4.4. Deployment

4.4.1. Deploying your GUI Composer applications for use

A GUI Composer application may be deployed in multiple ways to satisfy different needs.

Gallery: An application may be published to Gallery to provide a quick way of running an application without having to start the Designer. In this case the app designer may select File → Publish to Gallery menu to make it available in Gallery. You may need to log in to be able to use your published application and see it in Private section of the Gallery. The shared section of Gallery is restricted to Texas Instruments created applications.

Usage:

  • First you need to create your app and then select File → Publish to Gallery

  • The app is automatically started once it is successfully published and it will try to connect to your target device.

  • Close the browser tab to stop interactions with your device. To run your app again, go to Gallery, log in, then click on your applications tile.

Standalone Desktop Application: A GUI Composer application may also be exported from GC Designer (in the form of a zip file) to run on your computer. The zip contains just the application files. It still requires a GC Runtime component that provides target access functionality and browser engine to run your app. GC Runtime component may be downloaded when exporting an app from File->Export->As Standalone app menu. OSX, Linux 64b and Windows 32 bit (which also runs on 64 bit windows) are supported.

Usage:

  • You would first need to create your app and then export it to a zip file using File → Export → As Standalone App. You would also need to download GC Runtime that matches your PC operating system.

  • You would now need to run GC Runtime installer to install necessary components.

  • Next step would be to unzip your application into previously installed GC Runtime. Applications need to be unzipped into USERHOME/guicomposer/runtime/gcruntime.vGCVersion directory. Run your applications by executing appropriate OS_start script file in USERHOME/guicomposer/runtime/gcruntime.vGCVersion/[YourAppName] directory.

CCS Desktop View: CCS v7.0 or higher may also be used to run your GUI Composer application within CCS. This is useful when trying to augment CCS Desktop with custom user interface or displays that provide greater use of use or are not available in CCS Desktop. E.g. Scatter plot widget is available in GUI Composer v2, however, it is not available in CCS Desktop.

Usage:

  • You would first need to create your app and then export it to a zip file using File → Export → As CCS Desktop View. You do not need to download GC Runtime as all necessary components are already included in CCS Desktop (v7 and higher)

  • Unzip file into CCSDesktopInstallRoot/ccsv7/eclipse/dropins-gc. You may need to create this folder if it does not exist.

  • Start CCS and select View → GUI Composer → Applications → [YourApp].

    • An XDS based application requires an active debug session with symbols being loaded. If you start a debugger through Debug Active project, then symbols are automatically loaded when program is download to your device. GC Application will automatically use the CPU that is selected in Debug View to access the target, if your device has multiple processors.

    • A USB-UART: monitor based application requires a custom target configuration file (.ccxml). Majority of TI Devices create this file automatically for standard JTAG based access. However, you will need to customize this configuration file to add UART option. You would need to open .ccxml file in your projects TargetConfigs folder, and add COM port under Uart Communication. You may need to adjust COM port setting. When you start debugger your Debug View will now have an extra node that represents the COM port connection. You would need to LoadSymbols on the node and then open your GC App.

    • Other types of transport/protocol applications do not require an active debugger session.