µVISION DEBUGGER: Saving and Restoring the Program Counter

Information in this article applies to:

• µVision Version 2.23

QUESTION

In the µVision Debugger, I would like to save the program counter and restore it later. Is there a way to do this?

ANSWER

Yes. You may create debugger functions that save and restore the program counter. The following example shows how to save the current program counter in a debugger variable:

define long pc_stk

func void pc_push (void) {
  pc_stk = $;
  printf ("Saving PC (%8.8LX)\n", pc_stk);
}

func void pc_pop (void) {
  $ = pc_stk;
  printf ("Restoring PC (%8.8LX)\n", pc_stk);
}

define button "Push PC" , "pc_push ()"
define button "Pop  PC" , "pc_pop ()"

This code also creates two buttons in the toolbox that you can click.

You may wish to extend this example to save more than one program counter location. To do that, you need to have an index and create multiple variables for the program counters.

SEE ALSO

• µVision DEBUGGER: Changing the Program Counter
• GENERAL: How to Set the Program Counter in C or Assembly?

Last Reviewed: Thursday, January 14, 2021