Optional Step: Descriptor Inspector
Once HIDmaker FS has generated USB descriptors, you’re just about ready to generate code for the peripheral firmware and the PC-side application program. It’s not necessary, but if you’d like, you can use the Descriptor Inspector item of the Reports menu to give you a last chance to look over the decisions that HIDmaker FS has made, and even modify some things if you feel confident in doing so.
On the Descriptor Inspector screen, you’ll see a tree of USB descriptors on the left side, a grid of values on the right side, and several edit box controls.
In the tree on the left, you’ll see the structure of USB descriptor tables that HIDmaker FS has created, based on the information you have provided so far. The outline tree structure shows the interrelationships between all these descriptor tables.
To inspect and possibly edit the values in one of these descriptor tables, you start by clicking on the item in the tree outline on the left, to select that descriptor. For example, suppose you click on Config1, a USB Configuration Descriptor. When you click on that descriptor, its editable values are shown in the inspector grid on the right side of the screen, the title changes to indicate that we have selected that descriptor table, and the edit box above the inspector grid fills with the text of a comment, describing this particular descriptor table, that will appear above this descriptor table in the final peripheral-side code. Feel free to modify this comment text to document this descriptor table correctly in your project.
If you’ve ever used a visual programming language like Visual Basic, Delphi, or C++ Builder, you’ll know exactly what to do with the inspector grid on the right. It has two columns: the left column shows the name of an item, which cannot be changed, and the right column shows the value of the item, which can be changed. You can drag the left edge of the inspector grid to see more of the tree or the inspector grid. Likewise, you can drag the vertical centerline between the two columns of the inspector grid to get more room on either column of the grid.
If you click on one of the lines in the inspector grid, it will highlight, and fill the edit box below the inspector grid with the text of a comment that describes this particular item in this descriptor table. This comment text will appear next to this item of this table, in the final peripheral-side code. Modify this comment as you like, to document this particular value correctly in your project. You will find that HIDmaker FS supplies default values and comments for all descriptor tables and values; you don’t need to change any values or comments if these defaults are acceptable to you.
Sometimes, when you click on the value of an item, you’ll see a drop down box so you can select a permissible value from a list. At other times, you’ll see a small button containing three ellipsis dots ‘...’ . Click that button to bring up a dialog box to edit the value.
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