User Manual

Running the SnapShot Debugger Chapter 4. Tasks
Activating SnapShot
Once all the fields in the SnapShot Debugger view are configured, and the design is running on the target
device, SnapShot is ready to be activated.
Select the Arm button (or the Arm SnapShot ( ) button in the SnapShot Debugger view’s toolbar), and the
SnapShot debugging tool will begin to analyze the already-executing design in real-time.
Once Armed, ACE will send the configuration data to the SnapShot Debugger running on the Achronix
device, wait for the trigger condition(s) to be met, retrieve the trace buffer contents, and output a VCD file
as well as a LOG file.
The SnapShot Log file and SnapShot Waveform file are populated with the captured results, and the files
are opened in ACE. (The log file will open in an ACE Text Editor, while the waveform (.vcd) file will open
in the ACE VCD Waveform Editor.) If an error occurs during SnapShot Debugger configuration or while
reading back the sampled information (trace buffer), the SnapShot Log file will contain the relevant error
messages, and the SnapShot Waveform file will not be created/updated.
The Cancel ( ) button aborts the SnapShot Arming process. The SnapShot Log file will be updated, but
the SnapShot Waveform file will not be created/updated.
Note: In rare cases the Bitporter pod may become non-responsive after SnapShot is canceled. If this
happens, power cycling the Bitporter pod (and device-under-test) should resume normal pod operation.
Saving/Loading SnapShot Configurations
Users may wish to re-use an existing known-good SnapShot configuration (the collection of settings in the
SnapShot Debugger view) at a later date.
SnapShot configurations may be saved to a SnapShot configuration file (with the .snapshot file extension)
using the Save SnapShot Configuration ( ) button found in the SnapShot Debugger view’s toolbar.
These SnapShot configurations may then be loaded later by using the Load SnapShot Configuration ( )
button, found in the SnapShot Debugger view’s toolbar.
Batch Mode
It is also possible to run SnapShot from ACE batch mode. To do so, use the Tcl command run snapshot.
Note that run snapshot requires the use of a previously-saved SnapShot configuration file (.snapshot).
293 http://www.achronix.com UG001 Rev. 5.0 - 5th December 2012