "Record into".