- `essim --commands-md [file]` instantiates the Tui, calls
`Tui::DumpCommandsMd(ostream&)` which iterates the live registry and
emits Markdown grouped by interactive/other, then exits. Single
source of truth: a new `CommandSpec` field surfaces automatically.
- CMake `doc` target now `DEPENDS essim` and chains:
doxygen → gen_api_md.py → doc/api/
essim --commands-md → doc/user/commands.md
- `doc/user/` adds:
- index.md (hand-written) — first session, interactive-screen
conventions, save/restore/replay overview.
- scripting.md (hand-written) — `set`/`$var` expansion semantics,
`source` event-paced execution, script-save denylist, worked
example pointing at test/system.essim.
- commands.md (auto-generated, regenerated by the `doc` target).
- Top-level README refocused on quick start; pointers to the new
doc tree (user/, api/, DESIGN.md) instead of an inline command table.
- doc/README.md and DESIGN.md document the two-pipeline doc workflow.
- `test/system.essim` and user docs anonymised: bkp → backplane,
vdn1/2/3 → payload1/2/3, cb3p → payload4, bpb/cob/ssu →
peripheral1/2/3; netlist file names + variable names + paths all
replaced with generic equivalents.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
133 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
133 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
# essim — scripting
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This page covers the two facilities that make essim sessions
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reproducible: `source` (replay a file) and `set` (declare named
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variables that subsequent commands expand). For the per-command
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reference, see [`commands.md`](commands.md).
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## File format
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A script is a plain text file, one command per line. The format is
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intentionally minimal:
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- Lines starting with `#` are comments — skipped.
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- Blank lines are skipped.
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- Leading / trailing whitespace is trimmed.
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- A leading `~/` in arguments is expanded to `$HOME` (paths only).
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- Each line goes through the same `Submit` path as if typed at the
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prompt, so anything that works interactively works in a script
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*except* commands that open an interactive screen (see below).
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By convention essim scripts use the `.essim` extension.
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## Variables — `set` and `$expansion`
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`set <name> <value>` declares a **session-scoped** variable. Subsequent
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commands expand `$name` and `${name}` in their arguments:
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```text
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> set netlist_dir /path/to/netlists
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> set backplane_nets $netlist_dir/backplane.NET
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> load backplane $backplane_nets altium
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```
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Names must match `[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*`. Unknown variables are left
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literal (`$undef` stays `$undef`) so a typo surfaces as a "file not
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found" or "unknown module" error rather than a silent empty string.
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The expansion happens at **dispatch time**, between recording the
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canonical form and calling the action. So:
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- `history` and `script-save` keep the **unexpanded** form (`$backplane_nets`
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is preserved as `$backplane_nets`), which makes the recorded script
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portable across sessions if you set the variables before sourcing it.
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- The action itself sees the resolved value (the actual filesystem
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path).
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`new` resets the variable table to empty.
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## Replaying — `source <file>`
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`source <file>` runs the script line by line. Three behavioural
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details are worth knowing:
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1. **Event-paced execution.** The runtime processes one effective line
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(skipping comments / blanks) every ~30 ms tick, dispatched by a
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background thread that posts FTXUI events. This lets the screen
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redraw between lines and surface a centred `Computing…` modal with
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a `N / M lines` counter. Without this pacing, FTXUI would batch
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queued events and freeze the modal until the entire script is done.
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2. **Interactive screens are rejected.** If a sourced line opens a
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full-screen mode (`screen_idx != 0` after `Submit`), the script is
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aborted with `source: line <N> is interactive (would open a
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screen) — aborting.`. The fix is to use the inline form of that
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command (e.g. `connect backplane J20 payload1 P0` instead of a bare
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`connect`).
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3. **Pending prompts are filled by subsequent lines.** A multi-step
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command split across lines is treated as one logical unit. If the
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first line says `load`, the next non-blank line answers the
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`module name?` prompt, then `filename?`, then `import type?`.
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While `in_source = true`:
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- `Dispatch` / `Finalize` skip writing to memory + on-disk history.
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- The `recorded` buffer (used by `script-save`) is still populated
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with each effective line; so sourcing a script and immediately
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running `script-save` produces a self-contained replay even if the
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original source path is lost.
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## Recording — `script-save <file>`
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`script-save <file>` dumps every command issued since the last `new`
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into `<file>`, one line per command, in canonical inline form. The
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following commands are deliberately **not** recorded:
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```
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clear, help, quit, exit, source, script-save
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```
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`source` is excluded for a subtle reason: when you source a script,
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the individual lines inside it go through `Finalize` and *are*
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recorded, so the saved replay reproduces the same end-state without
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the indirection.
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`set` lines and `$var` references are recorded as typed, so the saved
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script keeps its abstraction.
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## Worked example
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The `test/system.essim` script (committed in the repo) is the
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canonical anonymised bring-up — one backplane, four payload cards,
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three peripherals:
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```text
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new
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# variables
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set netlist_dir /path/to/netlists
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set peripheral1_nets $netlist_dir/peripheral1.qcv
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set backplane_nets $netlist_dir/backplane.NET
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# ... more set lines ...
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# modules
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load payload1 $payload_nets mentor
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duplicate payload1 payload2
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duplicate payload1 payload3
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load peripheral1 $peripheral1_nets mentor
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load backplane $backplane_nets altium
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# ... more loads ...
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# connector type tagging
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set-type backplane J20 vpx-3u-bkp-p0
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set-type payload1 P0 vpx-3u-payload-p0
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# ... more tags ...
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# wiring
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connect backplane J20 payload1 P0
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# ... more connects ...
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```
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Run it with `source test/system.essim` after adjusting `$netlist_dir`
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to point at your real netlist files.
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