[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by RedBarons

2. I am essentially trying to jumper out into autonomatic mode right off the bat in main.c:

if (statusflag.NEW_SPI_DATA)  
{                                 
      Process_Data_From_Master_uP();  

	  // ####################
	  // Kick start autonomous mode
	  // ####################
	  autonomous_mode = 1;

      if (autonomous_mode) 
      {
        User_Autonomous_Code();       
      }
}

3. In user_routines_fast, I initiate the timer (Autonom_Code_Init()) and then call a state machine (Autonom_Code_Handler())

  ...
  while (autonomous_mode)   /* DO NOT CHANGE! */
  {
    if (statusflag.NEW_SPI_DATA)      /* 26.2ms loop area */
    {
        Getdata(&rxdata);   /* DO NOT DELETE, or you will be stuck here forever! */

        /* Add your own autonomous code here. */
		Autonom_Code_Handler();

        Generate_Pwms(pwm13,pwm14,pwm15,pwm16);

        Putdata(&txdata);   /* DO NOT DELETE, or you will get no PWM outputs! */
    }
  }
}

The call to Getdata() will change the value of autonomous_mode to reflect the state of the pin on the competition port. Without a dongle connected, the while loop in User_Autonomous_Code() will execute once and exit. Your main loop will end up calling Process_Data_From_Master_uP(), then User_Autonomous_Code(), repeatedly.