Using Other Python Code

Within your test base, you may want to make use of other Python code. This could include third-party modules like matplotlib or it may be Python code within your own repository. EmbedOps HIL has solutions for both of these situations.

Code Within Your Repository

If you have other Python code within your repository that you want to leverage in your HIL tests, it can easily be included as a HIL Extra. Assuming that all of your Python code is inside a folder at the root of your repo named util_code, the extras configuration would look like this:

hil_extras:
  - util_code:
      external_module: True

The code can then be imported easily since the util_code folder will be in the Python search path. Any modules inside of your util_code folder can be imported directly (e.g., a module util_code/uart_comms.py can be imported with import uart_comms). This is a common use case when you are making use of shared Python code that you don't want to relocate inside of the HIL root.

These directories can also contain requirements.txt files if the code makes use of third-party code from PyPi.

Third-Party Modules

To use third-party modules within your code, simply provide a requirements.txt file inside your HIL root folder to pull packages from PyPi. It is recommended to use version pinning when making this file e.g., my_module==0.1.2 to ensure repeatability.

Caveats to Third-Party Modules

The HIL system will essentially take all of the third-party requirements from your HIL code base and merge them prior to doing a test run, with a certain order. Code in the HIL SDK gets first priority, and then user code comes after. This means that if you specify a version of bleak different from the HIL SDK, the HIL SDK's version will win and your version will not be installed.