Getting Started Guide for the

Target Access Plugin

IAR Systems, IAR Embedded Workbench, IAR Connect, C-SPY, C-RUN, C-STAT, IAR Visual State,
visualSTATE, IAR KickStart Kit, I-jet, I-jet Trace, I-scope, IAR Academy, IAR, and the logotype of IAR
Systems are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by IAR Systems AB.
All information is subject to change without notice. IAR Systems assumes no responsibility for errors and shall
not be liable for any damage or expenses.
© Copyright 2018 IAR Systems AB. Part number: GSTargetAccessPlugin-2. First edition: October 2017

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Content

Content ............................................................................................................... 2

Description ......................................................................................................... 3

Directory structure ........................................................................................... 3

Enabling the Target Access Server plugin...................................................... 3

Using the Target Access Client SDK .............................................................. 3

Types ....................................................................................................................................................................4

Functions..............................................................................................................................................................5

Example Programs ............................................................................................ 6

Accessing Target Memory ...............................................................................................................................6

Implementing ITM Listening ............................................................................................................................7

Target Application Example ......................................................................................................................... 10

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Description

The Target Access plugin is a generic server/client solution which allows third-party applications
to read from and write to memory locations on the target device via IAR Embedded Workbench
through a UDP connection. It also provides functions for monitoring ITM events. Note that ITM
ports 0-19 are reserved by IAR Embedded Workbench, which may result in undefined behavior
if those ports are used by client applications.

Start the server part by activating Target Access Server from the C-SPY plugin setup in IAR
Embedded Workbench or from cspybat. The plugin starts a UDP server that listens for
different commands.

The client is composed by the Target Access Client SDK (TargetAccessClientSDK.dll), which is
a library that exports the target commands through a set of C functions. An external application
can open communication to the server through this library which will be described in detail in
this guide.

Directory structure

The plugin is organized in the following directories:

Directory Description

The Target Access Server C-SPY

common\plugins\TargetAccessServer\
plugin
common\bin\TargetAccessClientSDK.dll The Target Access Client SDK (.dll)
[target]\src\TargetAccessPlugin\lib\ The Target Access Client SDK (.lib)
[target]\src\TargetAccessPlugin\inc\ The Target Access Client SDK (.h)

Enabling the Target Access Server plugin

The server plugin is included in the IAR Embedded Workbench distribution. To enable the
plugin select,
Project > Options > Debugger > Plugins > Target Access Server

Using the Target Access Client SDK

To communicate with the server, a C language client SDK library is provided. This library
contains functions for connecting to the server plugin and for reading from and writing to
memory on the target device.
The library consists of the following files:

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 TargetAccessClientSDK.dll

 TargetAccessClientSDK.h

 TargetAccessClientErrorCodes.h

 TargetAccessClientSDK.lib

To use the SDK in your application:

1 Include TargetAccessClientSDK.h (which in turn includes
TargetAccessClientErrorCodes.h)
2 Link your application with TargetAccessClientSDK.lib
3 At runtime, make sure that TargetAccessClientSDK.dll is in the same directory as
the executable file (alternatively in the system path described by the Path environment
variable)

Types

typedef int64_t TargetAccessAddr;

This typedef is used when an address is required as parameter to a function.

struct ITMEvent
{
uint8_t portId;
uint64_t timeStamp;
uint32_t dataLength;
uint8_t data[4];
};
When an ITM event has been recorded, this struct is populated with the port ID and the
applicable data payload. The portId member specifies the ITM port with range [0…31]
(although ports 0-19 are reserved by IAR Embedded Workbench). The data can be 1, 2 or 4
bytes long. The actual length is stored in the dataLength member. The timeStamp member
shows the timestamp for the event in nanoseconds as reported by the debug probe.

struct ITMListenerStatus
{
uint8_t listening;
uint32_t channels;
uint32_t bufferCapacity;
uint32_t bufferSize;
};
The ITMListenerStatus struct stores the status information collected when calling the
TargetAccessGetItmListenerStatus() function. The listening member is set to
1 when ITM listening is active, otherwise 0. The channels and bufferCapacity members
are the bit mask and buffer capacity set respectively when calling the
TargetAccessConfigureItmListener() function. If that function has not yet been
called, the default values of those members are 0. The bufferSize member shows the current
buffer size. When bufferSize == bufferCapacity, it can be assumed that ITM events
are being dropped.

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Functions
Most of the following C functions all return 0 if successful, otherwise an error code. For more
information about the latest error, call the TargetAccessGetLastErrorMsg().
int TargetAccessInitialize(const char *serverName)
This function initializes the SDK and needs to be called before using any of the other functions.
serverName is the computer to connect to, e.g. localhost or 127.0.0.1 to connect to
the local computer.

int TargetAccessShutdown()
This function needs to be called when you no longer need to access the Target Access interface.

int TargetAccessGetClientProtocolVersion()
Returns the client version.

int TargetAccessGetServerProtocolVersion()
Returns the server version.

int TargetAccessReadTargetMemoryZone(const char *zoneName,

TargetAccessAddr address, unsigned char *buffer, uint16_t numBytes)
Reads numBytes bytes of memory at address in memory zone zoneName to buffer.

int TargetAccessReadTargetMemory(TargetAccessAddr address, unsigned char

*buffer, uint16_t numBytes)
Reads numBytes bytes of memory at address in default memory zone to buffer.

int TargetAccessWriteTargetMemoryZone(const char *zoneName,

TargetAccessAddr address, const unsigned char *buffer, uint16_t numBytes)
Writes numBytes bytes of memory at address in memory zone zoneName using data from
buffer.

int TargetAccessWriteTargetMemory(TargetAccessAddr address, const unsigned

char *buffer, uint16_t numBytes)
Writes numBytes bytes of memory at address in memory zone zoneName using data from
buffer.

size_t TargetAccessGetLastErrorMsg(char *errorMsg, size_t bufSize)

Writes a null-terminated text string with a description of the last error to errorMsg, which is a
char buffer with the size bufSize. The function returns 0 on success. If the provided buffer
size was too small to hold the error message, the required buffer size is returned.

int TargetAccessConfigureItmListener(uint32_t channels, uint32_t

bufferCapacity)
Configures the ITM event monitoring. The channels parameter is a 32-bit mask that can be
used for filtering which ITM events to be kept. This is in addition to the ITM Stimulus Ports
settings found in the SWO Configuration dialog box in C-SPY, which means that to receive

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the ITM event at a specific port, it is important to have it selected both in the SWO
Configuration dialog box and as a set bit in the channels parameter.
The bufferCapacity parameter specifies how many events will be saved before they are
dropped.
The default values of channels and bufferCapacity are 0.

int TargetAccessGetItmListenerStatus(ITMListenerStatus *status)

Fills the status parameter with information described for the ITMListenerStatus struct
in section Types.

int TargetAccessStartItmListener()
This function starts the ITM event monitoring.

int TargetAccessStopItmListener()
This function stops the ITM event monitoring.

int TargetAccessReadItmEvent(ITMEvent *itmEvent, bool *isValid)

Once the ITM event monitoring has been started, use this function to receive events. If no event
has been collected, the isValid parameter is set to false. The event is stored in itmEvent,
described in section Types.

Example Programs

Accessing Target Memory

This code example demonstrates how to read two bytes of memory at address 0x10 on the
target device.

char errorMsg[256] = {0};

int res = 0;

// Initialize client
res = TargetAccessInitialize("127.0.0.1");
if (res != TARGET_ACCESS_STATUS_OK)
{
TargetAccessGetLastErrorMsg(errorMsg, sizeof(errorMsg));
fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", errorMsg);

TargetAccessShutdown();
return 1;
}

// Read bytes from default memory zone

TargetAccessAddr addr = 0x10;
unsigned char buffer[2];

res = TargetAccessReadTargetMemory(addr, buffer, sizeof(buffer));

if (res != TARGET_ACCESS_STATUS_OK)
{
TargetAccessGetLastErrorMsg(errorMsg, sizeof(errorMsg));
fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", errorMsg);

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TargetAccessShutdown();
return 1;
}

// Shut down client

res = TargetAccessShutdown();
if (res != TARGET_ACCESS_STATUS_OK)
{
TargetAccessGetLastErrorMsg(errorMsg, sizeof(errorMsg));
fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", errorMsg);
}

Implementing ITM Listening

This example shows a complete program (written in C++) that sets up a console-based logger of
ITM events. The next section shows an example of how this application can be used.
First, we prepare the program with some includes and define an exception class that will be used
by the program. The ConsoleCloseHandler() function is a handler required by Windows
to allow for a clean shutdown of the network connection when the user closes the console.
#include "TargetAccessClientSDK.h"

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <string>
#include <thread>
#include <chrono>

#ifdef _WIN32
#include <Windows.h>
BOOL WINAPI ConsoleCloseHandler(DWORD dwCtrlType)
{
if (dwCtrlType == CTRL_CLOSE_EVENT)
{
std::cout << "TargetAccessClientITMdemo is shutting down" <<
std::setfill(' ') << std::setw(50) << "" << std::endl;
::TargetAccessShutdown();
}
return TRUE;
}
#endif

class DemoException : public std::exception

{
public:
DemoException()
{
}
};

The next step demonstrates the use of the TargetAccessGetItmListenerStatus()

function:
void ReportITMStatus()
{
ITMListenerStatus status;
status.listening = 0;
status.channels = 0;
status.bufferCapacity = 0;
status.bufferSize = 0;

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::TargetAccessGetItmListenerStatus(&status);
std::cout << "ITM Listener: " << (status.listening != 0 ? "on" : "off")
<< " ";
std::cout << "Channels: 0x" << std::hex << std::setfill('0') <<
std::setw(8) << status.channels << std::dec << " ";
std::cout << "Buffer capacity: " << status.bufferCapacity << " ";
std::cout << "Buffer size: " << status.bufferSize << "\r";
}

The ReportError() function shown below demonstrates how errors can be handled:
void ReportError()
{
std::string errorMsg;
errorMsg.resize(512);
::TargetAccessGetLastErrorMsg(const_cast<char *>(errorMsg.data()),
errorMsg.size());
std::cout << "Error: " << errorMsg << std::endl;
std::cout << "Client protocol version: " <<
::TargetAccessGetClientProtocolVersion() << std::endl;
std::cout << "Server protocol version: " <<
::TargetAccessGetServerProtocolVersion() << std::endl;
}

Next, we implement the main event loop. It starts by setting the ITM channels bit mask to
0xffffffff and the buffer capacity to 1000 events. Note that the duration variable
switches between 0 and 1 seconds depending on whether the ITM buffer is empty or not. If the
received ITMEvent block is invalid (the isValid argument is false), the wait time for the
next poll is set to 1 second.
int RunItmLogging()
{
if (::TargetAccessConfigureItmListener(0xffffffff, 1000) != 0)
throw DemoException();

if (::TargetAccessStartItmListener() != 0)
throw DemoException();

auto defaultDuration = std::chrono::seconds(1);

auto duration = defaultDuration;
bool isValid = false;

while (1)
{
ITMEvent itmEvent;
if (::TargetAccessReadItmEvent(&itmEvent, &isValid) !=
TARGET_ACCESS_STATUS_OK)
throw DemoException();

if (isValid)
{
std::cout << "[" << std::hex << itmEvent.timeStamp << std::dec <<
"] ITM port " << (int)itmEvent.portId << ": ";
uint32_t value = 0;
switch (itmEvent.dataLength)
{
case 1:
value = itmEvent.data[0];
break;
case 2:
value = *reinterpret_cast<uint16_t *>(itmEvent.data);
break;

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case 4:
value = *reinterpret_cast<uint32_t *>(itmEvent.data);
break;
}
std::cout << std::hex << std::setfill('0') << std::setw(8) <<
value << std::dec;
std::cout << " (" << itmEvent.dataLength << " byte" <<
(itmEvent.dataLength > 1 ? "s" : "") << " length)";
std::cout << std::setw(50) << std::setfill(' ') << "" << std::endl;
duration = std::chrono::seconds(0); // Keep reading events until the
// buffer is empty
}
else
{
duration = defaultDuration; // Pause with 1 second delays when no
// data is recorded
::ReportITMStatus();
}

std::this_thread::sleep_for(duration);
}
return 0;
}

Finally, the entry function for the program sets up communication to the server and handles
errors. It also performs a clean shutdown before exiting:

int main(int argc, const char **argv)

{
#ifdef _WIN32
::SetConsoleCtrlHandler(ConsoleCloseHandler, TRUE);
#endif

char *portStr = ::getenv("TARGET_ACCESS_PORT");

if (portStr == nullptr)
portStr = "9931";
int port = std::stoi(portStr);

try
{
if (argc > 1)
port = std::stoi(argv[1]);

// Initialize client
if (::TargetAccessInitializeWithPort("localhost", port) !=
TARGET_ACCESS_STATUS_OK)
throw DemoException();

::RunItmLogging();
}
catch (const DemoException &)
{
::ReportError();
}

::TargetAccessShutdown();
system("pause");
return 0;
}

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Target Application Example

The arm_itm.h header file (located in arm\inc\c) contains predefined preprocessor macros
for setting ITM events. The following code shows a simple example of how these macros can be
used in combination with the TargetAccessClientITMdemo program introduced in the
previous section.
Although only two ITM_EVENT macros are called, there are actually three ITM events set in the
while loop shown below. The reason is that the ITM_EVENT32_WITH_PC macro also sets
the current value of the PC register at ITM port 5. The arm_itm.h header file contains macros
for 8, 16 and 32 bits; ITM_EVENT8, ITM_EVENT16, and ITM_EVENT32, respectively. Each
of these also has a corresponding macro setting the current PC value
(ITM_EVENT8_WITH_PC, ITM_EVENT16_WITH_PC and ITM_EVENT32_WITH_PC).
#include <arm_itm.h>
#include <stdint.h>

void main()
{
ITM_EVENT8(20, 0);
ITM_EVENT32(21, 0);
uint8_t value = 0;
uint32_t sum = 0;
while (1)
{
if (value++ % 10 == 0)
{
sum += value;
ITM_EVENT8(20, value);
ITM_EVENT32_WITH_PC(21, sum);
for (int i = 10000; i > 0; --i); /* Delay */
}
}
}

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