VisualGDB loses links to BSP

[SteveHx]

I am using the nRF52832 in several projects for several different clients. I have created a “project” under Visual Studio using VisualGDB for each one, using the automated build process. Every time I switch from one project to another, I get a VisualGDB warning “Could not locate BSP with ID…..”. Choices presented are “Download BSP”, “Use version x.xx”, or “Locate BSP”. I have tried all three at various times; I inevitably end up in another nightmare, killing a couple hours, trying to get the project back together and all the mysterious include files pulled from the right places. Surely the tools can’t be THAT amateurish as to preclude multiple parallel projects, so I must be missing something.

1) Why does the message pop up, and why is it not resolved when I load the latest version to all projects?

2) Where do I set the various include paths (which in true Microsoft style, is at least a dozen directories deep)?

3) Is there a better way to do real world development?

Steve Hendrix

[support]

Hi,

In order to reduce the size of the projects, VisualGDB does not copy all of the shared files (e.g. Nordic SDK) to each project. Instead, it stores them in a shared location (typically under %LOCALAPPDATA%\VisualGDB\EmbeddedBSPs) and references them from the projects. Each time you open such a project, VisualGDB would check if the referenced BSP is available. If not, it would show a dialog allowing you to download it.

Furthermore, as different versions of BSPs are not always compatible, VisualGDB remembers the exact BSP version referenced by the project and shows a warning you described when another BSP version is installed.

You can eliminate the messages when opening the projects in one of 2 ways:

• If you are OK using the same BSP version for all of the projects, please simply click the “Use version XXX” button. This will update the version number stored in the project file, so next time you open it, the message won’t be shown (unless you switch the BSP version again). This will need to be done for each project referencing this BSP. We can also add a setting for automatically upgrading the BSP version, however it may cause weird problems as the BSPs are not always 100% compatible.
• Alternatively, you can install multiple versions of the same BSP (requires the Custom edition or higher). Simply use the checkbox under Tools->VisualGDB->Manage VisualGDB Packages->Installed->BSPs ->Nordic to enable the multi-version mode. Then VisualGDB will keep multiple versions of the same BSP, letting you have multiple projects using different BSP versions. In this mode, clicking “Download” in the window shown when opening a project will download the exact version of the BSP referenced by the project without replacing the previous version you had installed.

We are not sure what you meant with the Microsoft-style include directories. Normally you can set them under VS project properties (MSBuild projects) or VisualGDB project properties. If this is not what you are looking for, please describe what you are looking for using the first 2 steps of the 3-step format described here: http://visualgdb.com/support/reporting/#3step

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