BenchX

BenchX Eclipse-based Development Tools and IDE

Express Logic’s BenchX™ Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a full –featured, Eclipse-based tools solution for embedded systems. The Eclipse community’s efforts have ushered in a new generation of IDEs and tools that can be adapted for use with embedded systems. Express Logic’s BenchX, its own new Eclipse-based Integrated Development Environment, is tailored for embedded development, and supports the ARM7/ARM9 architecture (Cortex, Power Architecture, ColdFire, and MIPS processor architectures coming soon) . BenchX includes GNU C/C++ compilers, a graphical debugger, an instruction set simulator, and a USB or Ethernet target connection probe for download and debug, or any of the many Eclipse community plug-ins that provide additional functionality. ( Support for ARM’s RealView , Freescale’s CodeWarrior , MIPS’ SDE, IAR’s Embedded Workbench compilers coming soon). BenchX includes kernel-aware debugger support for Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS, but it can be used for development using any other RTOS, or no RTOS at all. Best of all, BenchX is very affordable, and requires no license keys.

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BenchX Components

BenchX consists of the following components, all fully integrated and ready to use in a unified Integrated Development Environment (IDE):

• New Project Wizard – The BenchX New Project Wizard eases the common task of creating a new development project. The wizard provides default settings that satisfy most needs, but also enables custom options for individual needs. The wizard is intuitive, and easy to follow. Tutorials are provided to show how the wizard can get new projects started quickly and error-free.

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• Builder – The BenchX Project Builder enables compiling and linking of applications with or without hands-on construction of a makefile. The builder provides a “one-click” build capability, with options for custom procedures and compiler/linker options.
• Editor – The BenchX Editor is used to construct source code, and is language sensitive for ease in formatting C or C++ instructions. The editor also provides syntax highlighting, bracket matching, formatting, and content assist. The BenchX Editor can launch Microsoft Word, or Wordpad, based on the extension of the file being opened.
• Browser – The BenchX class browser is a convenient feature that assists the developer in visualizing and navigating a project's source code class hierarchy by presenting it in a purely logical layout (as opposed to a file-system layout). Classes can typically be filtered and sorted by project, namespace, base class, etc. The C/C++ Browser perspective is available for both C and C++ projects.
  • C/C++ Projects
    • list of projects in the workspace
    • Namespaces
    • list of namespaces declared inside a selected project
    • Classes
    • list of classes declared inside a selected namespace
    • Members
    • list of members declared inside a selected class
  • C Projects
    • "Namespaces" view contains a default global namespace
    • "Classes" view contains C structures
  • C++ Projects
    • "Namespaces" view contains C++ namespaces
    • "Classes" view contains C++ classes and structures
• Compiler/Library – BenchX is pre-configured with the GNU gcc/gpp compiler and gdb debugger. These compilation and debugging tools are launched as projects are built or re-built.
• Debugger – BenchX is configured to use the gdb debugger engine, behind a graphical user interface that is a modified version of the CDT GUI. Only the GUI is modified, retaining full compatibility with gdb and CDT. The user interface has been enhanced to support embedded development in general, and RTOS kernel awareness has been added for ThreadX. BenchX may be used with or without ThreadX, even with no RTOS at all. There is no dependence on ThreadX, but ThreadX users will enjoy kernel awareness of all ThreadX objects in a debugger window.

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• Hardware Debug Probe – BenchX includes a hardware debug probe for host-target connectivity. The Debug Probe enables program download and run-control of the target from the debugger GUI on the host. The Debug Probe connects to the Host via USB or Ethernet.
• Instruction Set Simulator – Executable images can be run on target hardware, using the debug probe, or they can be simulated on the PC through the BenchX simulator. The Simulator runs executables built for a particular target, without having to re-build for the PC. Instruction Set Simulators, like the one in BenchX, simulate instructions and interrupts, but not precise timing, memory access, or cache effects.

BenchX Architecture

BenchX is built upon the industry standard, open source Eclipse Europa release, with the CDT project, rev 4.0. This combination supports C/C++ development within the Eclipse framework. BenchX adds the GNU gcc/gdb toolchain, with the Newlib thread-safe run-time library. BenchX integrates the GNU tools into the BenchX Project Builder without the need for a separate Cygwin shell. Executables can be run on an integrated Instruction Set Simulator, for hardware-less debugging, or on real hardware with a debug probe that is included with BenchX. The debug probe includes an interface to the debugger GUI and gdb, as well as initialization scripts and PROM-burning capability. BenchX integrates the following Eclipse and non-Eclipse components:

• Eclipse Europa Release
• Eclipse CDT Project
• GNU gcc/gdb, Newlib
• Hardware Debug Probe
• Instruction Set Simulator

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Supported Architectures

Supported Probes

Licensing

BenchX is licensed in executable form, for use on an individual PC, or throughout an enterprise. There are no license keys required, simply load and install BenchX and begin to use it. License-key-free operation makes BenchX unique in the world of commercial development tools, and the easiest IDE to use.