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Using the Port I/O Utility->8051 Ports Dialog Box

Open the dialog box by selection the Ports P0 to P3 command from the Peripherals menu.

Four input files can be specified - one for each input port.  To choose a filename, click on the Browse button for the appropriate port.  This will open a file open dialog box allowing you to select a file. By default, the file is given a .DAT extension but you can specify a different extension if you wish.

After you have selected a file, the Get input from file checkbox will have a cross in it.  This tells the simulator to use the specified file for input.  You can click on this checkbox to enable and disable port input. The filename will still be present but will not be used if the port input is disabled.

When the port input is enabled, a further checkbox is displayed.  This Display in window checkbox enables you to select whether or not the data in the file is also displayed in a window.  Click on this checkbox to enable and disable this window.  A cross in this checkbox indicates that a window will be opened.  This window will be opened automatically when you close the dialog box with the OK button.

One output file can be specified.  The simulator will write text to this file when any port activity (input or output) takes place.  This file can later be examined with a text editor.  Click in the browse button in the output part of the dialog box to select a name for the output file.  A file save as dialog box will open allowing you to select a filename.  By default, the file is given a .TXT extension but you can specify a different extension if you wish.

When you are happy with all of your selections, press the OK button.  All of the files to be used for input and output will then be opened and windows showing the file data opened or closed in accordance with your selections.

Note that even if you do not make any changes to the selections in this dialog box, pressing the OK button causes all the files to be used for port input and output to be closed and re-opened.  The simulator will therefore start to take data from the beginning of the files again.

If you do not want your selections to take effect, press the Cancel button.  All of your selections will then be discarded.