Releasing Your Application

So you've created and debugged your application and now it is time to release it into the wild. What do you do?


Building for Release

For deployment in the real world, your application must be built for release.

Release binaries are executed as soon as the device powers up. No debug commands from TIDE are needed (or accepted).


The TIDE Debug mode drop-down menu.To build a release binary, select Release in the drop-down on the Debug toolbar.

After that, select Build > Build (or Rebuild All, Build and Upload, or Rebuild All and Upload to create and optionally upload a release binary). Whichever method you choose, a .TPC file will be created and saved in the project directory.


Combining With TiOS

The .TPC binary does not include the TiOS firmware.

When you upload it to a device, you need to make sure that the hardware is running a compatible version of TiOS.

"Compatible" means two things:


The version of TiOS running on the device can be checked via the Device Explorer's Version field; you will see something like "<TPP2W-3.50.05>." In this example, 3.50 is the major revision, and 05 is the minor revision number.

The version of TiOS for which you are building appears in the Files and the Browser-Project panes at the top of the tree next to the platform name.

TiOS versions in TIDE are displayed without the last number; for example: TPP2W, V3.50.

An annotated screenshot of TIDE.

If you build for V3.50, then the compiled application binary will happily run on TiOS devices with firmware V3.50.XX, where XX can be any number.

Many compatibility issues can be eliminated by combining TiOS with the application binary. This creates a known working combination, and you don't have to worry about compatibility issues between the application binary and the device's version of TiOS.

A screenshot of the BinMerger utility.

Combined binaries can be created with BinMerger, a utility provided by Tibbo that is available as a web app or can be downloaded here: https://tibbo.com/support/downloads/tide.html.

Using BinMerger is as easy as selecting the TiOS binary that corresponds with the version for which you built, choosing your compiled application binary (a .TPC file that should be in your project folder), and clicking Generate Binary.

TiOS firmware files are, by default, located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Tibbo\TIDE\Platforms\<your platform>\firmware, where <your platform> is the actual platform name (in this case, "TPP2W"). TiOS files are also available here: https://tibbo.com/downloads/basic/firmware.html.


Deploying to Multiple Devices

You can deploy your .TPC binary or TiOS+TPC binary using Device Explorer.

As Device Explorer is a standalone utility that can be installed separately from TIDE, you don't need TIDE to upload to multiple devices.

First, connect any number of Tibbo programmable devices to your LAN and launch Device Explorer. Select one or more devices in the list (use [CTRL]+click or [SHIFT]+click to select multiple devices at once).

To upload a .TPC binary, click Upload and choose Load Application Through the Network. To upload a TiOS+TPC binary, click Upload and select Load Firmware Through the Network.

It is also possible to upload a TiOS+TPC binary through the Monitor/Loader.


Password-Protecting Your Devices

It is a good idea to password-protect your devices when deploying them in the field. Without password protection, anyone with a working understanding of TIDE would be able to upload a different application to your devices!

To set a password for a device, select it in Device Explorer and click Set Password.

Forgot the password? Press and hold the MD button while interacting with your device in TIDE. The password protection will be disabled for as long as the button is pressed. Set a new password while holding the MD button down — this way TIDE will not require the existing password to be entered.


Releasing Your Application

Building for Release

Combining With TiOS

Deploying to Multiple Devices

Password-Protecting Your Devices