When developing software, problems are bound to arise. It is how they are dealt with that make or break the project. HI-TECH Software provides various facilities to help customers to foresee and deal with these problems.

1. Know your Compiler Version

The version of tools used can make a significant difference to the project outcome. Being aware of what version you are using and what versions are available can allow you to benefit from any fixes and features, even before problems are encountered.

Tip: To find out what version you're using you can simply use the '--ver' option or look at the About tab in the build options of an MPLAB^® project.

1.1 Announcement Forum

The best way to find out about product updates is to monitor the Announcements section of our on-line support forums, as this is the channel we use to announce any product updates or beta trials. Alternatively, you may find it more convenient to subscribe to it. As a subscriber, you will automatically receive email notifications of any new items posted in this forum. As this is a moderated forum, your inbox will not be flooded with messages.

Forum subscription is very simple. You will first need to log-in, then navigate in the usual way to the forum to which you wish to subscribe. The Announcements forum is found in the General Forums group. You should be able to see a list of topics that being discussed in the forum. Scroll down past the list of topics. Near the bottom, in the Extra information box, you should see a link that reads, Subscribe/Unsubscribe to Forum. Click on this link to add yourself to the subscription list.

Any email notifications will go to the address that you have nominated in your forum account, so make sure that your address details are correct. You can verify this by clicking My Home and editing your Personal details.

1.2 Version Archive

New to the HI-TECH Software website is the ability to download older versions of our products. The Archive area is located in the Resources section of the website. Most of our product range is covered in this section, including our most popular HI-TECH PICC^™, HI-TECH PICC-18^™, HI-TECH dsPICC^™ and HI-TECH C^® for 8051 compilers.

When logged into this section, you can access compilers and manuals of versions prior to your current registered version. You will also be able to view all release notes. Access to downloads is based on your serial number and your current version.

2. Know your Compiler's Limitations

All embedded compilers strive to get the most out of the limited memory of the devices they target and occasionally problems can arise. At HI-TECH Software, there is a policy of transparency for our compilers' limitations and issues.

2.1 Known Issues Forum

As well as subscribing to the Announcements forum, you may also wish to subscribe to our Known Issues forums. These are the forums we use to notify you of any problems that have been reported and verified since the compiler was released. In most cases code workarounds or remedial attachments will also available which alleviate the problem.

A Known Issues forum can be found under each product group. For example the known issues forum for HI-TIDE^™ can be found in HI-TIDE > Known Issues. The HI-TECH PICC, HI-TECH PICC-Lite^™, HI-TECH PICC-18 and HI-TECH dsPICC issues are listed in PICmicro^® & dsPIC^® > Known Issues.

Note: These forums will only be visible to forum users while they are logged in.

Hopefully, with everything discussed above you have solved the problem and are heading to the bar for a few celebratory drinks, but if that is not the case there is still hope.

• The HI-TECH Software forums provide a great way to ask your peers for help. Although HI-TECH Software staff do monitor these support forums, they are primarily intended for peer-to-peer discussion.
• If you do not wish to wait for a response and cannot find what you are looking for already in the forums, you may wish to try our list of FAQ's. They can be found in the Support section of the website.
  
• If you wish to contact HI-TECH Software Technical Support, the best way is via e-mail. There is a support form on our web site, or you may e-mail us directly. When doing so however, here are a few tips that will allow us to serve you better:
  
  • Quote your registered serial number, as your request may be delayed without it.
  • Clearly state the product and version you are using. eg. HI-TECH PICC-18 v9.50PL1
    
  • Indicate any hot fixes you may have applied.
    
  • Quote exactly any errors or warnings produced by the compiler.
    
  • Show the build options or command line used to invoke the compiler, or include the relevant project file.
    
  • If possible, supply some compilable code that demonstrates the problem.

		Forums: www.htsoft.com/forum FAQ's: www.htsoft.com/support/faqs.php Contact: www.htsoft.com/company/contactus.php Support: support@htsoft.com
		June 2006.