The following sections document the basic work flow usage model of the BCT and are indented to educate the user as quickly as possible in the basic usage of the BCT.
For a comprehensive walk through of the BCT's Graphical User Interface components see GUI Overview.
To modify one or more configuration settings in a binary file, the following BCT usage model should be followed after starting the BCT:
Open the BSF associated with the binary file. This can be accomplished by doing one of four actions below:
- Selecting the Open BSF button
- Selecting the File --> Open menu item
- Selecting the Settings --> Load menu item
- Select a file from the Recently Used Files list. File --> <File>
Configuration settings displayed in the center pane (the Configuration Pane) can be modified. The right pane (the Help Pane) will change as configuration settings are floated over by the mouse cursor. The left pane (the Navigation Pane) can be used to traverse the configuration settings tree under the Standard or Category tabs.
![]()
The Category tab offers an alternative way of navigating the configuration settings tree.
![]()
After you have modified the configuration settings as necessary, patch the binary associated with the BSF by selecting the Binary menu's Patch menu item.
![]()
The configuration settings are saved to a ABSF.
Note
The ABSF file name used has the same base name as the BSF file but with a .absf file name extension rather than a .bsf file name extension.
The ABSF file can be used at a later date to update a binary with its saved configuration. See Creating a Final Firmware Image from an ABSF
After the configuration settings have been saved to the ABSF, then another dialog will be displayed asking the user to browse to the binary file associated with the BSF and to provide a new firmware image file name that will contained the patched configuration settings.
![]()
If the binary contains a description table, it will be displayed in the "Description from Binary" area.
After both the binary file and the firmware file names have been supplied, selecting the OK button will patch the binary file creating the firmware file specified.
Note
By default the firmware file name is constructed by taking the binary file's base name (its name without a file extension) and adding the file extension ".rom" as shown below:
![]()
Optionally, the load address of the firmware file can be rebased. See Optional Rebasing the Load Address of the Created Firmware.
Successful creation of a firmware image will display "Firmware file has been created successfully." in the status bar.
When a binary file has its configuration settings changed an ABSF is generated. This ABSF file can be used to modify binary files without the user having to load a BSF and manually change the configuration settings (as described in the previous section).
To update a binary file with settings saved in an ABSF, select the Binary Tools--> Patch menu without previously loading a BSF. Or, click on the "Patch Binary with ABSF" button before loading a BSF.
This will display the following dialog:
The Browse buttons can be used to select the Binary, As built (ABSF) file, and the Firmware file to be created.
Successful creation of a firmware image will display "Firmware file has been created successfully." in the status bar.
Optionally, the load address of the firmware file can be rebased. See Optional Rebasing the Load Address of the Created Firmware.