mirror of
https://github.com/fadden/6502bench.git
synced 2024-06-12 08:29:29 +00:00
02f6e884d7
- MakeDist now copies CommonWPF.dll. - Spent a bunch of time tracking down a null-pointer deref that only happened when you didn't start with a config file. Fixed. - The NPE was causing the program to exit without any sort of useful diagnostic, so I added an uncaught exception handler that writes the crash to a text file in the current directory. - Added a trace listener definition to App.config that writes log messages to a file, but it can't generally be enabled at runtime because you can't write files from inside the sandbox. So it's there but commented out. - Made the initial size of the main window a little wider.
571 lines
31 KiB
HTML
571 lines
31 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
|
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type" />
|
|
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
|
|
<link href="main.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
|
|
<title>Tutorials - 6502bench SourceGen</title>
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
<div id="content">
|
|
<h1>6502bench SourceGen: Tutorials</h1>
|
|
<p><a href="index.html">Back to index</a></p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The tutorials introduce SourceGen and cover some of the basic
|
|
features. They skim lightly over some important concepts, like the
|
|
difference between numeric and symbolic references, so reading the
|
|
manual is recommended.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#basic-features">Basic Features</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#advanced-features">Advanced Features</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="basic-features">Tutorial #1: Basic Features</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Start by launching SourceGen. The initial screen has a large
|
|
center area with some buttons, and some mostly-empty windows on the sides.
|
|
The buttons are shortcuts for menu items in the File menu.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Create the project</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Click "Start new project".</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The New Project window has three parts. The top-left window has a
|
|
tree of known platforms, arranged by manufacturer. The top-right window
|
|
provides some details on whichever platform is selected. The bottom
|
|
window will have some information about the data file, once we choose one.</p>
|
|
<p>Scroll down in the list, and select "Generic 6502". Then click
|
|
"Select File...", navigate to the SourceGen installation directory,
|
|
open the Examples folder, then open the "Tutorial" folder. Select the
|
|
file named "Tutorial1", and click "Open".</p>
|
|
<p>The filename now appears in the bottom window, along with an indication
|
|
of the file's size.</p>
|
|
<p>Click OK to create the project.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Getting Around</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The first thing we'll do is save the project. Some features create or
|
|
load files from the directory where the project lives, so we want to
|
|
establish that.</p>
|
|
<p>Select File > Save, which will bring up a standard save-file dialog.
|
|
Make sure you're in still in the Examples/Tutorial folder. The default
|
|
project file name is "Tutorial1.dis65", which is what we want, so just
|
|
click "Save".</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The display is divided into rows, one per line of disassembled code
|
|
or data. This is a standard Windows "list view", so you can select a row
|
|
by left-clicking anywhere in it. Use Ctrl+Click to toggle the selection
|
|
on individual lines, and Shift+Click to select a range of lines. You can
|
|
move the selection around with the up/down arrow keys and PgUp/PgDn. Scroll
|
|
the window with the mouse wheel or by grabbing the scroll bar.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Each row is divided into nine columns. You can adjust the column
|
|
widths by clicking and dragging the column dividers in the header. The
|
|
columns on the right side of the screen are similar to what you'd find
|
|
in assembly source code: label, opcode, operand, comment. The columns
|
|
on the left are what you'd find in a disassembly (file offset, address,
|
|
raw bytes), plus some information about processor status flags and line
|
|
attributes that may or may not be useful to you. If you find any of
|
|
these distracting, collapse the column.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Click on the fourth line down, which has address 1002. The line has
|
|
a label, "L1002", and is performing an indexed load from L1017. Both
|
|
of these labels were automatically generated, and are named for the
|
|
address at which they appear. When you clicked on the line, a few
|
|
things happened:</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>The line was highlighted in the system selection color (usually
|
|
blue).</li>
|
|
<li>Address 1017 and label L1017 were highlighted. When you select
|
|
a line with an operand that targets an in-file address, the target
|
|
address is highlighted.</li>
|
|
<li>An entry appeared in the References window. This tells you that the
|
|
only reference to L1002 is a branch from address $100B.</li>
|
|
<li>The Info window filled with a bunch of text that describes the
|
|
line format and some details about the LDA instruction.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Click some other lines, such as address $100B and $1014. Note how the
|
|
highlights and contents of other windows change.</p>
|
|
<p>Click on L1002 again, then double-click on the opcode ("LDA"). The
|
|
selection jumps to L1017. When an operand references an in-file address,
|
|
double-clicking on the opcode will take you to it. (Double-clicking on
|
|
the operand itself opens a format editor; more on that later.)</p>
|
|
<p>With L1017 highlighted, double-click on the line that appears in the
|
|
References window. Note the selection jumps to L1002. You can immediately
|
|
jump to any reference.</p>
|
|
<p>At the top of the Symbols window on the right side of the screen is a
|
|
row of buttons. Make sure "Auto" is selected. You should see three
|
|
labels in the window (L1002, L1014, L1017). Double-click on L1014. The
|
|
selection jumps to the appropriate line.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Select Edit > Find. Type "hello", and hit Enter. The selection will
|
|
move to address $100E, which is a string that says "hello!". You can use
|
|
Edit > Find Next to try to find the next occurrence (there isn't one). You
|
|
can search for any text that appears in the rightmost columns (label, opcode,
|
|
operand, comment).</p>
|
|
<p>Select Edit > Go To. You can enter a label, address, or file offset.
|
|
Enter "100b" to set the selection to $100B.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Near the top-left of the SourceGen window is a set of toolbar icons.
|
|
Click the left-arrow, and watch the selection moves. Click it again. Then
|
|
click the right-arrow a couple of times. Whenever you jump around in the
|
|
file by using the Go To feature, or by double-clicking on opcodes or
|
|
lines in side-windows, the locations are added to a navigation history. The
|
|
arrows let you move forward and backward through it.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Editing</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Click the very first line of the file, which is a comment that says
|
|
something like "6502bench SourceGen vX.Y.Z". There are three ways to
|
|
open the comment editor:</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>Select Actions > Edit Long Comment from the menu bar.</li>
|
|
<li>Right click, and select Edit Long Comment from the
|
|
pop-up menu. (This menu is exactly the same as the Actions menu.)</li>
|
|
<li>Double-click the comment</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>Most things in the code list will respond to a double-click.
|
|
Double-clicking on addresses, flags, labels, operands, and comments will
|
|
open editors for those things. Double-clicking on a value in the "bytes"
|
|
column will open a floating hex dump viewer. This is usually the most
|
|
convenient way to edit something: point and click.</p>
|
|
<p>Double-click the comment to open the editor. Type some words into the
|
|
upper window, and note that a formatted version appears in the bottom
|
|
window. Experiment with the maximum line width and "render in box"
|
|
settings to see what they do. You can hit Enter to create line breaks,
|
|
or let SourceGen wrap lines for you. When you're done, click OK. (Or
|
|
hit Ctrl+Enter.)</p>
|
|
<p>When the dialog closes, you'll see your new comment in place at the
|
|
top of the file. If you typed enough words, your comment will span
|
|
multiple lines. You can select the comment by selecting any line in it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Click on the comment, then shift-click on L1014. Right-click, and look
|
|
at the menu. Nearly all of the menu items are disabled. Most editors are
|
|
only enabled when a single instance of a relevant item is selected, so
|
|
for example Edit Long Comment won't be enabled if you have an instruction
|
|
selected.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Let's add a note. Click on $100E (the line with "hello!"), then
|
|
select Actions > Edit Note. Type a few words, pick a color, and click "OK"
|
|
(or hit Ctrl+Enter). Your note appears in the code, and also in the
|
|
window on the bottom left. Notes are like long comments, with three key
|
|
differences:</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>You can't pick their line width, but you can pick their color.</li>
|
|
<li>They don't appear in generated assembly sources, making them
|
|
useful for leaving notes to yourself as you work.</li>
|
|
<li>They're listed in the Notes window. Double-clicking them jumps
|
|
the selection to the note, making them useful as bookmarks.</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
|
|
<p>It's time to do something with the code. If you look at what the code
|
|
does you'll see that it's copying several dozen bytes from $1017
|
|
to $2000, then jumping to $2000. It appears to be relocating the next
|
|
part of the code before
|
|
executing it. We want to let the disassembler know what's going on, so
|
|
select the line at address $1017 and then
|
|
Edit > Edit Address. (Or double-click the "1017" in the addr column.)
|
|
In the Edit Address dialog, type "2000", and hit Enter.)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Note the way the code list has changed. When you changed the address,
|
|
the "JMP $2000" at L1014 found a home inside the bounds of the file, so
|
|
the code tracer was able to find the instructions there.</p>
|
|
<p>From the menu, select Edit > Undo. Notice how everything reverts to
|
|
the way it was. Now, select Edit > Redo. You can undo any change you
|
|
make to the project. (The undo history is <strong>not</strong> saved in
|
|
the project file, though, so when you exit the program the history is
|
|
lost.)</p>
|
|
<p>Notice that, while the address column has changed, the offset column
|
|
has not. File offsets never change, which is why they're shown here and
|
|
in the References and Notes windows. (They can, however, be distracting,
|
|
so you'll be forgiven if you reduce the offset column width to zero.)</p>
|
|
<p>On the line at address $2000, select Actions > Edit Label, or
|
|
double-click on the label "L2000". Change the label to "MAIN", and hit
|
|
Enter. The label changes on that line, and on the two lines that refer
|
|
to address $2000. (If you're not sure what refers to line $2000, select
|
|
it and check the References window.)</p>
|
|
<p>On that same line, select Actions > Edit Comment. Type a short
|
|
comment, and hit Enter. Your comment appears in the "comment" column.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Editing Instruction Operands</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The operand in the LDA instruction at line $2000 refers to an address
|
|
($3000) that isn't part of the file. We want to create an equate directive to
|
|
give it a name. With the line at $2000 selected, use Actions > Edit Operand,
|
|
or double-click on "$3000". Select the "Symbol" radio button, then type
|
|
"INPUT" in the text box. Click "OK".</p>
|
|
<p>Disappointed? Nothing seems to have happened. The problem is that we
|
|
updated the operand to reference a symbol that doesn't exist. Open the
|
|
operand editor again, but this time click on "Set operand AND create project
|
|
symbol". Click "OK".</p>
|
|
<p>That's better. If you scroll up to the top of the project, you'll see
|
|
that there's now a ".EQ" line for the symbol.</p>
|
|
<p>Operands that refer to in-file locations behave similarly. Select the
|
|
line two down, at address $2005, and Actions > Edit Operand. Enter the
|
|
symbol "IS_OK". (Note you don't actually have to click Symbol first -- if
|
|
you just start typing as soon as the dialog opens, it'll select Symbol
|
|
for you automatically.) Click "OK".</p>
|
|
<p>As before, nothing appears to have happened, but if you were watching
|
|
carefully you would have noticed that the label at $2009 ("L2009") has
|
|
disappeared. This happened because the code at $2005 used to have a
|
|
<i>numeric</i> reference to $2009, and SourceGen automatically created a
|
|
label. However, you changed the code at $2005 to have a <i>symbolic</i>
|
|
reference to a symbol called "IS_OK", so the auto-label was no longer
|
|
needed. Because IS_OK doesn't exist, the operand at $2005 is just formatted
|
|
as a hexadecimal value.</p>
|
|
<p>Let's fix this. Select the line at address $2009, then
|
|
Actions > Edit Label. Enter "IS_OK", and hit Enter. (NOTE: labels are
|
|
case-sensitive, so it needs to match the operand at $2005 exactly.) You'll
|
|
see the new label appear, and the operand at line $2005 will use it.</p>
|
|
<p>There's an easier way. Use Edit > Undo twice, to get back to the time
|
|
where line $2005 is using "L2009" as its operand. Select that line and
|
|
Actions > Edit Operand. Enter "IS_OK", then select "Create label at target
|
|
address instead". Hit "OK".</p>
|
|
<p>You should now see that both the operand at $2005 and the label at
|
|
$2009 have changed to IS_OK, accomplishing what we wanted to do in a
|
|
single step. (There's actually a subtle difference compared to the two-step
|
|
process: the operand at $2005 is still a numeric reference. It was
|
|
automatically changed to match IS_OK in the same way that the references
|
|
to MAIN were when we renamed "L2000" earlier. If you actually do want the
|
|
symbolic reference, there's another option in the Edit Operand dialog that
|
|
does it. The difference can be noted in the Info window.)</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Editing Data Operands</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>There's some string and numeric data down at the bottom of the file. The
|
|
final string appears to be multiple strings stuck together. Notice that
|
|
the opcode for the very last line is '+', which means it's a continuation
|
|
of the previous line. Long data items can span multiple lines, split
|
|
every 64 characters (including delimiters), but they are still single
|
|
items: selecting any part selects the whole.</p>
|
|
<p>Select the last line, then Actions > Edit Operand. You'll notice
|
|
that this dialog is much different from the one you got when editing the
|
|
operand of an instruction. At the top it will say "65 bytes selected". You
|
|
can format this
|
|
as a single 65-byte string, as 65 individual items, or various things
|
|
in between. For now, select "Single bytes", and then on the right,
|
|
select "ASCII". Click "OK".</p>
|
|
<p>Each character is now on its own line. The selection still spans the
|
|
same set of addresses.</p>
|
|
<p>Select address $203D on its own, then Actions > Edit Label. Set the
|
|
label to "STR1". Move up a bit and select address $2030, then scroll to
|
|
the bottom and shift-click address $2070. Select Actions > Edit Operand.
|
|
At the top it should now say, "65 bytes selected in 2 groups".
|
|
There are two groups because the presence of a label split the data into
|
|
two separate regions. Select "mixed ASCII and non-ASCII", then click
|
|
"OK".</p>
|
|
<p>We now have two ".STR" lines, one for "string zero ", and one with the
|
|
STR1 label and the rest of the string data. This is okay, but it's not
|
|
really what we want. The code at $200B appears to be loading a 16-bit
|
|
address from data at $2025, so we want to use that if we can.</p>
|
|
<p>Select Edit > Undo three times. You should be back to the state where
|
|
there's a single ".STR" line at the bottom, split across two lines with
|
|
a '+'.</p>
|
|
<p>Select the line at $2026. This is currently formatted as a string,
|
|
but that appears to be incorrect, so let's format it as individual bytes
|
|
instead. There's an easy way to do that: use Actions > Toggle Single-Byte
|
|
Format (or hit Ctrl+B).</p>
|
|
<p>The data starting at $2025 appears to be 16-bit addresses that point
|
|
into the table of strings, so let's format them appropriately.</p>
|
|
<p>Double-click the operand column on line $2025 ("$30") to open
|
|
the operand data format editor. Because you only have one byte selected,
|
|
most of the options are disabled. This won't do what we want, so
|
|
click "Cancel".</p>
|
|
<p>Select the line at $2025, then shift-click the line at $202E. Right-click
|
|
and select Edit Operand. If you selected the correct set of bytes,
|
|
the top line in the dialog should now say, "10 bytes selected". Because
|
|
10 is a multiple of two, the 16-bit formats are enabled. It's not a multiple
|
|
of 3 or 4, so the 24-bit and 32-bit options are not enabled. Click the
|
|
"16-bit words, little-endian" radio button, then over to the right, click
|
|
the "Address" radio button. Click "OK".</p>
|
|
<p>We just told SourceGen that those 10 bytes are actually five 16-bit numeric
|
|
references. SourceGen determined that the addresses are contained in the
|
|
file, and created labels for each of them. Labels only work if they're
|
|
on their own line, so the long string was automatically split into five
|
|
separate ".STR" statements.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Use File > Save (or hit Ctrl+S) to save your work.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Generating Assembly Code</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>You can generate assembly source code from the disassembled data.
|
|
Select File > Assembler (or hit Ctrl+Shift+A) to open the generation
|
|
and assembly dialog.</p>
|
|
<p>Pick your favorite assembler from the drop list at the top right,
|
|
then click "Generate". An assembly source file will be generated in the
|
|
directory where your project files lives, named after a combination of the
|
|
project name and the assembler name. A preview of the assembled code
|
|
appears in the top window. (It's a "preview" because it has line numbers
|
|
added and is cut off after a certain limit.)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If you have a cross-assembler installed and configured, you can run
|
|
it by clicking "Run Assembler". The output from the assembler will appear
|
|
in the lower window, along with an indication of whether the assembled
|
|
file matches the original. (Barring bugs in SourceGen or the assembler,
|
|
it should always match exactly.)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Click "Close" to close the window.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>End of Part One</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>At this point you know enough to work with a SourceGen project. Continue
|
|
on to the next tutorial to learn more.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="advanced-features">Tutorial #2: Advanced Features</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>This tutorial will walk you through some of the fancier things SourceGen
|
|
can do. We assume you've already finished the Basic Features tutorial.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Split-Address Table Formatting</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Start a new project. Select the Apple //e platform, click Select File
|
|
and navigate to the Examples directory. In A2-Amper-fdraw, select
|
|
<code>AMPERFDRAW#061d60</code>. Click OK to create the project.</p>
|
|
<p>Not a lot to see here -- just half a dozen lines of loads and stores.
|
|
This particular program interfaces with Applesoft BASIC, so we can make it
|
|
a bit more meaningful by loading an additional platform
|
|
symbol file. Select Edit > Project Properties, then the Symbol Files
|
|
tab. Click Add Symbol Files. The file browser starts in the RuntimeData
|
|
directory. In the Apple folder, select <code>Applesoft.sym65</code>, and
|
|
click Open. Click OK to close the project properties window.</p>
|
|
<p>The STA instructions now reference <code>AMPERV</code>, which is noted
|
|
as a call vector. We can see the code setting up a jump to $1d70. As it
|
|
happens, the start address of the code is $1d60 -- the last four digits of
|
|
the filename -- so let's make that change. Double-click the initial .ORG
|
|
statement, and change it from $2000 to $1d60. We can now see that $1d70
|
|
starts right after this initial chunk of code.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Select the line with address $1d70, then Actions > Hint As Code Entry Point.
|
|
More code appears, but not much -- if you scroll down you'll see that most
|
|
of the file is still data. The code at $1d70 searches through a table at
|
|
$1d88 for a match with the contents of the accumulator. If it finds a match,
|
|
it loads bytes from tables at $1da6 and $1d97, pushes them on the stack,
|
|
and the JMPs away. This code is pushing a return address onto the stack.
|
|
When the code at CHRGET returns, it'll return to that address. Because of
|
|
a quirk of the 6502 architecture, the address pushed must be the target
|
|
address minus one.</p>
|
|
<p>The first byte in the first table at $1d97 (which has the auto-label
|
|
L1D97) is $b4. The first byte in the second table is $1d. So the first
|
|
address we want is $1db4 + 1 = $1db5.</p>
|
|
<p>Select the line at $1db5, and use Actions > Hint As Code Entry Point.
|
|
More code appears, but again it's only a few lines. Let's dress this one
|
|
up a bit. Set a label on the code at $1db5 called "FUNC". At $1d97, edit
|
|
the data item (double-click on "$b4"), click "Single bytes", then type "FUNC"
|
|
(note the text field gets focus immediately, and the radio button
|
|
automatically switches to "symbolic reference" when you start typing).
|
|
Click OK. The operand at $1d97 should now say <code><FUNC-1</code>.
|
|
Repeat the process at $1da6, this time clicking the "High" part button,
|
|
to make the operand there say <code>>FUNC</code>. (If it says
|
|
<code><FUNC-152</code>, you forgot to select the High part.)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>We've now changed the first entry in the table to symbolic references.
|
|
You could repeat these steps for the remaining items, but there's a faster
|
|
way. Click on the line at address $1d97, then shift-click the line at
|
|
address $1da9 (which should be <code>.FILL 12,$1e</code>). Select
|
|
Actions > Format Split-Address Table.</p>
|
|
<p>The message at the top should indicate that there are 30 bytes
|
|
selected. In Address Characteristics, click the "adjusted for RTS/RTL"
|
|
checkbox. As soon as you do, the first line of the Generated Addresses
|
|
list should show the symbol "FUNC". The rest of the addresses will look like
|
|
<code>(+) T1DD0</code>. The "(+)" means that a label was not found at
|
|
that location, so a label will be generated automatically.</p>
|
|
<p>Down near the bottom, check the "add code entry hint if needed" checkbox.
|
|
Because we saw the table contents being pushed onto the stack for RTS,
|
|
we know that they're all code entry points.</p>
|
|
<p>Click OK. The table of address bytes should now all be references to
|
|
symbols -- 15 low parts followed by 15 high parts. If you scroll down,
|
|
you should see nothing but instructions until you get to the last dozen
|
|
bytes at the end of the file. (If this isn't the case, use Edit > Undo,
|
|
then work through the steps again.)</p>
|
|
<p>The formatter did the same steps you went through earlier -- set a
|
|
label, apply the label to the low and high bytes in the table, add a
|
|
code entry point hint -- but did several of them at once.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>We don't want to save this project, so select File > Close. When
|
|
SourceGen asks for confirmation, click Discard & Continue.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Going Deeper</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Start a new project. Select "Generic 6502". For the data file, navigate
|
|
to the Examples directory, then from the Tutorials directory
|
|
select "Tutorial2".</p>
|
|
<p>The first thing you'll notice is that we immediately ran into a BRK,
|
|
which is a pretty reliable sign that we're not in a code section. The
|
|
generic profile puts a code entry point hint on the first byte, but that's
|
|
wrong here. This particular file begins with <code>00 20</code>, which
|
|
could be a load address (some C64 binaries look like this). So let's start
|
|
with that assumption.</p>
|
|
<p>Click on the first line of code at address $1000, and select
|
|
Actions > Remove Hints. The $20 got absorbed into a string. The string
|
|
is making it hard to manipulate the next few bytes, so let's fix that by
|
|
selecting Edit > Toggle Data Scan (Ctrl+D). This turns off the feature
|
|
that looks for strings and .FILL regions, so now each uncategorized byte is
|
|
on its own line.</p>
|
|
<p>You could select the first two lines and use Actions > Edit Operand
|
|
to format them as a 16-bit little-endian hex value, but there's a shortcut:
|
|
select the first line only, then Edit > Format As Word (Ctrl+W). It
|
|
automatically grabbed the following byte and combined them. Since we believe
|
|
$2000 is the load address for everything that follows, click on the line
|
|
with address $1002, select Actions > Set Address, and enter "2000". With
|
|
that line still selected, use Actions > Hint As Code Entry Point
|
|
(Ctrl+H then Ctrl+C) to identify it as code.</p>
|
|
<p>That looks better, but it's branching off the bottom of the screen
|
|
(unless you have a really tall screen or small fonts) because of all the
|
|
intervening data. Use Edit > Toggle Data Scan to turn the string
|
|
finder back on.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>There are four strings starting at address $2004, each of which is
|
|
followed by $00. These look like null-terminated strings, so let's make
|
|
it official. But first, let's do it wrong. Click on the line with
|
|
address $2004 to select it. Hold the shift key down, then double-click
|
|
on the operand field of the line with address $2031 (i.e. double-click on
|
|
the words "last string").</p>
|
|
<p>The Edit Data Format dialog opens, but the null-terminated strings
|
|
option is not available. This is because we didn't include the null byte
|
|
on the last string. To be recognized as one of the "special" string types,
|
|
every selected string must match the expected pattern.</p>
|
|
<p>Cancel out of the dialog. Hold the control key down, and double-click
|
|
on the operand on line $203c (<code>.DD1 $00</code>). Control-clicking
|
|
adds the line to the selection, and double-clicking the operand reopens
|
|
the dialog. You should see "Null-terminated strings (4)" as an available
|
|
option now. Click on that, then click OK. The strings are now shown
|
|
as .ZSTR operands.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>It's wise to save your work periodically. Use File > Save to create
|
|
a project file for Tutorial2.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4>Pointers and Parts</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>Let's move on to the code at $203d. It starts by storing a couple of
|
|
values into direct page address $02/03. This appears to be setting up a
|
|
pointer to $2063, which is a data area inside the file. So let's make it
|
|
official.</p>
|
|
<p>Select line $2063, and use Actions > Edit Label to give it the
|
|
label "XDATA". Now edit the operand on line $203d, and set it to the
|
|
symbol "XDATA", with the part "low". Edit the operand on line $2043,
|
|
and set it to "XDATA" with the part "high". (Note the symbol text box
|
|
gets focus immediately, so you can start typing the symbol name as soon
|
|
as the dialog opens; you don't need to click around first.) If all
|
|
went well, the operands should now read <code>LDA #<XDATA</code>
|
|
and <code>LDA #>XDATA</code>.</p>
|
|
<p>Let's name the pointer. Edit the operand on line $203f, enter the
|
|
symbol "PTR1", and in the Symbol Shorcuts section, click "Set operand
|
|
AND create project symbol". Click OK. Note that operand on line $2043
|
|
has changed to "PTR1+1".</p>
|
|
<p>Double-click on the JSR on line $2045 to jump to L209A. This just
|
|
loads a value from $3000 into the accumulator and returns, so not much
|
|
to see here. Hit the back-arrow in the toolbar to jump back to the JSR.</p>
|
|
<p>The next bit of code masks the accumulator so it holds a value between
|
|
0 and 3, then doubles it and uses it as an index into PTR1. We know PTR1
|
|
points to XDATA, which looks like it has some 16-bit addresses. The
|
|
values loaded are stored in two more zero-page locations, $04-05.</p>
|
|
<p>$04 is being displayed as "PTR1+2", which isn't quite right, so let's
|
|
fix that. Double-click on the operand of address $204e, set the symbol
|
|
to "PTR2", and again click "Set operand AND create project symbol".
|
|
Click OK. That looks better.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The next bit of code copies bytes from PTR2 to $0400, stopping when it
|
|
hits a zero byte. Looks like this is copying null-terminated strings.
|
|
This confirms our idea that XDATA holds 16-bit addresses, so let's
|
|
format it. Select lines $2063 to $2066, and Actions > Edit Operand.
|
|
It should say "8 bytes selected" at the top. Select "16-bit words,
|
|
little-endian", and then from the Display As box, select "Address".
|
|
Click OK. If you scroll up, you'll see that your .ZSTR strings now have
|
|
labels that match the labels in XDATA.</p>
|
|
<p>Now that we know what XDATA holds, let's rename it. Change the label
|
|
to STRADDR. The symbol parts in the operands at $203d and $2041 update
|
|
automatically.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Let's pause briefly to look at the cycle-count feature. Use
|
|
Edit > Settings to open the app settings panel, then select the
|
|
Asm Config tab. Click the "Show cycle counts" checkbox, then click OK.</p>
|
|
<p>Every line with an instruction now has a cycle count on it. The cycle
|
|
counts are adjusted for everything SourceGen can figure out. For example,
|
|
the BEQ on line $205a shows "2+" cycles, meaning that it takes at least two
|
|
cycles but might take more. That's because conditional branches take an
|
|
extra cycles if the branch is taken. The BNE on line $2061" shows 3 cycles,
|
|
because we know that the branch is always taken. (If you want to see why,
|
|
look at the value of the 'Z' flag in the "flags" column. Lower-case 'z'
|
|
means the zero-flag is clear.)</p>
|
|
<p>The cycle-count comments are included in assembled output as well. If
|
|
you add an end-of-line comment, it appears after the cycle count.</p>
|
|
<p>Hit Ctrl+S to save your project. Make that a habit.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4>Odds & Ends</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>The rest of the code isn't really intended to do anything useful. It
|
|
just exists to illustrate some odd situations.</p>
|
|
<p>Look at the code starting at $206b. It ends with a BRK at $2074, which
|
|
as noted earlier is a bad sign. If you look up two lines, you'll see that
|
|
it's loading the accumulator with zero, then doing a BNE, which should never
|
|
be taken (note the cycle count for the BNE is 2). The trick is in the
|
|
two lines before that, which use self-modifying code to change the LDA
|
|
immediate operand from $00 to $ff. The BNE is actually a branch-always.</p>
|
|
<p>We can fix this by correcting the status flags. Select line $2072,
|
|
and then Actions > Override Status Flags. This lets us specify what
|
|
the flags should be before the instruction is executed. For each flag,
|
|
we can override the default behavior and specify that the flag is
|
|
clear (0), set (1), or indeterminate (could be 0 or 1). In this case,
|
|
we know that the self-modified code will be loading a non-zero value, so
|
|
in the "Z" column click on the button in the "Zero" row. Click OK. The
|
|
BNE is now an always-taken branch, and the code list rearranges itself
|
|
appropriately (and the cycle count is now 3).</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Continuing on, the code at $2079 touches a few consecutive locations. Edit
|
|
the label on line $2074, setting it to "VAR". Notice how the references
|
|
to $2074 through $2077 have changed from auto-generated labels to
|
|
references to VAR. For some projects this may be undesirable. Use
|
|
Edit > Project Properties, then in the Analysis Parameters box
|
|
un-check "Seek nearby targets", and click OK. You'll notice that the
|
|
references to $2075 on have switched back to auto labels. Furthermore, if
|
|
you scroll up, you'll see that the stores to PTR1+1 and PTR2+1 are now
|
|
just stores to $03 and $05.</p>
|
|
<p>The nearby-target behavior is generally desirable, because it lets you
|
|
avoid explicitly labeling every part of a multi-byte data item. For now,
|
|
use Edit > Undo to switch it back on.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The code at $2085 looks a bit strange. LDX, then a BIT with a weird
|
|
symbol, then another LDX. If you look at the "bytes" column, you'll notice
|
|
that the three-byte BIT instruction has only one byte on its line. The
|
|
trick here is that the <code>LDX #$01</code> is embedded inside the BIT
|
|
instruction. When the code runs through here, X is set to $00, then
|
|
the BIT instruction sets some flags, then the STA runs. Several lines
|
|
down there's a BNE to $2088, which is in the middle of the BIT instruction.
|
|
It loads X with $01, then also continues to the STA.</p>
|
|
<p>Embedded instructions are unusual but not unheard-of. When you see the
|
|
extra symbol in the opcode field, you need to look closely at what's going
|
|
on.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Go Forth</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>That's it for the tutorials. There's significantly more detail on
|
|
all aspects of SourceGen in the manual.</p>
|
|
<p>While you can do some fancy things, nothing you do will alter the
|
|
data file. The assembled output will always match the original. So
|
|
don't be afraid to play around.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div id="footer">
|
|
<p><a href="index.html">Back to index</a></p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</body>
|
|
<!-- Copyright 2018 faddenSoft -->
|
|
</html>
|