I solved the problem when I discovered that VisualGDB doesn’t support (at least I didn’t find it) firmware building for OTA Upgrades (that means single .bin instead of .flash.bin + .irom0text.bin combination).

Firstly, I edited the main project Makefile and added two sections. First,

###### Generate user.bin file for OTA Update enabled applications
OBJDUMP := $(TOOLCHAIN_ROOT)/bin/xtensa-lx106-elf-objdump.exe
NM := $(TOOLCHAIN_ROOT)/bin/xtensa-lx106-elf-nm.exe

UPGRADEEDIR := $(BINARYDIR)/upgrade

# boot_mode:
#   0 = none
#   1 = old (v1.2)
#   2 = new (v1.4+)
BOOT_MODE := 2

# flash_mode:
#   0 = QIO (Default)
#   1 = QOUT
#   2 = DIO
#   3 = DOUT
FLASH_MODE := 0

# flash_clk_div:
#   0 = 80 MHz / 2 = 40 MHz (Default)
#   1 = 80 MHz / 3 = 26.1 MHz
#   2 = 80 MHz / 4 = 20 MHz
#  15 = 80 MHz / 1 = 80 MHz
FLASH_CLK_DIV := 0

# flash_size_map:
#   0 = 512 KB (256 KB + 256 KB)
#   1 = 256 KB
#   2 = 1024 KB (512 KB + 512 KB)
#   3 = 2048 KB (512 KB + 512 KB)
#   4 = 4096 KB (512 KB + 512 KB)
#   5 = 2048 KB (1024 KB + 1024 KB)
#   6 = 4096 KB (1024 KB + 1024 KB)
FLASH_SIZE_MAP := 5

# Add to the end of output files
PRIMARY_OUTPUTS += $(UPGRADEEDIR)/$(basename $(TARGETNAME)).bin
#################################################################

was added before all: $(PRIMARY_OUTPUTS) statement (rule). Second,

###### Generate user.bin file for OTA Update enabled applications
$(UPGRADEEDIR):
    mkdir "$(UPGRADEEDIR)"

# gen_appbin.py app.elf/app.out boot_mode flash_mode flash_clk_div flash_size_map
# gen_appbinVGDB.py app.elf boot_mode flash_mode flash_clk_div flash_size_map app.sym app.text.bin app.data.bin app.rodata.bin app.irom0text.bin output
$(UPGRADEEDIR)/$(basename $(TARGETNAME)).bin: $(BINARYDIR)/$(TARGETNAME) |$(UPGRADEEDIR)
    @$(NM) -g $< > $(basename $@).sym
    @$(OBJCOPY) --only-section .text -O binary $< $(basename $@).text.bin
    @$(OBJCOPY) --only-section .data -O binary $< $(basename $@).data.bin
    @$(OBJCOPY) --only-section .rodata -O binary $< $(basename $@).rodata.bin
    @$(OBJCOPY) --only-section .irom0.text -O binary $< $(basename $@).irom0text.bin

    @$(TOOLCHAIN_ROOT)/Python27/python.exe $(BSP_ROOT)/RTOS-SDK/tools/gen_appbinVGDB.py \
        $< $(BOOT_MODE) $(FLASH_MODE) $(FLASH_CLK_DIV) $(FLASH_SIZE_MAP) \
        $(basename $@).sym $(basename $@).text.bin $(basename $@).data.bin $(basename $@).rodata.bin $(basename $@).irom0text.bin $@

    @echo Generated upgrade file $@ with boot=$(BOOT_MODE), flash_mode=$(FLASH_MODE), flash_clk=$(FLASH_CLK_DIV), flash_size_map=$(FLASH_SIZE_MAP)
#################################################################

was added after clean: rule. Then I copied C:\SysGCC\esp8266\esp8266-bsp\RTOS-SDK\tools\gen_appbin.py file to C:\SysGCC\esp8266\esp8266-bsp\RTOS-SDK\tools\gen_appbinVGDB.py and made this changes:

** Next line is line 117 in original gen_appbin.py
    # if len(sys.argv) != 6:
    if len(sys.argv) != 12:
        # print 'Usage: gen_appbin.py eagle.app.out boot_mode flash_mode flash_clk_div flash_size_map'
        print 'Usage: gen_appbinVGDB.py app.elf boot_mode flash_mode flash_clk_div flash_size_map app.sym app.text.bin app.data.bin app.rodata.bin app.irom0text.bin output'
        sys.exit(0)

** Next line is line 132 in original gen_appbin.py
    # irom0text_bin_name = 'eagle.app.v6.irom0text.bin'
    # text_bin_name = 'eagle.app.v6.text.bin'
    # data_bin_name = 'eagle.app.v6.data.bin'
    # rodata_bin_name = 'eagle.app.v6.rodata.bin'
    # flash_bin_name ='eagle.app.flash.bin'
    irom0text_bin_name = sys.argv[10]
    text_bin_name = sys.argv[7]
    data_bin_name = sys.argv[8]
    rodata_bin_name = sys.argv[9]
    flash_bin_name = sys.argv[11]
    app_sym_name = sys.argv[6]

** Next line is line 132 in original gen_appbin.py
    # irom0text_bin_name = 'eagle.app.v6.irom0text.bin'
    # text_bin_name = 'eagle.app.v6.text.bin'
    # data_bin_name = 'eagle.app.v6.data.bin'
    # rodata_bin_name = 'eagle.app.v6.rodata.bin'
    # flash_bin_name ='eagle.app.flash.bin'
    irom0text_bin_name = sys.argv[10]
    text_bin_name = sys.argv[7]
    data_bin_name = sys.argv[8]
    rodata_bin_name = sys.argv[9]
    flash_bin_name = sys.argv[11]
    app_sym_name = sys.argv[6]

** Next line is line 149 in original gen_appbin.py
    # if os.getenv('COMPILE')=='xcc' :
    # cmd = 'xt-nm -g ' + elf_file + ' > eagle.app.sym'
    # else :
    # cmd = 'xtensa-lx106-elf-nm -g ' + elf_file + ' > eagle.app.sym'
    #
    # os.system(cmd)

    # fp = file('./eagle.app.sym')
    fp = file(app_sym_name)

** Next line is line 277 in original gen_appbin.py
    # cmd = 'rm eagle.app.sym'
    # os.system(cmd)
    os.remove(irom0text_bin_name)
    os.remove(text_bin_name)
    os.remove(data_bin_name)
    os.remove(rodata_bin_name)
    os.remove(app_sym_name)

And after this modifications there is always also Test.bin file in Release\upgrade\ folder which I can program with a press of a button via epstool.py script:

G:\ESP8266\Test\Test\Release\upgrade\>esptool.py -p COM11 -b 921600 write_flash 0x01000 Test.bin
Connecting...
Erasing flash...
Wrote 267264 bytes at 0x00001000 in 16.8 seconds (127.3 kbit/s)...

Leaving...

So programming now works. Next thing I must to repair is sections – I see you use some custom sections in your example project? ESP bootloader reports errors and cannot start the example application properly. I think I will just use Espressif template project in examples RTOS-SDK\project_template\ folder.

So programming now works. Next thing I must to repair is sections – I see you use some custom sections in your example project? ESP bootloader reports errors and cannot start the example application properly.

I forgot to flash boot_v1.4(b1).bin to 0x00000. Now it works! 🙂

I also “fixed” debugging – right click on project -> Properties and changed values which are now bold:

Content of programUpgradeBin.bat file located in project folder:

C:\SysGCC\esp8266\python27\python.exe "C:\SysGCC\esp8266\esp8266-bsp\esptool.py" -p COM11 -b 921600 write_flash 0x01000 "%1"

exit /b 0

And now pressing F5 simply start up CMD window showing flashing progress. And the most beautiful thing (for me) – Visual Studio is not blocked while programming (CMD is running in background)! The only thing which happens in Visual Studio windows after pressing F5 is simple text:
The program '[5476] programUpgradeBin.bat' has exited with code 0 (0x0).
in Output window when programming completes.

Sorry for bothering you. Maybe this will be helpful to someone in future or maybe even to you if you decide to implement such program-only feature. I switched to Visual Studio because there is by far no such programming IDE as Visual Studio 2015 + Visual Assist X + JetBrains ReSharper.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by bojanpotocnik.