A major new software and firmware release for the ZX-24e and ZX-24ae has been issued by Elba Corporation that includes an updated version of the ZBasic installer for the compiler, IDE and documentation and a corresponding update to the ZBasic firmware.

The new ZBasic installer version 2.2 is available from the ZBasic Software Downloads page. The updated ZBasic compiler has following new System Library routines, enhancements and bug fixes:

• Added support for StrReplace(), ValueI() and ValueL().


• Added support for CSng(), CInt(), CLng(), et al to take a string argument.


• Added support for defining a "Persistent String" type which results in a Persistent BoundedString of the default length.


• Added pin parameter validation for InputCaptureEx().


• Added array bounds checking for structure member references.


• Added a check for exceeding the available Persistent space for the target device.


• Added Register.FirstTime (read-only).


• Added Register.PRR for the ZX24-ae.


• Modified the parameter checking for WaitForInterrupt() to ignore the "internal reference" bit for the analog compare interrupt.


• Fixed a problem in validating pin parameters for InputCaptureEx() and GetADC() expressed in the port/bit form and WaitForInterrupt() intNum values.


• Fixed an internal error that occurred when a non-existent file was specified with the .Source initialization method.


• Fixed a problem with code generated for comparing structure members.


• Fixed a problem where InputCaptureEx() wasn't allowed.


• Fixed a problem where an erroneous warning was being issued about possible use of an uninitialized variable.


• Corrected the constant value for CStrHex(b) where b is True.


• Fixed a problem where Option Base had no effect.


• Fixed an access violation due to a syntax error in concatenation of constant strings.


• Corrected a problem relating to defining an array of Persistent BoundedString.


• Corrected an internal error related to processing concatenation of constant strings.


• Fixed a code generation problem with PWM() having a real literal second parameter.


• Fixed a problem where a missing array dimension on BoundedString types was not detected.


• Fixed a problem where an array dimension was erroneously being required on a Based structure.


• Fixed a problem with WaitForInterrupt() parameter validation.

See the ZBasic website for the complete history of ZBasic compiler changes.

The updated firmware version 2.3 is available from the ZBasic Firmware page and is required for some of the new capabilities listed above. The following enhancements and fixes have been incorporated into the firmware:

• Added support for integral string-to-value conversion (to support ValueI and ValueL).


• Added a check for writing beyond the end of Persistent Memory.


• Added some stub ISRs that may be useful for awakening from sleep modes.


• Corrected a problem writing to Program Memory.


• Added code to deselect the external EEPROM before going into sleep mode, allowing lower power draw during sleep.


• Fixed a problem in the software UART code that occurred when the receive queue was full.


• Fixed a problem where StatusCom() did not return the correct value for Com1 until OpenCom() was called the first time for channel 1.


• Fixed a problem where interrupts were re-enabled too early - before the setup for WaitForInterrupt() had been completed.


• Fixed a problem where the "timer busy" flag did not get reset when the last of channels Com3 to Com6 was closed. This caused subsequent calls to OpenCom() to fail.

See the ZBasic website for the complete history of ZBasic firmware changes.

Post edited by: Mike, at: 2007/08/27 22:42