6. Run the host app#

Teams creating projects on top of Pigweed often create host versions of their apps to speed up development. “Host” means that there’s no physical embedded device in the loop; a simulated version of the app runs directly on a development host computer. Host Device Simulator is the underlying library that makes it possible to simulate apps. pw_console makes it easy to connect to the simulated app. Try out a simulated version of the blinky bringup app now:

Start the simulated app:

VS Code

In Bazel Build Targets expand //apps/blinky, then right-click :simulator_blinky (host_device_simulator_binary), then select Run target.

Extra macOS setup

If you see Do you want the application “bazel” to accept incoming network connections? click Allow. The simulated device needs to connect to local ports.

You should see output like this:
```
# ...
INFO: Running command line: bazel-bin/apps/blinky/simulator_blinky
Awaiting connection on port 33000
```
(Your exact port may be different; that’s OK.)
Keep this process running. This process is your simulated device. It’s listening on a local port for connections. In the next step you connect to the simulated device over the local port.

CLI

Run the following command. You should see Awaiting connection on port XXXXX.

$ bazelisk run //apps/blinky:simulator_blinky
INFO: Analyzed target //apps/blinky:simulator_blinky (0 packages loaded, 0 targets configured).
INFO: Found 1 target...
Target //apps/blinky:simulator_blinky up-to-date:
  bazel-bin/apps/blinky/simulator_blinky
INFO: Elapsed time: 0.140s, Critical Path: 0.00s
INFO: 1 process: 1 internal.
INFO: Build completed successfully, 1 total action
INFO: Running command line: bazel-bin/apps/blinky/simulator_blinky
=====================================
=== Pigweed Sense: Host Simulator ===
=====================================
Simulator is now running. To connect with a console,
either run one in a new terminal:

   $ bazelisk run //<app>:simulator_console

where <app> is e.g. blinky, factory, or production, or launch
one from VSCode under the 'Bazel Build Targets' explorer tab.

Press Ctrl-C to exit
Awaiting connection on port 33000

The simulated device is now running on your development host.

Keep this process running. This process is your simulated device. It’s listening on a local port for connections. In the next step you connect to the simulated device over the local port.

Connect to the simulated app with pw_console, Pigweed’s extensible interactive console.
VS Code

In Bazel Build Targets right-click the :simulator_console (native_binary) (also under //apps/blinky) and then select Run target.

CLI
Open another terminal window or tab and run the following command.
$ bazelisk run //apps/blinky:simulator_console
You should see pw_console start up like this:
Look at the Device Logs table. You should see the simulated device sending LED blinking messages every second.
Simulate polling the Pico’s temperature by typing the following into Python Repl (bottom-left pane, look for the >>> input prompt) and then pressing Enter:
```
>>> device.rpcs.board.Board.OnboardTemp()
```
What’s a REPL?

REPL stands for Read Eval Print Loop. It’s an interactive shell that takes your input, executes it, prints the result of the execution back to your interactive shell, and then repeats the loop. The console in Chrome DevTools is an example of a REPL. Running python3 by itself on a command line opens the Python 3 REPL.

In the Python Results section you should see output like this:
```
>>> device.rpcs.board.Board.OnboardTemp()
(Status.OK, board.OnboardTempResponse(temp=20.0))
```
Send a command over RPC that toggles the simulated device’s LED:
```
>>> device.rpcs.blinky.Blinky.ToggleLed()
(Status.OK, pw.protobuf.Empty())
```
Exercise

Can you figure out how to create a new RPC method that blinks the LED twice? See Create a BlinkTwice RPC method for a solution.
Close pw_console:

VS Code

Press Ctrl+D twice to close pw_console and then press any key to close the terminal that pw_console launched in.

CLI

Press Ctrl+D twice to close pw_console.
Stop running the simulated device:

VS Code

Press Ctrl+C to close the simulated device and then press any key to close the terminal that it launched in.

CLI

Press Ctrl+C to close the simulated device.
Troubleshooting
- Bazel run failed: Unknown error. You can ignore this. When you close the terminal with Control+C it sets exit code 255, which the Bazel extension interprets as “something went wrong”. We’re working on closing the simulated device in a cleaner way.

Of course polling a simulated temperature and toggling a simulated LED is rather boring but hopefully you can see how much faster your team’s development can be when you have a simulated version of your embedded system to work against.

Let’s explore pw_console a bit more and then we’ll move on to working with physical devices.

Try the web-based console#

pw_console also provides a web-based UI that’s high performance, accessible, and easy to make plugins for. Try it now:

Launch the simulated device again:
VS Code

Start up the simulated device again by going to Bazel Build Targets right-clicking the :simulator_blinky (native_binary) target (under //apps/blinky) and then selecting Run target.

Caution

Make sure to run :simulator_blinky, not :simulator_console. The first target starts the simulated device. The second target attempts to connect to a simulated device. The second target naturally won’t work if a simulated device isn’t running.

CLI
$ bazelisk run //apps/blinky:simulator_blinky # ... INFO: Running command line: bazel-bin/apps/blinky/simulator_blinky Awaiting connection on port 33000
Note

We had you close the simulated device in the last section and then restart it again here because we’re sorting out some issues around simulated devices not accepting new connections reliably.
Start the web-based console:
VS Code

In Bazel Build Targets right-click :simulator_webconsole (native_binary) (under //apps/blinky) then select Run target.

CLI
Open another terminal window or tab and run the following command.
$ bazelisk run //apps/blinky:simulator_webconsole
You should see the console open in your web browser:

In the logs table you should see simulated messages as before.
Send an RPC to poll the simulated device’s temperature again:
```
>>> device.rpcs.board.Board.OnboardTemp()
```
Type "00:00" (note the double quotes) into the search bar of either of the two tables to only show logs that occurred in the first minute of logging.

Troubleshooting

Don’t see a search bar? Click the magnifying glass icon. The search bar is collapsed by default on narrow screens.

Note

Why two tables? To demonstrate that you can filter the logs in each table by different criteria. You can close a table by clicking the X button. You can add even more tables by clicking the three dot button and then selecting Split right or Split down.

See Filter logs to learn more about filtering.
Close the web-based console and simulated app. You’re done with them for now. In the terminals where you launched these, each can be closed by pressing Control+C.

Learn more about pw_console#

Check out the user guide to learn more about pw_console’s navigation shortcuts, features, and configuration options. See the embedding guide and plugin guide to learn more about customizing pw_console for your project’s needs.

Check out Log viewer for more information about the web-based version of pw_console.

Summary#

Being able to run a simulated version of your product directly on your development host is another way that Pigweed makes embedded product development faster, more robust, and more reliable. For one, it’s usually just much faster to iterate on code running on your computer versus a separate embedded device. For two, if you’re bringing a new product to market, the hardware for your new device might not even exist yet!

Next, head over to Summary to get Sense running a real Raspberry Pi Pico.

Appendix#

Create a BlinkTwice RPC method#

Here’s one possible solution to the RPC creation exercise in 6. Run the host app.

blinky.proto

Declare a BlinkTwice() protobuf method and BlinkTwiceRequest protobuf message.

// //modules/blinky/blinky.proto

Service Blinky {
  // ...
  rpc BlinkTwice(BlinkTwiceRequest) returns (pw.protobuf.Empty);
  // ...
}

message BlinkIdleResponse {
  // ...
}

message BlinkTwiceRequest {}

message BlinkRequest {
  // ...
}

service.h

Declare the method handler in the RPC server.

// //modules/blinky/service.h

// ...

pw::Status Blink(const blinky_BlinkRequest& request, pw_protobuf_Empty&);

pw::Status BlinkTwice(const blinky_BlinkTwiceRequest&, pw_protobuf_Empty&);

pw::Status Pulse(const blinky_CycleRequest& request, pw_protobuf_Empty&);

// ...

service.cc

Implement the method handler in the RPC server.

// //modules/blinky/service.cc

pw::Status BlinkyService::Blink(const blinky_BlinkRequest& request,
                                pw_protobuf_Empty&) {
  // ...
}

pw::Status BlinkyService::BlinkTwice(const blinky_BlinkTwiceRequest&,
                                     pw_protobuf_Empty&) {
  return blinky_.BlinkTwice();
}

pw::Status BlinkyService::Pulse(const blinky_CycleRequest& request,
                                pw_protobuf_Empty&) {
  // ...
}

blinky.h

Declare the BlinkTwice() hardware abstraction layer (HAL) method.

// //modules/blinky/blinky.h

// ...
namespace am {
 public:
  // ...
  pw::Status::BlinkTwice() PW_LOCKS_EXCLUDED(lock_);
  // ...
}  // namespace am

blinky.cc

Implement the BlinkTwice() HAL method.

// //modules/blinky/blinky.cc

pw::Status Blinky::Blink(uint32_t blink_count, uint32_t interval_ms) {
  // ...
}

pw::Status Blinky::BlinkTwice() {
  uint32_t num_toggles = 4;
  uint32_t interval_ms = 1000;
  PW_LOG_INFO(
      "Blinking %u times at a %ums interval", num_toggles / 2, interval_ms);
  pw::chrono::SystemClock::duration interval =
      pw::chrono::SystemClock::for_at_least(
          std::chrono::milliseconds(interval_ms));
  timer_.Cancel();
  {
    std::lock_guard lock(lock_);
    monochrome_led_->TurnOff();
    num_toggles_ = num_toggles;
    interval_ = interval;
  }
  return ScheduleToggle();
}

void Blinky::Pulse(uint32_t interval_ms) {
  // ...
}