10. Reports and running unattended

On a production line nobody reads the console. This chapter is about the files Anvil leaves behind and the options for running without a person in front of it.

Reports

--json <file> and --csv <file> write the report to a file, in addition to the console. --quiet removes the console report:

$ anvil sequences/judging.yseq --quiet --csv judging.csv
$ cat judging.csv
sequence_name,status,step_name,step_status,message,measured_value,limit_min,limit_max,expected_value,operator,phase,inputs,outputs,module,comparison,units
judging,pass,board/measure_rail,pass,,4.98,4.75,5.25,,,main,,,board/measure_rail,GELE,
judging,pass,board/measure_leakage,pass,,0.0004,,,0.001,<=,main,,,board/measure_leakage,LE,
judging,pass,board/check_led,pass,,,,,,,main,,,board/check_led,,

One row per step. Unlike the console, the files carry the measurement and the limit it was judged against: comparison holds the TestStand code, with limit_min and limit_max for a two-limit code and expected_value and operator for a one-limit code, and units when the limit has them. They also carry the step’s module, its inputs and outputs, and a subsequence’s steps are prefixed with the name of their call. The JSON report has the same information, nested (chapter 7 showed one).

Notice that --quiet did not silence the diagnostics on the error stream (#35). If a script needs silence, redirect it.

Changing limits without touching the sequence

A tolerance often depends on the product variant or the production lot, not on the test. --limits loads a limits file that replaces the limits written in the sequence, by step name. sequences/judging.limits.yaml:

board/measure_rail:
  comparison: GELE
  low: 5.0
  high: 5.1

$ anvil sequences/judging.yseq --limits sequences/judging.limits.yaml 2>/dev/null
=== judging: fail ===
  [fail] board/measure_rail: 4.98 fuera de rango [5, 5.1]

The same sequence, a tighter tolerance, a different verdict. The limits file applies to every step with that name, in subsequences too, and uses the same shape as a limit in the sequence. It can only give a limit to a numeric_limit: a name that matches a step of another type stops the run.

A name that matches no step would leave the sequence’s own limit in force without anyone noticing, so Anvil warns — even under --quiet. With sequences/judging.typo.limits.yaml:

board/measure_rial:
  comparison: GELE
  low: 5.0
  high: 5.1

$ anvil sequences/judging.yseq --limits sequences/judging.typo.limits.yaml
secuencia 'judging' cargada (3 pasos en main, 0 subsecuencia(s) externa(s), 1 ejecutor(es))
sidecar de límites 'sequences/judging.typo.limits.yaml' aplicado (0 paso(s) afectado(s))
aviso: 1 límite(s) del sidecar 'sequences/judging.typo.limits.yaml' no afectan a ningún paso: board/measure_rial
aviso: el sidecar no afectó a ningún paso. Comprueba que los nombres coincidan con los de los pasos de la secuencia
connected to the step executors (bench)
3 paso(s) comprobados contra el catálogo de su ejecutor
=== judging: pass ===
  [pass] board/measure_rail: 
  [pass] board/measure_leakage: 
  [pass] board/check_led: 

The aviso lines say that one limit in the file affects no step, board/measure_rial, and that the file changed nothing: check the names. The sequence passed against its own limit.

Moving an executor without editing the sequence

--executor name=host:port points a declared executor somewhere else for this run — the same sequence against the executor on your desk or on the line’s PC:

$ anvil sequences/first.yseq --executor bench=127.0.0.1:9201

The name must be one the sequence declares; any other is an error when the file loads. It can be repeated, once per executor.

Checking in CI

$ anvil sequences/board.yseq --validate
secuencia 'board' cargada (4 pasos en main, 1 subsecuencia(s) externa(s), 1 ejecutor(es))
'board' válida (4 paso(s) en main, 1 subsecuencia(s) externa(s))
$ echo $?
0

--validate needs no executor and no bench, and exits with 0 when the file is valid, so it can guard every change to a sequence in CI. Remember from chapter 7 what it cannot see: whether steps and their inputs exist. For that, --validate --with-executors with the executors running — and, in 0.5.0, with #70 in mind.

Exit codes

0 when the sequence passes. 1 for everything else: a fail, an error, a file that does not load, a sequence that does not match its executors, an executor that cannot be reached. A script can stop on the exit code, and read the report to know which of those it was.

Following a run as it happens

--events writes one JSON line per event — a step starting, a step’s result — to the error stream while the sequence runs. It is what the Sequence Editor reads to light up the running step. --quiet does not silence it, and it carries the same data as --json, instrument addresses included.

Not covered here

--process-model wraps a sequence in a process model that identifies the unit and reports on it. Anvil does not ship one: the process model it had stood in for an operator prompt that does not exist yet, and was removed, so this book leaves it out.