{"id":7761,"date":"2022-01-12T16:25:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T00:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/?p=7761"},"modified":"2025-09-09T19:27:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:27:29","slug":"using-live-watch-with-esp32-c3-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/tutorials\/esp32\/livewatch\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Live Watch on ESP32-C3 Devices"},"content":{"rendered":"

This tutorial shows how to use Live Watch<\/a> with the ESP32-C3 devices. Unlike the regular ESP32 chip that uses the Xtensa core, ESP32-C3 is based on RISC-V, and hence allows accessing the device memory without stopping the CPU, allowing VisualGDB to inspect the values of the global variables without stopping the target.<\/p>\n

As of ESP-IDF 4.3.2, using Live Watch requires patching the components\/hal\/esp32c3\/include\/hal\/cpu_ll.h<\/strong> file to replicate this commit<\/a>. We will show how to do it later in the tutorial.<\/p>\n

Before you begin, make sure you install VisualGDB 5.6 or later, and update the ESP32 Debug Package to the latest version.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Start Visual Studio and open the New Project<\/strong> window. Then, locate the VisualGDB ESP32 Project Wizard:\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Enter the name and location for your project, then press “Create”:\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Proceed with the default project type (new CMake-based project):\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. On the next page of the wizard, select your ESP32 toolchain and pick the ESP32C3 device: \"\"<\/a>Note that Live Variables will NOT work on the regular ESP32 and ESP32S2\/S3 devices, as they utilize a different CPU.
    \n<\/strong>Update:<\/strong> For better compatibility with the latest ESP32 tools, we recommend selecting the     consolidated toolchain<\/a> instead.<\/li>\n
  5. Pick the project sample you would like to clone. In this tutorial, we will use the most basic “blink” sample:\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Connect your device to the USB port as shown in this tutorial<\/a> and let VisualGDB detect it. Then, select it in the “Debug Using” field and press “Test” to verify the connection:\"\"<\/a>You can safely ignore the warning about all device registers being 0. It is normal for ESP32-C3 devices.<\/li>\n
  7. Press “Finish” to generate the project. Before you build it, we would need to patch the ESP-IDF to prevent the CPU from entering the sleep mode while the debugger is connected (otherwise Live Watch will not work). To do that, locate the esp32c3\/include\/hal\/cpu_ll.h<\/strong> file and replace the cpu_ll_waiti()<\/strong> function with the one matching this commit<\/a>:\n
    #include <soc\/dport_access.h>\r\n#include <soc\/system_reg.h>\r\n\r\nstatic inline void cpu_ll_waiti(void)\r\n{\r\n    if (cpu_ll_is_debugger_attached() &&\r\n        DPORT_REG_GET_BIT(SYSTEM_CPU_PER_CONF_REG, SYSTEM_CPU_WAIT_MODE_FORCE_ON) == 0)\r\n    {\r\n        return;\r\n    }\r\n\r\n    asm volatile(\"wfi\\n\");\r\n}<\/pre>\n
    \"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Add a global g_Counter<\/strong> variable to the main source file and update the app_main()<\/strong> function to periodically increment it:\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. Press F5 to build the project and start debugging it. As long as you have in-place display enabled in Live Watch<\/a>, it will immediately display the value above the variable declaration: \"\"<\/a>Note that if all values show the value of 0, double-check that you have patched the correct cpu_ll.h<\/strong> file, and rebuilt the project after doing so.<\/li>\n
  10. Click on the live value to locate the variable in the Live Watch window. You can use the Globals<\/strong> view to quickly locate other variables or flag them as favorite:\"\"<\/a>You can also use the Watch<\/strong> view to observe the values of specific variables.<\/li>\n
  11. Click in the “Plot” column next to the g_Counter<\/strong> row. VisualGDB will display how the value of g_Counter<\/strong> changes over time:\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  12. You can use the plot view to conveniently measure various parameters (e.g. how fast the value changes over time):\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    This tutorial shows how to use Live Watch with the ESP32-C3 devices. Unlike the regular ESP32 chip that uses the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[138,219,151],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7761"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7761"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9033,"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7761\/revisions\/9033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualgdb.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}