I-RA Console Mode

What is this all about?

I-RA can be used by third party editors such as Programmer's Notepad (by Simon Steele) as an interface to control the behavior of AvrGcc and even the programmer tool AvrDude without a GUI interface. Basically, 'I-RA in Console Mode', as it is called without a GUI, can do all the things that a normal I-RA can do only without the buttons and tabs that lag the speed of programming while editing source files in these environments.
A thing to mention is that, while in this operating mode, the application still uses the normal configuration files that load when I-RA starts. This configuration file keeps track of the programmer used by AvrDude, the executable paths, the uC type used for compiling and programming and other things. So in order to use I-RA with, let's say, a modified target programmer, one must start I-RA in GUI mode, select the desired programmer type, close the GUI and continue using I-RA in a Console session from there forward.

How can a Console Session be started with I-RA?

The main application in the I-RA project is a program called 'RAUploader'. So, in order to start I-RA in a Console fashion, one only needs to know what parameters to start the application with while in a Console environment (let's say 'cmd').

I-RA Console parameters and options

Running I-RA from Console Environment with '--help' or any other unknown type of parameters will yield :

Usage: RAUploader {-action type} {source path}
Where:
{-action type} =
-d for debug,
-o for opennig IRA with selected source,
-mh for making the .hex file,
-me for making the .eep file,
-ma for making hex+eep+diasm files,
-m&bf for making and burning the flash to the uC,
-m&be for making and burning the eeprom to the uC,
{source path} =
path of source to be processed.

Clear and simple, right ? I-RA can be launched in 7 Console Operation Modes:
1. '-o' : just to open I-RA with the 'source path' set to the {source path} of the argument line
2. '-d' : just compile the {source path} passed in the argument line by trying to make a '.elf' file
3. '-mh': compile the {source path} and make a Intel Hex file '.hex'
4. '-me': compile the {source path} and dump the EEPROM memory region to a '.eep' file
5. '-ma': compile the {source path} and make the '.hex' and '.eep' files + the '.diasm' file for eventual debugging
6. '-m&bf' : compile, make the '.hex' and burn it to the programmer with AvrDude
7. '-m&be' : compile, make the '.eep' and burn it to the programmer with AvrDude

Well, that's about it! With this in mind, try making some manual 'cmd' tests to see what happens :).
You can always check the 'Download' region for the 'I-RA with PN' package for ready-integrated I-RA into the Programmer's Notepad editor.