pyAutoPort 1.2.1

A tool automating UART and ADB interaction

Quick Start

pyAutoPort is a BASH/ZSH toolset for communicating with a Device Under Test (DUT) connected via UART and/or ADB. Embedded system engineers can use this toolset for automating tests.

These commands can be executed directly from the terminal as system commands.

Installation

Install pyAutoPort-related commands using:

pip install pyAutoPort

Run this command INSIDE JUPYTER if you want to use this in a Jupyter notebook or Jupyter Lab.

Set Configuration

To specify the UART port and baudrate or ADB Serial Number, define them in environment variables like this:

• Linux/MacOS

export TESTER_UART_PORT="/dev/ttyACM0"
export TESTER_UART_BAUDRATE=1250000
export TESTER_ADB_PORT=Serial_number

• Windows

set TESTER_UART_PORT="COM0"
set TESTER_UART_BAUDRATE=1250000
set TESTER_ADB_PORT=Serial_number

adb devices -l can get Serial_number. Default adb shell if TESTER_ADB_PORT not been setted.

Sending UART Commands

Send UART commands and receive replies with:

uart_send ${MESSAGE}

For example, you should be able to see "connected" in the output after running:

uart_send "echo connected"

You don't need to send other commands to get output; uart_send will return the output.

For additional information, refer to the Basic Mode section.

Interacting with ADB

While adb shell xxx is widely used to run shell commands from scripts without user interaction, direct interaction via the command-line interface (CLI) is necessary sometimes, especially when running an interactive app behind ADB.

This package provides tools for keeping an ADB session open and interacting with it directly from a script without being trapped by adb shell.

Open A Persistent ADB Session

adb_open&

Send Commands to ADB Session

adb_send some command
adb_send another command

Close ADB Sessions

adb_close

These commands simplify the process of sending and receiving data to and from your DUT using UART and ADB in various testing scenarios.

For additional information, refer to the Basic Mode section.

Interacting support TeraTerm-compatible commands

TeraTerm Mode Support TTL commands which can making automation scripting easier.

TeraTerm Mode Start

Create a Session, Use connect command to configure the connection.

In a Session, multiple different types of connections can be connected simultaneously without affecting each other.

• Linux/MacOS

session_start&

• Windows

start /B session_start

Send TTL commands

Following commands supported

• connect
• logstart
• send
• disconnect

For additional information, refer to the TeraTerm Mode section.

Session Stop

At the end of the session, all connections will be disconnected and the log will be saved if necessary.

session_stop

Basic Mode

Basic Mode provides commands integreated into Shell or Windows Command Propmt or PowerShell. Communication on UART and ADB are wrapped as command line commands.

Basic usage of Basic Mode can be found in Quick Start section. The following part focuses on additional information.

UART Communication

The uart_send command facilitates interaction with UART. Its usage is as follows:

usage: uart_send [-h] [-t TIMEOUT] text [text ...]

positional arguments:
  text                  Text to be sent via UART

options:
  -h, --help            Display this help message and exit
  -t TIMEOUT, --timeout TIMEOUT
                        Time to wait before stopping reading

When using uart_send, it will continuously print text received from UART until there is no new text within a 0.5-second interval. To extend the duration before stopping, specify a new timeout value using -t TIMEOUT.

IMPORTANT: If UART continues to print text, especially in scenarios with enabled debugging logs, you may need to press Ctrl-C to stop forcefully.

ADB Communication

Unlike UART, interacting with ADB involves a three-step process: opening an ADB session, interacting within the session, and finally closing the ADB session.

To initiate an ADB session, use the commands adb_open or adb_reopen. If a previous session was not closed safely, it's recommended to use adb_reopen for recovery.

IMPORTANT: Run adb_open& to open the session in the background. Otherwise, using adb_open alone will block further command execution since it is a blocking command call.

For interaction with ADB, employ the adb_send command with the following usage:

usage: adb_send [-h] [-t TIMEOUT] text [text ...]

positional arguments:
  text                  Text to send via ADB

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t TIMEOUT, --timeout TIMEOUT
                        Time to wait before stopping reading

The adb_send command will continuously print text received from ADB until no new text is received within a 1-second timeframe. To extend the timeout duration before stopping, use the -t TIMEOUT option.

IMPORTANT: In situations where ADB keeps printing text, such as when running logcat, you may need to press Ctrl-C to stop forcefully.

TeraTerm Mode

TeraTerm Mode Support TTL commands on Linux or Windows CLI via adb or uart.

connect

Start one connection or switch other connection. If switch other connection, the existed connection will not be disconnected.

connect [uart|adb]

Example:

connect adb     -> ADB connection create
send xxx        -> send xxx via ADB
connect uart    -> UART connection create and switch UART
send xxx        -> send xxx via UART
connect adb     -> switch ADB
send xxx        -> send xxx via ADB

logstart

Start to Saving Received Messages to specified file. This command must be used after one connection has been already created.

logstart <filename>

• Add TimeStamp in log

set_timestamp
logstart <filename>

send

Send commands via current connection. Received Messages will be printed on CLI.

send <date1> <date2> ...

disconnect

Stop specified connection.

disconnect [uart|adb]

Some commands will be supported in the future.

How to Contribute

See contributing guidelines for details. commit guidelines may also be helpful.

LICENSE

This project is under BSD-3 license.

Credits

We express our gratitude to all contributors for their valuable contributions to pyAutoPort!

Maintainers

• Yu GU [e-mail] (Basice Mode)
• Shuang LIANG [e-mail] (TeraTerm Mode)

Contributors

Happy coding!