OpenIPC Integration, Installation and Usage

Introduction

SourcePoint can be integrated with the OpenIPC component of Intel’s System Debugger (ISD).  This is typically used to run Customer Scripts (CScripts) from a separate Command Line Interface (CLI) window.  CScripts are a collection of Python scripts provided by Intel to assist customers with platform debug and validation.

Installation

ISD is not installed with SourcePoint.  It must be obtained separately from Intel which requires a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

CScripts are written in Python. Currently CScripts require either Python 2.7 or Python 3.6. Depending on the ISD package version, either Python 2.7, Python 3.6, or both will be installed on the Host PC as part of the installation process. ISD uses 64 Bit versions of Python with OpenIPC, hence, 32 Bit Python is not supported.

Note: Newer ISD installs have removed support for Python 2.7

Usage

There are two usage modes: SourcePoint starts OpenIPC or OpenIPC starts SourcePoint in a tool mode (no visible GUI), which is used as a transport layer to the ASSET emulator hardware (ECM).   

SourcePoint Starts OpenIPC

This usage mode is for current SourcePoint customers who are used to running SourcePoint but would also like to be able to open a CLI to run CScripts.  

The user starts SourcePoint first and needs to enable OpenIPC (Options | Preferences | IPC). Select the target system type from the drop-down list then and close the options window. The user will then need to open a SourcePoint command window, and type: OpenIPC. SourcePoint will automatically open a CLI and it will become the focus window. At this point, the user can still use the functions of the main SourcePoint GUI.

To run the CScripts, the user can type: arium.runfile() as in previous versions of SourcePoint. Once the CScripts are completed, the user can exit from the CScripts, exit() and close the CLI window. However, when SourcePoint is closed, it will automatically close the CLI window regardless of exiting the CScripts.

OpenIPC Starts SourcePoint

This usage mode is for customers who normally use the CLI to run CScripts but may have never used SourcePoint.   

The user opens the CLI and starts OpenIPC (see Sample Code below).  OpenIPC automatically starts SourcePoint in the background.  SourcePoint is started in tool mode, where the SourcePoint UI is not visible, and appears as a process rather than as an application.  

When the user closes the CLI, OpenIPC automatically closes SourcePoint.

Note: When OpenIPC starts, if it detects SourcePoint is already running, it will connect to that SourcePoint rather than starting a new instance.  When the user closes the CLI, OpenIPC will leave SourcePoint running since it didn’t start it.

SourcePoint Configuration

Configuration settings are located in the Preferences dialog (Options | Preferences | IPC).  The Enable and Target controls in this tab are used when using the "SourcePoint starts IPC" mode.  The Update Settings button can be used to enable the "IPC Starts SourcePoint" mode.  This tells IPC which version of SourcePoint to run, and which project file to load”.  See IPC_Tab for more information.

A complete guide on how to install and configure OpenIPC can be seen in Customer Advisory Bulletin #48 on the SourcePoint Community Site (https://sourcepointhelp.com/)

Sample Code

The following code can be used to start SourcePoint from the Python CLI, and validate the connection to the target

import ipccli

ipc = itp = ipccli.baseaccess( )

ipc.devicelist()