Re: [avr-gcc-list] Regression tests

[Uwe Fechner]

Mark E. Scott Jr. schrieb:

> Can you simulate devices attached other than an AVR in this simulator?  For 
> instance, I would like to simulate being attached to a SPI RTC, some flash 
> memory, and a number of devices attached via pins.   If I could somehow write 
> code to simulate those, I would be the happiest person!
>  
Well, I don't think, that this is possible in the moment.

There is one open source project, that supports mixed mode simulation 
for pic processors, but not for avr.
Look at: http://ktechlab.org/

I ask them for avr support, and I want to quote from the answer I got:

> One possible route would be to use an existing AVR emulator. As far as I'm 
> aware, Simulavr [http://www.nongnu.org/simulavr/] is the only notable one. 
> Then, you'd then need to integrate the emulator with KTechlab's simulation.
>
> Gpsim, for example, has the simulation logic provided in seperate libraries to 
> the user interface, and so KTechlab uses gpsim's shared libraries for PIC 
> simulation - the next two files show most of how gpsim is used:
>
> Interface to gpsim:
> https://svn.fadedminds.com/ktechlab/src/electronics/gpsimprocessor.cpp
>
> Bridge from gpsim to simulation:
> https://svn.fadedminds.com/ktechlab/src/electronics/components/piccomponentpin.cpp
>
> If you wanted to do something similar with simulavr (or another AVR emulator), 
> you'd need to ensure that that emulator provided its simulation logic in 
> seperate libraries, so that ktechlab could load them and control the 
> simulation. As far as I can tell, Simulavr comes in one monolothic program - 
> so using Simulavr as a loadable library would involve coding on simulavr 
> first, and sending patches off to its maintainers.
>
> The only other alternative would be to write your own emulator, or use code 
> directly from Simulavr (neither of which I'd reccommend).
>
>  
Then there is at least one commercial solution:

http://www.labcenter.co.uk/

Not cheap, and the newest AVR they support is the mega128.

I run my unit tests in the following way:

- all the c code is organized in classes (a struct of date and functions 
working on this data)
- the state of the class can be read from the pc
- all methods can be called from the pc
- I have a kind of RPC framework on the pc in delphi, so I can call all 
the methods in the embedded device
- I write unit tests in delphi to test the embedded device.

Not an easy solution, but it works.

Regards:

Uwe