Verisocks C++ API

The integration of Verisocks with Verilator articulates itself around a C++ API offering classes and methods that very easily allow to create top-level testbench code.

Note

All classes and functions are declared in the namespace vsl.

Verisocks integration class

template<typename T>
class VslInteg
Template Parameters:

T – Type (class name) of the verilated model. Thus, it has to derive from VerilatedModel, which is checked by a static assertion in the class constructor

Any C++ testbench targeting to use Verisocks shall instantiate this class template using the Verilated model type as template parameter.

Public methods

The following functions are public methods for the class vsl::VslInteg and shall be used from the top-level C++ testbench code.

VslInteg(T *p_model, const int port = 5100, const int timeout = 120)
Template Parameters:

T – Type for the verilated model

Parameters:

  • p_model – Pointer to the verilated model instance

  • port – Port number for the Verisocks server (default is 5100)

  • timeout – Timeout in seconds for the Verisocks server (default is 120)

Constructor to instantiate the class vsl::VslInteg. It has to be called from the top C++ bench source after having created an instance for the DUT verilated model and registered it into a Verilator context.

const T *model()
Returns:

Pointer to the registered verilated model instance

const VerilatedContext *context()
Returns:

Pointer to the registered verilated model’s context

int run()
Returns:

Exit code. A normal execution results in an exit code value of 0.

This is the main function to be used from the top-level C++ testbench code. It will launch the Verisocks finite-state machine and will expect a client to connect to the exposed socket. Once connected, it will be expecting to receive Verisocks commands to control the Verilated testbench simulation.

The methods vsl::VslInteg::register_scalar(), vsl::VslInteg::register_param(), vsl::VslInteg::register_array() and vsl::VslInteg::register_event() described below are all useful to declare internal specific variables to be accessible with Verisocks commands such as get, set or run. In order to declare such variables, they need to be accessible in the verilated code. This can be ensured by declaring them as Verilator public variables, either directly in the verilog sources or by using a dedicated verilator configuration file.

void register_scalar(const char *namep, std::any datap, VerilatedVarType vltype, size_t width)
Parameters:

  • namep – Name of the variable as registered by Verisocks and how it will be used as path within Verisocks commands

  • datap – Pointer to the variable in the verilated C++ code

  • vltype – Variable verilated type

  • width – Variable width (should be consistent with vltype)

This function shall be used from within the top-level C++ testbench code scope in order to register a scalar variable to be accessible with Verisocks commands.

void register_param(const char *namep, std::any datap, VerilatedVarType vltype, size_t width)
Parameters:

  • namep – Name of the parameter as registered by Verisocks and how it will be used as path within Verisocks commands

  • datap – Pointer to the parameter variable in the verilated C++ code

  • vltype – Variable verilated type

  • width – Variable width (should be consistent with vltype)

This function shall be used from within the top-level C++ testbench code scope in order to register a scalar parameter to be accessible (read only) with Verisocks commands.

void register_array(const char *namep, std::any datap, VerilatedVarType vltype, size_t width, size_t depth)
Parameters:

  • namep – Name of the array variable as registered by Verisocks and how it will be used as path within Verisocks commands

  • datap – Pointer to the array variable in the verilated C++ code

  • vltype – Variable verilated type

  • width – Array items width (should be consistent with vltype)

  • depth – Array depth

This function shall be used from within the top-level C++ testbench code scope in order to register an array variable (only 1-dimensional arrays are currently supported) to be accessible with Verisocks commands.

void register_event(const char *namep, VlEvent *eventp)
Parameters:

  • namep – Name of the event variable as registered by Verisocks and how it will be used as path within Verisocks commands

  • eventp – Pointer to the event variable in the verilated C++ code

This function shall be used from within the top-level C++ testbench code scope in order to register a named event variable to be accessible with Verisocks commands.