nshex - expand

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nshex - expand

The expand command adds blank data to a HEX image to make sure the image only contains whole words, whole rows, or whole pages. It is also possible to wholly expand the image so that it includes all the writable memory on the specified chip.

This command is designed to produce HEX files which are easier to parse by bootloaders and other tools.

Syntax

target = expand(source,units)

Argument	Description
source	The Source image.
units	Optional. Expansion units. May be one of the following: word - Default. The unit of expansion is the instruction word. All the fragments of the source image which are smaller than the instruction are replaced with whole instructions. Usually, HEX files do not contain any fragments smaller than the instruction word, so the expansion rarely changes anything. row - The unit of expansion is the flash row. Blank instructions are added to make sure the HEX image contains only whole rows. Rows only apply to code memory. Other types of memory (UID,OTP,EEPROM etc.) are only expanded to whole words. The configuration bits are expanded to whole rows only if they are located within code memory. If configuration bits have a special location (such as on PIC16, PIC18 and some PIC24), they are only expanded to whole words. page - The unit of expansion is the flash erase page. Blank instructions are added to make sure the HEX image contains only whole pages. Pages only apply to code memory. Other types of memory (UID,OTP,EEPROM etc.) are only expanded to whole words. The configuration bits are expanded to whole pages only if they are located within code memory. If configuration bits have a special location (such as on PIC16, PIC18 and some PIC24), they are only expanded to whole words. full - Blank instructions are added to make sure the HEX image covers the entire legally writable memory of the device. If the HEX image contains data outside of the writable memory, they are deleted. Such treatment makes sure that all the HEX images expanded using the "full" option have the same size and composition.

Argument

Description

source

The Source image.

units

Optional. Expansion units. May be one of the following:

word - Default. The unit of expansion is the instruction word. All the fragments of the source image which are smaller than the instruction are replaced with whole instructions. Usually, HEX files do not contain any fragments smaller than the instruction word, so the expansion rarely changes anything.
row - The unit of expansion is the flash row. Blank instructions are added to make sure the HEX image contains only whole rows. Rows only apply to code memory. Other types of memory (UID,OTP,EEPROM etc.) are only expanded to whole words. The configuration bits are expanded to whole rows only if they are located within code memory. If configuration bits have a special location (such as on PIC16, PIC18 and some PIC24), they are only expanded to whole words.
page - The unit of expansion is the flash erase page. Blank instructions are added to make sure the HEX image contains only whole pages. Pages only apply to code memory. Other types of memory (UID,OTP,EEPROM etc.) are only expanded to whole words. The configuration bits are expanded to whole pages only if they are located within code memory. If configuration bits have a special location (such as on PIC16, PIC18 and some PIC24), they are only expanded to whole words.
full - Blank instructions are added to make sure the HEX image covers the entire legally writable memory of the device. If the HEX image contains data outside of the writable memory, they are deleted. Such treatment makes sure that all the HEX images expanded using the "full" option have the same size and composition.

Example

expanded_code = expand(raw_code,row)

This command expands the raw_code HEX image so that it only contains whole rows. The new expanded image is named "expanded_code".

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