This article shows how you can reference CCS build variables within symbol definitions in C source code and within project options.

This can be useful when you want to

  • define a variable in the source code and place it at a specific location in memory (generally useful for specifying version numbers, code revisions, etc) and
  • have the CCS build use that variable/string as part of the output file name

Write your C code

Here is an example C code that places variables nv_data (float) and nv1_data (string) into specific memory locations using #pragma DATA_SECTION. This is just a template meant to be used as a reference.

Refer to the Compiler Users Guide if you are not familiar with the pragma.

Note: the syntax for the string macro is a bit different (a reference on that is available here). 

#define xstr(s) str(s)
#define str(s) #s

#pragma DATA_SECTION(nv_data, ".infoD")
#pragma RETAIN(nv_data)
const float nv_data[] = {MYVERSION};

#pragma DATA_SECTION(nv1_data, ".infoC")
#pragma RETAIN(nv1_data)
const char nv1_data[] = {xstr(MYVERSION_STRING)};

Create CCS build variables

Go to Project Properties->Build->Variables tab and click on Add to create build variables with the desired values.

Define compiler symbols that reference the variables

Go to Project properties->Compiler->Predefined Symbols, and define the the symbols used in the C code under the --define option. The syntax to reference a build variable VAR is ${VAR}.

Reference the variable in build options

To reference the variable in build options, for example, the output file name, go to Project Properties->Linker->Basic Options and specify the output file name as shown below.