YAML Configuration

The .embedops/hil/config.yml file controls several aspects of the HIL system. Below you will find descriptions of the two main keys of this file.

hil_root: string

The value of this key determines where the HIL root directory is located, relative to the root of the repository. The HIL root is the folder containing the HIL test files. It is the main folder that is sent to the gateway during test execution.

hil_results_base: string

The value of this key determines where HIL results files are sent during a test run. This value is a base, meaning that everytime a new run is started, a new results directory will be created within the given base directory. The default is the root of the repository.

hil_extras: list

Whenever a HIL run is started the entire HIL root folder is sent to the gateway. However, there are usually other files that need to be sent along with the tests, for example firmware or potentially even other Python code from your repository. An extra is defined as a single file or folder that will be included in the execution package that is sent to the gateway. There are several types of extras which are covered in detail below.

General Format

The hil_extras key is a list. Child items can be either strings or dictionaries:

hil_extras:
  - some_dir/file.txt
  some_dir:
    ...

In either case, the name refers to a file or folder with a path that is relative to the root of your repository. In the above example, <repo_root>/some_dir/file.txt and <repo_root>/some_dir must both exist or else the HIL run will raise an error.

HIL Extras supports several options to handle various use cases.

ci_source

In some situations, the path of a file within the repository may be different dependening on if the run is started locally on your machine or in a CI pipeline. This is most common with build artifacts. To specify a CI-specific path, use the ci_source key:

hil_extras:
  - build/fw.hex:
      ci_source: artifacts/build/fw.hex

In this case, the extra build/fw.hex is found locally at that path, but within a pipeline can be found at artifacts/build/fw.hex. The name of the extra is still considered to be build/fw.hex.

Note that when retrieving the path in a test with the hil_extras_get_path fixture, the provided path must be the name of the extra, build/fw.hex in this instance.

external_module

If a directory that is included as an extra contains Python code that needs to be on the PYTHONPATH (ie, you want to import and use it from your tests) then it must be marked with external_module: True:

hil_extras:
  - util_code:
      external_module: True

In the above example, any modules within util_code will be available to import in your PyTest codebase. Let's assume that inside util_code is a module called uart_comms.py:

import uart_comms

...
uart_comms.init()
...

HIL Extras PyTest Fixture

When the execution package is downloaded onto the gateway, the extras that were included will live at a path that isn't accessible