nishant asked:
>1> when i use 'retlw TRUE/FALSE'- how does one commonly check
>        what happened after the return? do you check the LSB of W
>        i.e. btfss      W,0
>
>        i've been doing this but feeling a bit doubtful- esp as
>        the parallax simulator shows values such as 91h etc.. in
>        W after the return- i'd expect 00h or 01h

"W" in MPASM is defined as "0".  So, this instruction works out to:

  btfss  0, 0                   ;  Check Bit Zero of Register 0

And, "0" in the register set is actually, "INDF", so the instruction
actually is:

  btfss  INDF, 0

Which is checking Bit 0 of the Register pointed to by FSR (which isn't what
you want to do at all).

For your true/false, why don't you define them as 1/0, respectively?  That
way, you can use:

  iorlw  0
  btfss  STATUS, Z

which is equivalent to what I think you want to do with "btfss W, 0".

Another way of doing this is to use a bit flag somewhere.  This can be in a
register somewhere or use the carry flag of the STATUS register which is
only updated be addition/subtraction/rotate instructions.

>2> using CBLOCK -
>
> i define my registers using CBLOCK in bank0- but now i have
> a 40 byte buffer i want to use- this i define in BANK1 (as it's
> not 'like' the other registers...
>
> now i'm getting into a mess trying to keep track of where i put
> which CBLOCK- i.e. either i have to define the CBLOCK in bank1
> last, or i have to give an address to the next CBLOCK- which i
> don't want to calculate...

When you say "buffer", what exactly do you mean by it?  If it's any array,
stack or something similar, I define it exactly the same way, and use "FSR"
to access it.

What I try to do is put directly accessible variables in Bank 0 and buffers
(which tend to be indirectly accessed) into Bank 1.


Good Luck,

myke

"My ancestors didn't spend millions of years clawing their way to the top of
the food chain, just so I could become a vegetarian"