You no that windows 7 did away with the way user files where laid out which has made this easier then it was for Xp and 2000. I remember the first I used mplab
I spent 2 days figuring out why it didn't assemble my code. Now I just keep it all in C:\ "name of folder" to match code.
Ian, I appriciate your help. Still I'm wondering why I was using the full IDE while I was in need to about 9MB program, and it is far simple and straight forward.
For the sake of simplicity, you only need the actual assembler (whether it be MPASM.EXE or MPASMWIN.EXE) utility to compile a valid .asm file in order to produce a .hex file for programming to a PIC.
If you are just downloading files produced by others and making minor adjustments, notepad/wordpad and MPASM/MPASMWIN should suffice, but if you would like the ability to simulate and debug a program you intend to develop yourself, watch registers and view EEPROM etc, use MPLAB.
Its a lot easier to use identifiers STATUS, OPTION_REG, TRISA etc.... you have to define them somewhere... the .inc files contain all the definitions for a particular chip... It's annoying to have to copy and paste this file everytime.
Ah, perhaps I should have been more thorough with the post..
The .inc's are included in the ZIP for MPASM aren't they? (Just looked, yes they are.)
I have MPLAB IDE installed and use that when required, but for simply assembling an .asm, I have a shortcut to MPASMWIN on the desktop and use that, rather than open MPLAB and start a new project, add files etc.