TI recently released GRACE – A graphical tool for setting up your MSP430 peripherals. This is a great tool for those starting with the MSP430 or beginners in general. It works seamlessly with Code Composer Studio V4 to generate abstracted  C code and supports the MSP430 Value Line devices as well as a few F2xx devices.

CAUTION: You need to update to Code Composer Studio v4.2.0.11017 for the plugin to work correctly.

A few features of Grace:

• GUI-based configuration tool for setting up ADCs, OpAmps, Timers, Clocks, GPIO, Comparators, Serial Communication, and other MSP430 peripherals.
• Generates easy-to-understand C code that properly configures your device
• Supports all MSP430 Value Line devices (MSP430G2xx) and select F2xx devices
• Compatible with LaunchPad and most eZ430 tools
• Grace tooltips offer helpful popups and hints for properly configuring your MSP430 device
• Grace provides a Basic, Power User, and Register-level view offering different levels of abstraction for setting up your peripherals.
• As a free CCS plug-in, Grace seamlessly integrates into the MSP430 tool chain and development process
• Minimizes any configuration conflicts or collisions between multiple peripherals

The tool is in Beta. You can help making it better by submitting any bugs you find. What are your thoughts on it? Express them in the comments below.

A few screenshots:

To Install GRACE (TI Wiki)

Before installing Grace for the first time, make certain that you are using Code Composer Studio v4.2.0.11017 or later: In CCS, select Help->About Code Composer Studio.
Follow these steps to install the Grace plug-in into Code Composer Studio for the first time:

1. In CCS, select Help->Software Updates->Find and Install…
2. In the “Feature Updates” window, select Search for new features to install, then click the Next button.
3. In the “Update Sites to Visit” window,
   • Click the New Remote Site button.
   • In the “New Update Site” window, enter “Grace” (or something similar) in the Name field, and enter the following in the URL field:
   • http://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/sdo_ccstudio/grace
   • then click the OK button.
   • Click the checkboxes for the Target Content Updates site as well as the Grace site you entered above, then click the Finish button.
4. In the “Search Results” window, select the latest release of both Grace 1.00 and RTSC/XDCtools 3.21 and click the Next button.
5. In the “Feature License” window, accept the terms in licensing agreement and click the Next button.
6. In the “Installation” window, verify that both the XDCtools 3.21 and Grace Beta 1.00 features are listed and click the Finish button
7. Ignore the warning in the “Feature Verification” page and click the Install All button
8. A restart of the workbench will be prompted in a dialog titled “Install/Update”. Select the Yes button. After the workbench is shut down, the Grace and XDCtools installers will be invoked and, when they complete, the workbench will automatically come up with Grace ready for use.

rkbench will automatically come up with Grace ready for use.