xod/docs/tutorial/install

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Installing and Running XOD

Installing and Running XOD

To work with XOD, you use the XOD integrated development environment (IDE for short), which comes in two flavors: browser-based and desktop version.

Browser-based IDE

You can start the browser-based XOD IDE simply by visiting the link. However, because the browser has relatively few permissions to access the computer’s file system and USB-ports, its capabilities are quite limited.

Notably, you can’t upload your program directly to the board from within your browser and you won't get the convenient save/load functionality.

However, you can import/export your programs as a single file (known as a xodball), generate source code that you could copy and paste into an Arduino IDE, and then upload it to the board via the Arduino IDE.

Desktop IDE

XOD IDE for desktop requires installing, but provides all features. It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Find a distribution package for your system on downloads page.

Upload your first program

Once you start XOD IDE, you’ll see the welcome-to-xod project open. It’s a primitive demo project that—yes, you guessed it—blinks a LED on the board.

Let's try to upload the program to your Arduino IDE.

In the main menu, go to Deploy → Show Code for Arduino. You’ll see much of C++ source code that once compiled and uploaded to the board will blink the built-in LED. If you have the Arduino IDE installed, try it. Copy and paste the code to the Arduino IDE and click Upload.

Note If you’ve previously seen what code to blink an LED looks like for Arduino, you might be astonished looking at the amount of code produced by XOD. Don’t worry - most of it is code for the XOD runtime environment, which actually creates little overhead after compilation. You don't need to understand how it actually works. For now, think of it as a black box.

Upload directly from within the XOD IDE

This feature is only available in the desktop version. Go to Deploy → Upload to Arduino. Select your board model and the serial port it is connected to:

Click Upload and wait.

Behind the scenes, XOD uses the Arduino IDE to compile and upload programs. So if you have no Arduino IDE installed yet, you’ll be asked to download and install it. The Arduino IDE itself has a package system to support various boards. If a package supporting your board is not installed yet, it will also be automatically installed.

If the upload succeeds, you’ll see 100% progress and a compiler message:

Feedback If you have a problem with uploading, please report it on our forum. Describe what you're doing, what you expect to get, and what you actually get. We will help.

What’s next

Now that you can run the IDE and upload programs, let's try to understand how and why they work. Go to the Nodes and Links chapter.