64 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
64 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
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# Channels
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As the emulation progresses, information is written in the PRV trace to record
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the new states. The emulator has specific mechanism to handle the output of new
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states in the PRV trace via channels. A channel stores a value that represents
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an state at a given point in time and typically corresponds to the value that
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will be observed in the Paraver timeline.
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!!! Note
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The emulator receives input *events* and performs *state*
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transitions which are written into the Paraver trace.
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Channels become dirty when a new value is written to them. No other
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modifications are allowed by default until the channel is flushed by calling
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`chan_flush()`. This behavior can be controlled with the `CHAN_DIRTY_WRITE`
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property. By default, a duplicated value cannot be written into a channel,
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unless the `CHAN_DUPLICATES` property is set.
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A channel has an unique name used to identify the channel when debugging and
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also to create derived channels. The name can be set following the printf style
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when calling `chan_init()`.
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## Types
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There are two types of channels, **single** and **stack**. The type single only
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stores one value which is updated by `chan_set()`. The stack type allows the
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channel to record multiple values in a stack by using `chan_push()` and
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`chan_pop()`. The value of the channels is the topmost in the stack (the last
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pushed).
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Notice that the `chan_pop()` function uses the same value being pop()'ed as
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argument. The function checks that the stack contains the expected value,
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forcing the emulator to always receive a matching pair of push and pop values.
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After the channel initialization, the value of the channels is null. A channel
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with an empty stack also returns the value null when being read.
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## Data value
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The data type of a channel is handled by the `value` structure. This structure
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can store a null value, a 64 bit integer or a double. Any data type can be
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written to a channel and multiple data types can be stored in the stack.
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!!! Note
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For now only null and int64 types are allowed when the channel is connected
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to a Paraver trace.
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## Properties
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Channels have properties that can be set by `chan_prop_set()`. Setting the
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`CHAN_DIRTY_WRITE` property to true allows a channel to modify its value while
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being in the dirty state. The `CHAN_DUPLICATES` property determines is a channel
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can write the same value to the channel twice.
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## Callback
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A unique function can be set to each channel which will be called once a channel
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becomes dirty with `chan_set_dirty_cb()`. This callback will be called before
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`chan_set()`, `chan_push()` or `chan_pop()` returns. The [patch
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bay](../patchbay) uses this callback to detect when a channel is modified an run
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other callbacks.
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