Improvements for Continuous Integration

[AndyBrown]

Proper unit testing is a key component of large LVFPGA project success.  As the number of modules grows, so does the number of units tests increase.  We are working on automatic continuous integration methods that will continue to monitor the accuracy of all modules and assemblies throughout the project life cycle.  IP Integration node and NI's wrapper around Xilinx IP makes this task more difficult.  When our continuous integration machine refreshes the source code from the repository it has to regenerate these nodes in order to compile.  The "Regenerate IP Integration Node Support Files..." tool does not always properly update all IP.  It seems like the NI wrappers around Xilinx IP are most problematic.  The only way a computer can properly update its version of the node is to open the VI and click through the Xilinx IP generation pages to get it to update.

As a rule we do not commit build products into our source code repository.  One option would be to submit all the support files generated when first creating the IP integration node so that others users might not have to update.  This can become messy and quickly unwielding.  The problem arrises when changes to the IP integration node cause more or fewer support files to be generated.  This then requires deleting some files from the repository and adding others which is tedious and leads to errors.  One compromise would be if the IP integration created one single compact file that contains all the information needed (expect the input vhd, etc. files) that could be committed to the repository.  Even better would be to roll this information into the VI itself.  Neither of these might be ideal if the support file contents take up a lot of disk space.

Regardless there needs to be a better solution to allow for automated continuous integration testing.