FPGAedu Tcl Library

This project is work in progress...

This library contains a number of packages that collectively contribute to the development of a server application that is to be run inside a Vivado instance, allowing for interprocess communication between a client and Vivado features.

Packages

• fpgaedu::json
• fpgaedu::jsonrpc
• fpgaedu::vivado
• fpgaedu::vivadoserver

Requirements

• Vivado >= 2016.3, implying:
  • Tcl >= 8.5
  • Tcllib >= 1.11.1
• vivado command available from PATH.

This library was developed using an installation of Vivado 2016.3, so that's the reason for the version requirement. A lower version may be compatible, but this is not tested.

Synopsis

To start the server on port 3742 (=FPGA):

vivado -mode batch -nolog -nojournal -notrace -source start.tcl

Server

The server application exposes a remote procedure call (RPC) interface to allow for interaction with Vivado functionality through a remote client.

As described in this page, the server uses the simplest transport mechanism possible, in which a new socket connection is created for every request. Socket enpoints are closed to signal the end of a request and a response. Procedure calls are encoded in JSON-RPC 2.0 format. The current JSON-RPC implementation does not allow for batch processing.

The server currently exposes a single method program for single device programming.

Example request:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "program",
    "id": 1,
    "params": {
        "target": "localhost:3121/xilinx_tcf/Digilent/210274673876A",
        "device": "xc7a100t_0",
        "bitstream": "SEVMTE8gV09TEQgSEVMTE8gV09STEQgSEVMTE8gV09STEQgSEVMTE8...

                               Base64 encoded binary bitstream data 
        
                      ...ASDADASDSTEQgSEVMTE8gV09STEQgDQo=SEVMTE8gV 09STEQNCg=="
    }
}

Example response:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "result": null
}