ca65 Application
A simple application written with ca65 and debugged in BitMagic. For a much larger example, see Dream Tracker. For how ca65 debugging works in general, see ca65 Projects.
BitMagic debugs the application using the debug file (.dbg) written by ld65, which maps the output back to the source. The source must be assembled with -g and linked with --dbgfile. Object files (.o) are optional: if they’re listed in project.json, BitMagic checks them against the output to catch out of date builds.
Building
BitMagic can’t build a ca65 application, so you’ll need cc65 installed with ca65 and ld65 on your path. .vscode/tasks.json has a Build task that assembles and links the application:
ca65 -g -v --cpu 65c02 -g -t cx16 ./src/main.asm -l main.lst
ld65 -v -Ln main.sym -m main.map --dbgfile main.dbg -o BUILD.PRG -C cx16-asm.local.cfg --lib c64.lib ./src/main.o
This is a quick example that you can get running without a large toolchain, so it may not be the best way to build a ca65 application.
Activating the extension
The BitMagic extension only starts when VSCode opens a .bmasm file, so the project includes an empty blank.bmasm. Open it before you start debugging. Otherwise, pick BitMagic using the Language Mode button in the status bar.
Setting breakpoints
By default VSCode won’t let you set breakpoints in .asm files. To allow it, set the language of the .asm files to BitMagic X16 Asm. Sadly this changes how they’re formatted, but I haven’t found another way to get VSCode to allow it.