About MPLAB® X IDE Plug-ins

Introduction

The capabilities of MPLAB® X IDE can be enhanced with plug-ins. A plug-in is a code module or applet which adds functionality to MPLAB® X IDE . Plug-ins are distributed in files called NetBeans Modules or NBMs. Plug-in files have the suffix *.nbm. Many are developed or supported by Microchip. Others are provided by third parties.

Manage Plug-ins

Plug-ins are managed from the Plug-ins Window. From there you can:

Install plug-ins supplied by Microchip
Install plug-ins supplied by third parties
View installed plug-ins
Configure the settings of installed plug-ins
Update installed plug-ins

Understanding Plug-ins Window

Plugins extend the functionality of the IDE by giving it features and capabilities that are not part of the base program. Plugins are available directly from Microchip and from the community at-large. All plugin functions are managed from the Tools ▶ Plugins window, also known as the Plugins Manager.

Microchip supplied plugins may be selected from the Available Plugins tab where they may be downloaded and installed without ever leaving the IDE.

Community supplied plugins may be provided by third party partners or by other users and must be downloaded first, as you would any other file from the web. These plugins may be installed from the Downloaded tab.

The netbeans.org Plugin Portal is one good source of community supplied plugins (*.nbm files), most of which will be compatible with MPLAB® X IDE , though not all are suited for embedded development.

Another good source of plugins is the Microchip sponsored EmbeddedCodeSource.com . Most of the plugins on that site are provided by Microchip, though over time we hope that members of the community will contribute plugins as well.

Plug-in Updates

The Updates Tab of the Plugins Window is used to view and install available updates of installed modules.

This tab displays a list of installed modules that have an available update. When you select a plugin in the left pane, the right pane displays a description of the contents of the update. To install the update, click Update.

The left pane displays updates to currently installed modules that were available the last time the IDE checked the update centers. To check for available updates immediately, click Reload Plugins.

Available Plugins

The Available Plugins Tab of the Plugins Window is used to view and install new plugins available from the registered update centers.

To check the update center and refresh the list of available plugins, click Reload Catalog.

To install a plugin, check the box next to the plugin in the list and click Install. Once the installation is complete, the plugin will no longer be displayed in this list but will now appear under the Installed tab.

For more details on what plugins do and how to install them, see the Install MPLAB® X IDE Plugins tutorial or the tutorial below.

Plugins Settings

The Settings Tab of the Plugins Window is used to view and change settings for the registered update centers and to set how often the IDE checks the update centers for updates.

This tab contains the following settings for managing update centers.

Configuration of Update Centers

The left pane displays the registered update centers. Click Edit or Remove to edit the update center details or remove the update center. Click Add to add a new update center. Type the details for the new update center in the Update Center Customize dialog box.

Automatically Check for Updates

Specifies how often the IDE checks for updates. Use the drop-down list to select how often you want the IDE to check for updates. Click Proxy Settings to set any proxy settings needed to access the update centers.

Advanced

Force install into shared directories. If selected, plugins are installed into directories that are accessible to users other than the current user in a multi-user environment. If unselected (default), the installed plugins are only available to the user who installed the plugin.

Develop Plug-ins for MPLABX IDE

Want to add a feature or automate something in your MPLABX IDE?

MPLAB® X IDE is based on NetBeans 8 platform it is a plug-in based development environment. Alternatively, you can say that MPLABX has a modular architecture. In simple terms, we have a base or bare bone IDE and then plug-ins are written to extend the IDE and make it feature rich. The NetBeans Platform is a term used to refer to this base IDE. Most of the functionalities that you see in NetBeans are implemented by the plug-ins.

General Guidelines:

Before diving straight in, create levels of requirements for your plugin. For example design a prototype, then decide on the minimal, medium and full requirements you would like to include. Look at similar existing plugins and try and make yours as similar to those as possible. For example if you are creating a database plugin, look at how other database plugins work.

Making a simple plugin is relatively straightforward.

When you are done, right clicking on your new module will give you the option to Install/Reload. Now the software you have just been writing will be available to use in the very IDE you have just been using to create it.

When you are happy with your plugin you can go to NetBeans Plugin Portal or ECS and upload it. A community of verifiers will make sure the core functionality works and that it doesn’t break IDE. After that your plugin will be available in the plugin manager in IDE for anyone to use (just go to Tools > Plugins and search in available plugins).

Another tip: Once people are using it, be prepared for the fact that you will now need to ensure it keeps working and be prepared to respond to feedback. The best way is to try it – have a go at creating your own plugin in NetBeans .

Prerequisite Skills

Developing either an MPLAB X IDE plugin or MDBCore application requires solid Java programming skills.

Procedure:

Perform these steps before creating your first MPLAB X IDE plugin or MDBCore application.

Step 1) Install MPLABX IDE
Step 2) Download MPLABX SDK from Opensource4pic.org
Step 3) Install JDK v7u67 from Oracle
Step 4) Install NetBeans IDE v8.0 and above
Step 5) Create Platform for MPLABX IDE

Examples and Help Documentation:

Complete documentation and examples are available in SDK. Download and extract mplab-x-sdk.zip and open index.html for more details.