The ROBOTC Development Team is very excited to announce a public preview of ROBOTC 4.51. This update is for the VEX Robotics (VEX EDR CORTEX and VEX IQ) physical and virtual robotics systems and includes new features, improvements, and a load of bug fixes.
Important Setup Information for ROBOTC 4.51:
VEX IQ Users:
- Run the “VEX IQ Firmware Update Utility” and update your VEX IQ Brain to firmware version 1.15.
- Also update your VEX IQ Wireless Controller and any other VEX IQ Devices (sensors, motors).
- After updating to the latest VEX IQ Brain firmware, install the latest ROBOTC firmware from inside of ROBOTC.
VEX Cortex Users (with Black VEXnet 1.0 Keys):
- You will need to update your VEX Cortex and VEX Game Controllers with Master Firmware Version 4.25 from inside of ROBOTC.
- After updating the master firmware, you will also have to update the VEX Cortex with the latest ROBOTC firmware.
VEX Cortex Users (with White VEXnet 2.0 Keys):
- The new VEXnet 2.0 keys have a specific “radio firmware” that you will need to upgrade to enable “Download and Debugging” support. You can download the VEXnet Key 2.0 Firmware Upgrade Utility here.
- Download the “VEXnet Key 2.0 Firmware Upgrade Utility” and insert your VEXnet 2.0 key to any free USB port on your computer. Follow the instructions on the utility to update each key individually. All VEXnet 2.0 keys must be running the same version in order to function properly.
- After updating your VEXnet 2.0 keys, you will need to update your VEX Cortex and VEX Game Controllers with Master Firmware Version 4.25 from inside of ROBOTC.
- After updating the master firmware, you will also have to update the VEX Cortex with the latest ROBOTC firmware.
ROBOTC 4.50 —> 4.51 Change Log:
New Features and Improvements:
- Added support for simple mathematical expressions in numerical text boxes in Graphical.
![Graphical_Math]()
- Datalogging has been added for the VEX IQ platform.
- Users can now log your data from inside your program, with or without a timestamp.
![DataLogging4]()
- Users can also configure motor, sensor and other values to be automatically polled at intervals as low as 10ms.
![DataLogging2]()
- Users can view data in ROBOTC as it polled in and save to a .CSV file for additional analysis in a popular spreadsheet software.
![DataLogging3]()
General Bug Fixes:
- ‘Trial’ indicator displays correctly, regardless of license combinations.
- Missing function added to the Function Library descriptions
- Fixed and improved “hover over” tool tip help descriptions inside of the Function Library.
- Resolved issue where the bottom of the Graphical Library view would not be cleared properly when scrolling
- Char arrays with “\0” are properly initialized.
- Selection of options inside of a Graphical Block can be reverted by using “undo”.
- RVW files with the extra tag but without the expected internal tags no longer crash ROBOTC
- Several float-related issues resolved:
- Compiler incorrectly optimizes constant expressions with ‘float’ operands.
- Formatted printing does not work with negative floats
- sscanf crashes VM with floats
- Using nSemaphore.nOwningTask comparison no longer generates a compiler warning
- Two enum issues related to overflowed values have been fixed.
- Functions returning pointers no longer generate errors when used in Boolean logic expressions.
- Values from arrays of pointers assigned to another pointer, no longer cause errors.
- setMotorBrakeMode commands take immediate effect, rather than after the first motor speed command.
- Closing a source file could cause am unhandled exception under certain conditions, this has been resolved.
- Compiling multiple Graphical programs at once no longer generates an error that there is no code to compile.
- Fixed an issue where the Global Variable Base Address was incorrectly displayed.
- RVW Package Manager will only self-elevate if multiple level packs are being installed.
- Numerous small visual enhancements and fixes.
VEX Bug Fixes:
- VEX IQ no longer crashes when using Ternary String Decisions
- Users are now alerted when a VEX IQ program exceeds the free space available on the VEX IQ brain.
- Fixed issue where using playSoundFile on VEX cortex would generate a compiler error
- Compile errors in sample programs for the VEX IQ Smart Radio messaging have been resolved.
- Fixed an issue where a disconnected Ultrasonic Sensor was not returning -1 when disconnected from the VEX Cortex.
- Motors dialog pane for VEX Cortex now shows default motor names, rather than port names.
- An enum for the VEX IQ data path values instead of using raw numbers, has been added.
Happy Programming!