It can be difficult to troubleshoot data on an embedded target while your application is running. In the same way a debugger helps you debug your application code, MPLAB Data Visualizer helps you debug your data. With MPLAB Data Visualizer, you can see how key data points in your application change during runtime, e.g. visualize values captured by a sensor on your development board.

To install MPLAB-Data-Visualizer-Standalone(macOS), download this package and open it in IDE.

Supported Products: MPLAB X

Release Notes

Release Notes for MPLAB® Data Visualizer
MPLAB Data Visualizer v1.3.1160

March 1st, 2022

Overview
It can be difficult to troubleshoot data on an embedded target while your application is running. In the same way a debugger helps you debug your application code, MPLAB Data Visualizer helps you debug your data. With MPLAB Data Visualizer, you can see how key data points in your application change during runtime, e.g. visualize values captured by a sensor on your development board.

MPLAB Data Visualizer has the following features:

Capture data streamed from a running embedded target via serial port (CDC) or the Data Gateway Interface (DGI)
Concurrently stream data and debug target code using the MPLAB®X IDE
Decode data fields at runtime using the Data Stream Protocol format
Automatically load Data Stream and Dashboard configuration for the data stream
Visualize the raw or decoded data in a Graph as a time series or display the data in a terminal
Analyze plotted data using cursors to measure bandwidth, pulse width and more
Save a snapshot of plotted data as CSV or JSON
Visualize and analyze power consumption on supported platforms
Visualize sampled PC values while debugging on supported platforms
Monitor data for or input data to an application using a custom dashboard
MPLAB Data Visualizer comes as a stand-alone application and as a plug-in to MPLAB X.

System requirements
Like the MPLAB®X IDE, the MPLAB Data Visualizer is based on the NetBeans Platform. Thus it has similar runtime requirements. The minimum platforms are:

Windows 10 Professional
Ubuntu® 18.04 or similar.
macOS® 10.14 Mojave
For all platforms a minimum of 8 GB RAM is recommended.

The MPLAB Data Visualizer v1.3.1160 plug-in must be installed in MPLAB X version 6.00 or later for correct operation.

Hardware tool support
MPLAB Data Visualizer supports targets that stream data over a (virtual) COM port, as well as tools implementing the Data Gateway Interface (DGI) USB interface.

When using a COM port, any target or board can be supported, also user-specific boards. The DGI interface is supported by the Microchip Curiosity Nano and Xplained Pro platforms, as well as the Microchip Power Debugger and Atmel-ICE.

In order to ensure the best possible user experience, make sure that kits or tools used with the MPLAB Data Visualizer are updated to the most recent firmware version.

Documentation
Documentation is shipped with the product and can be opened from the Data Visualizer User Interface once started.

Installing
The latest version of the standalone MPLAB Data Visualizer can be downloaded from the Microchip Gallery at http:://gallery.microchip.com. After downloading the installer, start the installation and follow the instructions in the installer.

The plugin version for MPLAB X can be installed and updated from the plugin center in MPLAB X (Tools Menu -> Plugins). This is the recommended approach. It is also possible to download the plugin from the Microchip Gallery, if installation in MPLAB without an internet connection is required.

What's New in v1.3.1160
Update plugin API in order to facilitate updates of Touch and Machine Language plugins (all platforms)
Terminate Chromium child processes when the Data Visualizer window is closed in MPLAB (all platforms)
Disable Chromium caching that could happen when plotting multiple data sources (all platform)
What's New in v1.3.1136
Fix: Unable to drag widgets onto dashboard (macOS only)
Fix: Crash when multiple plugins are installed (all platforms)
What's New in v1.3.1129
Support for MPLAB ICE 4®
Support for PC sampling while debugging on selected platforms
What's New in v1.3.1113
Create a user interface for your application using custom dashboards
Support for Data Stream Protocol auto configuration
What's New in v1.2.956
Visualize power consumption on supported platforms
Inspect maximum, minimum and average power consumption over time
Open visualizer workspace files directly from the MPLAB environment (MPLAB X 5.50 required)
A compatibility update, v1.02, was also made for the Machine Learning Plugin. v1.02 is required for uploading data directly to machine learning partners after this update.
What's New in v1.2
Save a snapshot of plotted signals to disk as CSV or JSON values
Plot two-dimensional data sets in the new XY Graph panel
Connect to Machine Learning partners using the separately installable Machine Learning plugin
What's New in v1.1
Quick actions for plotting data or viewing data in the terminal
Choose whether to plot Variable Streamer fields on same or separate axes
Simplified data stream protocol configuration
Fewer steps means its easier to start visualizing multiple variables
Graph enhancements
Plot several signals on the same axis for easy alignment and zoom
Organize axes on different rows, resize, and position
Inspect values of data points
Use cursors to measure signal width, frequency, and duty cycle
Notable fixed issues
Under heavy system load data timestamps could drift so that data plots appeared delayed compared to actual events (DV-1280).
Deleting a field/variable in the plot wizard before a name was assigned could crash the application (DV-1265).
When streaming data on serial port, data could be timestamped so that parts of plots looked stretched or compressed (DV-1186)
What's New in v1.0.681
Compatibility fix for MPLAB X IDE v5.40

Symptoms: No kits show up in connections view and an exception is thrown at startup or on kit connection event.

Customer support
Microchip provides online support via our web site at https://www.microchip.com/support.

Special Considerations
To get the expected result when streaming data, it is important to configure the target system properly. Study the user guide of the target development board or tool carefully as it can contain important information.

When streaming timestamped data over DGI from an Xplained Pro or Curiosity Nano kit, too high data rates can lead to buffer overflows and reduced stability of operation. This also applies to Debug GPIO and Power Data. The Data Visualizer UI will display a warning when the kit or tool indicates a buffer overflow condition. The sample rate at which buffer overflows are likely to occur dependens on the PC and the system load. For GPIO it could be down to a few kHz sample rate at system load. For other interfaces it is typically higher.

The standalone MPLAB Data Visualizer may interrupt an active debug session on a development kit on start up. If a debug session is in progress in MPLAB X on a DGI-enabled kit when MPLAB Data Visualizer standalone is started, the debug session may be interrupted and the kit might not show up as a connection in the standalone version. The workaround is to close MPLAB X and unplug and plug in the kit. For simultaneous debugging and data visualization, please use the MPLAB X plugin version of MPLAB Data Visualizer (Window menu > Debugging > Data Visualizer).

On macOS Catalina and above, access to protected folders such as Desktop, Documents, and Downloads can be blocked. Follow these steps to enable access:

Open System Preferences
Open Security & Privacy
Open the Privacy tab
Select the Full Disk Access category from the list on the left
Click the lock button to unlock it
Click the + button
Hit cmd + shift + g to open the Go To Path dialog
Type in /bin/sh
Click Open
Click the lock button to commit the changes
Restart MPLAB X IDE
Known Issues
SSR Description Environment
DV-806 Plotted data can look distorted at certain zoom levels. This happens because the Visualizer reduces the resolution of old data as internal buffers fill up, in order to save memory. Workaround: Pause data streaming while investigating data.
All platforms

DV-835 Cannot connect to ttyACM0 for streaming data. Workaround: add your user to the dialout group and log out, then log back in.
Linux

DV-1085 A kit's DGI sources won't be listed if the kit is already connected in another process. Workaround: Close the other application and restart MPLAB X or MPLAB Data Visualizer.
macOS, Windows

DV-1089 When renaming a variable streamer field and the field is plotted, the plot source is disconnected. Reconnect the plot source by selecting the new name in the plot options.
All platforms

DV-1176 Interface configuration is not applied after DGI overflow. To ensure correct operation after overflow, reconnect DGI.
All platforms

DV-1335 In the plugin, when the Data Visualizer tab is maximized it will cover floating windows. A workaround is to dock the floating window.
Win 10
MPLAB X 5.40

DV-1652 The calculated average values and the total charge and energy values displayed in the power analysis panel in the graph are based on data points displayed, and can vary slightly depending on the zoom level. Zooming in will give better accuracy as more data points are used for the calculations.
All platforms

DV-1670 On a loaded system, streaming on DGI can fail when the PC cannot read data from the debugger fast enough. This can apply to all interfaces including Power and GPIO. See the Special Consideration section for more info.
All platforms

DV-1671 The calibrate button on the DGI power interface panel can be clicked while calibration is in progress. Clicking it will not have any effect. The calibration will run to completion before a message is displayed.
All platforms

DV-1673 Clicking the Plot All Sources button on a DGI power source in the connections panel will add plots to axes based on unit, instead of to the selected data axis. If other arrangements are desired, add the power sources as plots manually.
All platforms

DV-1683 If a popup dialog overflows the Data Visualizer window, a scroll bar is displayed. Clicking the scroll bar will close the dialog. Use the mouse wheel or tab through the controls in order to scroll the dialog.
All platforms

DV-1711 On Linux, ending an MPLAB debug session can end a concurrent streaming session on the same tool.
Linux

DV-1864 Transparency and z-order settings are ignored when importing elements from an existing Atmel Data Visualizer dashboard. The rendering order used will be the order of the elements as specified in the imported .db file.
DV-2012 The Debugger Polling interface, used for PC sampling, can be present for debuggers and kits that support DGI, irrespective of whether a debug session is started or the currently debugged device supports the feature. However, PC sampling is supported only for SAM devices and newer AVR device families.
Data Visualizer plugin to MPLAB

Owners

• Microchip
• MplabDvTeam

Copyright

Microchip

Tags

• MPLAB_X
• Standalone
• Kits
• Development
• Debugging
• DataVisualizer_Standalone
• MPLABDataVisualizer

Dependencies

• • No dependencies.

Version History

Version	Downloads	Last updated	Approved
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.3.1665 (latest stable)	34	Tuesday, February 27, 2024	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.3.1664	22	Tuesday, January 30, 2024	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.3.1331	242	Friday, May 19, 2023	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.3.1320	178	Monday, December 19, 2022	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.3.1160 (this version)	336	Tuesday, March 15, 2022	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.3.1136	84	Friday, January 21, 2022	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.3.1113	488	Wednesday, October 27, 2021	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.2.956	103	Wednesday, May 12, 2021	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.2.835	68	Wednesday, September 23, 2020	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.2.834	25	Monday, September 21, 2020	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.1.793	52	Thursday, June 11, 2020	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 1.0.675	77	Monday, December 23, 2019	yes
MPLAB-Data-Visual... 0.1.438	86	Friday, May 24, 2019	yes