path: root/doc/source/developer_information/developer_reference/writing_plugins.rst

.. _writing-plugins:


Writing Plugins
================

Workload Automation offers several plugin points (or plugin types). The most
interesting of these are

:workloads: These are the tasks that get executed and measured on the device. These
            can be benchmarks, high-level use cases, or pretty much anything else.
:targets: These are interfaces to the physical devices (development boards or end-user
          devices, such as smartphones) that use cases run on. Typically each model of a
          physical device would require its own interface class (though some functionality
          may be reused by subclassing from an existing base).
:instruments: Instruments allow collecting additional data from workload execution (e.g.
              system traces). Instruments are not specific to a particular workload. Instruments
              can hook into any stage of workload execution.
:output processors: These are used to format the results of workload execution once they have been
                    collected. Depending on the callback used, these will run either after each
                    iteration and/or at the end of the run, after all of the results have been
                    collected.

You can create a plugin by subclassing the appropriate base class, defining
appropriate methods and attributes, and putting the .py file containing the
class into the "plugins" subdirectory under ``~/.workload_automation`` (or
equivalent) where it will be automatically picked up by WA.


Plugin Basics
--------------

This sub-section covers things common to implementing plugins of all types. It
is recommended you familiarize yourself with the information here before
proceeding onto guidance for specific plugin types.

.. _context:

The Context
^^^^^^^^^^^

The majority of methods in plugins accept a context argument. This is an
instance of :class:`wa.framework.execution.ExecutionContext`. It contains
information about the current state of execution of WA and keeps track of things
like which workload is currently running.

Notable methods of the context are:

context.add_artifact(name, host_file_path, kind, description=None, classifier=None)
      Plugins can add :ref:`artifacts <artifact>` of various kinds to the run
      output directory for WA and associate them with a description and/or
      :ref:`classifier <classifiers>`.

context.add_metric(name, value, units=None, lower_is_better=False, classifiers=None)
        This method should be used to add :ref:`metrics <metrics>` that have been
        generated from a workload, this will allow WA to process the results
        accordingly depending on which output processors are enabled.

Notable attributes of the context are:

context.workload
        :class:`wa.framework.workload` object that is currently being executed.

context.tm
        This is the target manager that can be used to access various information
        about the target including initialization parameters.

context.current_job
        This is an instance of :class:`wa.framework.job.Job` and contains all
        the information relevant to the workload job currently being executed.

context.current_job.spec
        The current workload specification being executed. This is an
        instance of :class:`wa.framework.configuration.core.JobSpec`
        and defines the workload and the parameters under which it is
        being executed.

context.current_job.current_iteration
        The current iteration of the spec that is being executed. Note that this
        is the iteration for that spec, i.e. the number of times that spec has
        been run, *not* the total number of all iterations have been executed so
        far.

context.current_job_output
        This is the result object for the current iteration. This is an instance
        of :class:`wa.framework.output.JobOutput`. It contains the status
        of the iteration as well as the metrics and artifacts generated by the
        workload.


In addition to these, context also defines a few useful paths (see below).


Paths
^^^^^

You should avoid using hard-coded absolute paths in your plugins whenever
possible, as they make your code too dependent on a particular environment and
may mean having to make adjustments when moving to new (host and/or device)
platforms. To help avoid hard-coded absolute paths, WA defines a number of
standard locations. You should strive to define your paths relative
to one of these.

On the host
~~~~~~~~~~~

Host paths are available through the context object, which is passed to most
plugin methods.

context.run_output_directory
        This is the top-level output directory for all WA results (by default,
        this will be "wa_output" in the directory in which WA was invoked.

context.output_directory
        This is the output directory for the current iteration. This will an
        iteration-specific subdirectory under the main results location. If
        there is no current iteration (e.g. when processing overall run results)
        this will point to the same location as ``root_output_directory``.


Additionally, the global ``wa.settings`` object exposes on other location:

settings.dependency_directory
        this is the root directory for all plugin dependencies (e.g. media
        files, assets etc) that are not included within the plugin itself.

As per Python best practice, it is recommended that methods and values in
``os.path`` standard library module are used for host path manipulation.

On the target
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Workloads and instruments have a ``target`` attribute, which is an interface to
the target used by WA. It defines the following location:

target.working_directory
        This is the directory for all WA-related files on the target. All files
        deployed to the target should be pushed to somewhere under this location
        (the only exception being executables installed with ``target.install``
        method).

Since there could be a mismatch between path notation used by the host and the
target, the ``os.path`` modules should *not* be used for on-target path
manipulation. Instead target has an equipment module exposed through
``target.path`` attribute. This has all the same attributes and behaves the
same way as ``os.path``, but is guaranteed to produce valid paths for the target,
irrespective of the host's path notation. For example:

.. code:: python

    result_file = self.target.path.join(self.target.working_directory, "result.txt")
    self.command = "{} -a -b -c {}".format(target_binary, result_file)

.. note:: Output processors, unlike workloads and instruments, do not have their
          own target attribute as they are designed to be able to be ran offline.

.. _metrics:

Metrics
^^^^^^^
This is what WA uses to store a single metric collected from executing a workload.

    :name: the name of the metric. Uniquely identifies the metric
                 within the results.
    :value: The numerical value of the metric for this execution of a
                  workload. This can be either an int or a float.
    :units: Units for the collected value. Can be None if the value
                  has no units (e.g. it's a count or a standardised score).
    :lower_is_better: Boolean flag indicating where lower values are
                            better than higher ones. Defaults to False.
    :classifiers: A set of key-value pairs to further classify this
                        metric beyond current iteration (e.g. this can be used
                        to identify sub-tests).

Metrics can be added to WA output via the context:


.. code-block:: python

	context.add_metric("score", 9001)
	context.add_metric("time", 2.35, "seconds", lower_is_better=True)

You only need to specify the name and the value for the metric. Units and
classifiers are optional, and, if not specified otherwise, it will be assumed
that higher values are better (lower_is_better=False).

The metric will be added to the result for the current job, if there is one;
otherwise, it will be added to the overall run result.

.. _artifact:

Artifacts
^^^^^^^^^
This is an artifact generated during execution/post-processing of a workload.
Unlike :ref:`metrics <metrics>`, this represents an actual artifact, such as a
file, generated.  This may be "output", such as trace, or it could be "meta
data" such as logs.  These are distinguished using the ``kind`` attribute, which
also helps WA decide how it should be handled. Currently supported kinds are:

        :log: A log file. Not part of the "output" as such but contains
              information about the run/workload execution that be useful for
              diagnostics/meta analysis.
        :meta: A file containing metadata. This is not part of the "output", but
               contains information that may be necessary to reproduce the
               results (contrast with ``log`` artifacts which are *not*
               necessary).
        :data: This file contains new data, not available otherwise and should
               be considered part of the "output" generated by WA. Most traces
               would fall into this category.
        :export: Exported version of results or some other artifact. This
                 signifies that this artifact does not contain any new data
                 that is not available elsewhere and that it may be safely
                 discarded without losing information.
        :raw: Signifies that this is a raw dump/log that is normally processed
              to extract useful information and is then discarded. In a sense,
              it is the opposite of ``export``, but in general may also be
              discarded.

              .. note:: whether a file is marked as ``log``/``data`` or ``raw``
                        depends on how important it is to preserve this file,
                        e.g. when archiving, vs how much space it takes up.
                        Unlike ``export`` artifacts which are (almost) always
                        ignored by other exporters as that would never result
                        in data loss, ``raw`` files *may* be processed by
                        exporters if they decided that the risk of losing
                        potentially (though unlikely) useful data is greater
                        than the time/space cost of handling the artifact (e.g.
                        a database uploader may choose to ignore ``raw``
                        artifacts, whereas a network filer archiver may choose
                        to archive them).

        .. note: The kind parameter is intended to represent the logical
                 function of a particular artifact, not it's intended means of
                 processing -- this is left entirely up to the output
                 processors.

As with :ref:`metrics`, artifacts are added via the context:

.. code-block:: python

	context.add_artifact("benchmark-output", "bech-out.txt", kind="raw",
	                     description="stdout from running the benchmark")

.. note:: The file *must* exist on the host by the point at which the artifact
          is added, otherwise an error will be raised.

The artifact will be added to the result of the current job, if there is one;
otherwise, it will be added to the overall run result. In some situations, you
may wish to add an artifact to the overall run while being inside a job context,
this can be done with ``add_run_artifact``:

.. code-block:: python

	context.add_run_artifact("score-summary", "scores.txt", kind="export",
				 description="""
				 Summary of the scores so far. Updated after
				 every job.
				 """)

In this case, you also need to make sure that the file represented by the
artifact is written to the output directory for the run and not the current job.

.. _metadata:

Metadata
^^^^^^^^

There may be additional data collected by your plugin that you want to record as
part of the result, but that does not fall under the definition of a "metric".
For example, you may want to record the version of the binary you're executing.
You can do this by adding a metadata entry:

.. code-block:: python

	context.add_metadata("exe-version", 1.3)


Metadata will be added either to the current job result, or to the run result,
depending on the current context. Metadata values can be scalars or nested
structures of dicts/sequences; the only constraint is that all constituent
objects of the value must be POD (Plain Old Data) types -- see :ref:`WA POD
types <wa-pods>`.

There is special support for handling metadata entries that are dicts of values.
The following call adds a metadata entry ``"versions"`` who's value is
``{"my_exe": 1.3}``:

.. code-block:: python

	context.add_metadata("versions", "my_exe", 1.3)

If you attempt to add a metadata entry that already exists, an error will be
raised, unless ``force=True`` is specified, in which case, it will be
overwritten.

Updating an existing entry whose value is a collection can be done with
``update_metadata``:

.. code-block:: python

	context.update_metadata("ran_apps", "my_exe")
	context.update_metadata("versions", "my_other_exe", "2.3.0")

The first call appends ``"my_exe"`` to the list at metadata entry
``"ran_apps"``. The second call updates the ``"versions"`` dict in the metadata
with an entry for ``"my_other_exe"``.

If an entry does not exit, ``update_metadata`` will create it, so it's
recommended to always use that for non-scalar entries, unless the intention is
specifically to ensure that the entry does not exist at the time of the call.

Classifiers
^^^^^^^^^^^

Classifiers are key-value pairs of tags that can be attached to metrics,
artifacts, jobs, or the entire run. Run and job classifiers get propagated to
metrics and artifacts. Classifier keys should be strings, and their values
should be simple scalars (i.e. strings, numbers, or bools).

Classifiers can be thought of as "tags" that are used to annotate metrics and
artifacts, in order to make it easier to sort through them later. WA itself does
not do anything with them, however output processors will augment the output
they generate with them (for example, ``csv`` processor can add additional
columns for classifier keys).

Classifiers are typically added by the user to attach some domain-specific
information (e.g. experiment configuration identifier) to the results, see
:ref:`classifiers`. However, plugins can also attach additional classifiers, by
specifying them in ``add_metric()`` and ``add_artifacts()`` calls.


Metadata vs Classifiers
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Both metadata and classifiers are sets of essentially opaque key-value pairs
that get included in WA output. While they may seem somewhat similar and
interchangeable, they serve different purposes and are handled differently by
the framework.

Classifiers are used to annotate generated metrics and artifacts in order to
assist post-processing tools in sorting through them. Metadata is used to record
additional information that is not necessary for processing the results, but
that may be needed in order to reproduce them or to make sense of them in a
grander context.

These are specific differences in how they are handled:

- Classifiers are often provided by the user via the agenda (though can also be
  added by plugins). Metadata in only created by the framework and plugins.
- Classifier values must be simple scalars; metadata values can be nested
  collections, such as lists or dicts.
- Classifiers are used by output processors to augment the output the latter
  generated; metadata typically isn't.
- Classifiers are essentially associated with the individual metrics and
  artifacts (though in the agenda they're specified at workload, section, or
  global run levels); metadata is associated with a particular job or run, and
  not with metrics or artifacts.


.. _resource-resolution:

Dynamic Resource Resolution
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The idea is to decouple resource identification from resource discovery.
Workloads/instruments/devices/etc state *what* resources they need, and not
*where* to look for them -- this instead is left to the resource resolver that
is part of the execution context. The actual discovery of resources is
performed by resource getters that are registered with the resolver.

A resource type is defined by a subclass of
:class:`wa.framework.resource.Resource`. An instance of this class describes a
resource that is to be obtained. At minimum, a ``Resource`` instance has an
owner (which is typically the object that is looking for the resource), but
specific resource types may define other parameters that describe an instance of
that resource (such as file names, URLs, etc).

An object looking for a resource invokes a resource resolver with an instance of
``Resource`` describing the resource it is after. The resolver goes through the
getters registered for that resource type in priority order attempting to obtain
the resource; once the resource is obtained, it is returned to the calling
object. If none of the registered getters could find the resource,
``NotFoundError`` is raised (or ``None`` is returned instead, if invoked with
``strict=False``).

The most common kind of object looking for resources is a ``Workload``, and the
``Workload`` class defines
:py:meth:`wa.framework.workload.Workload.init_resources` method, which may be
overridden by subclasses to perform resource resolution. For example, a workload
looking for an executable file would do so like this::

    from wa import Workload
    from wa.import Executable

    class MyBenchmark(Workload):

        # ...

        def init_resources(self, resolver):
            resource = Executable(self, self.target.abi, 'my_benchmark')
            host_exe = resolver.get(resource)

        # ...


Currently available resource types are defined in :py:mod:`wa.framework.resources`.

.. _deploying-executables:

Deploying executables to a target
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Some targets may have certain restrictions on where executable binaries may be
placed and how they should be invoked. To ensure your plugin works with as
wide a range of targets as possible, you should use WA APIs for deploying and
invoking executables on a target, as outlined below.

As with other resources, host-side paths to the executable binary to be deployed
should be obtained via the :ref:`resource resolver <resource-resolution>`. A
special resource type, ``Executable`` is used to identify  a binary to be
deployed. This is similar to the regular ``File`` resource, however it takes an
additional parameter that specifies the ABI for which the executable was
compiled for.

In order for the binary to be obtained in this way, it must be stored in one of
the locations scanned by the resource resolver in a directory structure
``<root>/bin/<abi>/<binary>`` (where ``root`` is the base resource location to
be searched, e.g. ``~/.workload_automation/dependencies/<plugin name>``, and
``<abi>`` is the ABI for which the executable has been compiled, as returned by
``self.target.abi``).

Once the path to the host-side binary has been obtained, it may be deployed
using one of two methods from a
`Target <http://devlib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/target.html>`_ instance --
``install`` or ``install_if_needed``. The latter will check a version of that
binary has been previously deployed by WA and will not try to re-install.

.. code:: python

  from wa import Executable

  host_binary = context.resolver.get(Executable(self, self.target.abi, 'some_binary'))
  target_binary = self.target.install_if_needed(host_binary)


.. note:: Please also note that the check is done based solely on the binary name.
          For more information please see the devlib
          `documentation <http://devlib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/target.html#Target.install_if_needed>`_.

Both of the above methods will return the path to the installed binary on the
target. The executable should be invoked *only* via that path; do **not** assume
that it will be in ``PATH`` on the target (or that the executable with the same
name in ``PATH`` is the version deployed by WA.

For more information on how to implement this, please see the
:ref:`how to guide <deploying-executables-example>`.


Deploying assets
-----------------
WA provides a generic mechanism for deploying assets during workload initialization.
WA will automatically try to retrieve and deploy each asset to the target's working directory
that is contained in a workloads ``deployable_assets`` attribute stored as a list.

If the parameter ``cleanup_assets`` is set then any asset deployed will be removed
again and the end of the run.

If the workload requires a custom deployment mechanism the ``deploy_assets``
method can be overridden for that particular workload, in which case, either
additional assets should have their on target paths added to the workload's
``deployed_assests`` attribute or the corresponding ``remove_assets`` method
should also be implemented.

Parameters
^^^^^^^^^^

All plugins can be parametrized. Parameters are specified using
``parameters`` class attribute. This should be a list of
:class:`wa.framework.plugin.Parameter` instances. The following attributes can be
specified on parameter creation:

:name:
        This is the only mandatory argument. The name will be used to create a
        corresponding attribute in the plugin instance, so it must be a valid
        Python identifier.

:kind:
        This is the type of the value of the parameter. This must be an
        callable. Normally this should be a standard Python type, e.g. ``int``
        or ``float``, or one the types defined in :mod:`wa.utils.types`.
        If not explicitly specified, this will default to ``str``.

        .. note:: Irrespective of the ``kind`` specified, ``None`` is always a
                  valid value for a parameter. If you don't want to allow
                  ``None``, then set ``mandatory`` (see below) to ``True``.

:allowed_values:
        A list of the only allowed values for this parameter.

        .. note:: For composite types, such as ``list_of_strings`` or
                  ``list_of_ints`` in :mod:`wa.utils.types`, each element of
                  the value  will be checked against ``allowed_values`` rather
                  than the composite value itself.

:default:
        The default value to be used for this parameter if one has not been
        specified by the user. Defaults to ``None``.

:mandatory:
        A ``bool`` indicating whether this parameter is mandatory. Setting this
        to ``True`` will make ``None`` an illegal value for the parameter.
        Defaults to ``False``.

        .. note:: Specifying a ``default`` will mean that this parameter will,
                  effectively, be ignored (unless the user sets the param to ``None``).

        .. note:: Mandatory parameters are *bad*. If at all possible, you should
                  strive to provide a sensible ``default`` or to make do without
                  the parameter. Only when the param is absolutely necessary,
                  and there really is no sensible default that could be given
                  (e.g. something like login credentials), should you consider
                  making it mandatory.

:constraint:
        This is an additional constraint to be enforced on the parameter beyond
        its type or fixed allowed values set. This should be a predicate (a function
        that takes a single argument -- the user-supplied value -- and returns
        a ``bool`` indicating whether the constraint has been satisfied).

:override:
        A parameter name must be unique not only within an plugin but also
        with that plugin's class hierarchy. If you try to declare a parameter
        with the same name as already exists, you will get an error. If you do
        want to override a parameter from further up in the inheritance
        hierarchy, you can indicate that by setting ``override`` attribute to
        ``True``.

        When overriding, you do not need to specify every other attribute of the
        parameter, just the ones you what to override. Values for the rest will
        be taken from the parameter in the base class.


Validation and cross-parameter constraints
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A plugin will get validated at some point after construction. When exactly
this occurs depends on the plugin type, but it *will* be validated before it
is used.

You can implement ``validate`` method in your plugin (that takes no arguments
beyond the ``self``) to perform any additional *internal* validation in your
plugin. By "internal", I mean that you cannot make assumptions about the
surrounding environment (e.g. that the device has been initialized).

The contract for ``validate`` method is that it should raise an exception
(either ``wa.framework.exception.ConfigError`` or plugin-specific exception type -- see
further on this page) if some validation condition has not, and cannot, been met.
If the method returns without raising an exception, then the plugin is in a
valid internal state.

Note that ``validate`` can be used not only to verify, but also to impose a
valid internal state. In particular, this where cross-parameter constraints can
be resolved. If the ``default`` or ``allowed_values`` of one parameter depend on
another parameter, there is no way to express that declaratively when specifying
the parameters. In that case the dependent attribute should be left unspecified
on creation and should instead be set inside ``validate``.

Logging
^^^^^^^

Every plugin class has it's own logger that you can access through
``self.logger`` inside the plugin's methods. Generally, a :class:`Target` will
log everything it is doing, so you shouldn't need to add much additional logging
for device actions. However you might what to log additional information,  e.g.
what settings your plugin is using, what it is doing on the host, etc.
(Operations on the host will not normally be logged, so your plugin should
definitely log what it is doing on the host). One situation in particular where
you should add logging is before doing something that might take a significant
amount of time, such as downloading a file.


Documenting
^^^^^^^^^^^

All plugins and their parameter should be documented. For plugins
themselves, this is done through ``description`` class attribute. The convention
for an plugin description is that the first paragraph should be a short
summary description of what the plugin does and why one would want to use it
(among other things, this will get extracted and used by ``wa list`` command).
Subsequent paragraphs (separated by blank lines) can then provide  a more
detailed description, including any limitations and setup instructions.

For parameters, the description is passed as an argument on creation. Please
note that if ``default``, ``allowed_values``, or ``constraint``, are set in the
parameter, they do not need to be explicitly mentioned in the description (wa
documentation utilities will automatically pull those). If the ``default`` is set
in ``validate`` or additional cross-parameter constraints exist, this *should*
be documented in the parameter description.

Both plugins and their parameters should be documented using reStructureText
markup (standard markup for Python documentation). See:

http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html

Aside from that, it is up to you how you document your plugin. You should try
to provide enough information so that someone unfamiliar with your plugin is
able to use it, e.g. you should document all settings and parameters your
plugin expects (including what the valid values are).


Error Notification
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When you detect an error condition, you should raise an appropriate exception to
notify the user. The exception would typically be :class:`ConfigError` or
(depending the type of the plugin)
:class:`WorkloadError`/:class:`DeviceError`/:class:`InstrumentError`/:class:`OutputProcessorError`.
All these errors are defined in :mod:`wa.framework.exception` module.

A :class:`ConfigError` should be raised where there is a problem in configuration
specified by the user (either through the agenda or config files). These errors
are meant to be resolvable by simple adjustments to the configuration (and the
error message should suggest what adjustments need to be made. For all other
errors, such as missing dependencies, mis-configured environment, problems
performing operations, etc., the plugin type-specific exceptions should be
used.

If the plugin itself is capable of recovering from the error and carrying
on, it may make more sense to log an ERROR or WARNING level message using the
plugin's logger and to continue operation.

.. _decorators:

Execution Decorators
---------------------
The following decorators are available for use in order to control how often a
method should be able to be executed.

For example, if we want to ensure that no matter how many iterations of a
particular workload are ran, we only execute the initialize method for that instance
once, we would use the decorator as follows:

.. code-block:: python

    from wa.utils.exec_control import once

    @once
    def initialize(self, context):
        # Perform one time initialization e.g. installing a binary to target
        # ..

@once_per_instance
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The specified method will be invoked only once for every bound instance within
the environment.

@once_per_class
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The specified method will be invoked only once for all instances of a class
within the environment.

@once
^^^^^
The specified method will be invoked only once within the environment.

.. warning:: If a method containing a super call is decorated, this will also cause
             stop propagation up the hierarchy, unless this is the desired
             effect, additional functionality should be implemented in a
             separate decorated method which can then be called allowing for
             normal propagation to be retained.




Utils
^^^^^

Workload Automation defines a number of utilities collected under
:mod:`wa.utils` subpackage. These utilities were created to help with the
implementation of the framework itself, but may be also be useful when
implementing plugins.

Workloads
---------

.. _workload-types:

Workload Types
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. _basic-workload:

Basic (:class:`wa.Workload <wa.framework.workload.Workload>`)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This type of the workload is the simplest type of workload and is left the to
developer to implement its full functionality.


.. _apk-workload:

Apk (:class:`wa.ApkWorkload <wa.framework.workload.ApkWorkload>`)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This workload will simply deploy and launch an android app in its basic form
with no UI interaction.

.. _uiautomator-workload:


UiAuto (:class:`wa.UiautoWorkload <wa.framework.workload.UiautoWorkload>`)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This workload is for android targets which will use UiAutomator to interact with
UI elements without a specific android app, for example performing manipulation
of android itself. This is the preferred type of automation as the results are
more portable and reproducible due to being able to wait for UI elements to
appear rather than having to rely on human recordings.

.. _apkuiautomator-workload:

ApkUiAuto (:class:`wa.ApkUiautoWorkload <wa.framework.workload.ApkUiautoWorkload>`)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The is the same as the UiAuto workload however it is also associated with an
android app e.g. AdobeReader and will automatically deploy and launch the
android app before running the automation.

.. _revent-workload:

Revent (:class:`wa.ReventWorkload <wa.framework.workload.ReventWorkload>`)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Revent workloads are designed primarily for games as these are unable to be
automated with UiAutomator due to the fact that they are rendered within a
single UI element. They require a recording to be performed manually and
currently will need re-recording for each different device. For more
information on revent workloads been please see :ref:`revent_files_creation`

.. _apkrevent-workload:

APKRevent (:class:`wa.ApkReventWorkload <wa.framework.workload.ApkReventWorkload>`)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The is the same as the Revent workload however it is also associated with an
android app e.g. AngryBirds and will automatically deploy and launch the android
app before running the automation.


.. _workload-interface:

Workload Interface
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The workload interface should be implemented as follows:

    :name: This identifies the workload (e.g. it is used to specify the workload
        in the :ref:`agenda <agenda>`).
    :init_resources: This method may be optionally overridden to implement dynamic
                     resource discovery for the workload. This method executes
                     early on, before the device has been initialized, so it
                     should only be used to initialize resources that do not
                     depend on the device to resolve. This method is executed
                     once per run for each workload instance.
    :validate: This method can be used to validate any assumptions your workload
               makes about the environment (e.g. that required files are
               present, environment variables are set, etc) and should raise a
               :class:`wa.WorkloadError <wa.framework.exception.WorkloadError>`
               if that is not the case. The base class implementation only makes
               sure sure that the name attribute has been set.
    :initialize: This method is decorated with the ``@once_per_instance`` decorator,
                 (for more information please see `Execution Decorators`_)
                 therefore it will be executed exactly once per run (no matter
                 how many instances of the workload there are). It will run
                 after the device has been initialized, so it may be used to
                 perform device-dependent initialization that does not need to
                 be repeated on each iteration (e.g. as installing executables
                 required by the workload on the device).
    :setup: Everything that needs to be in place for workload execution should
            be done in this method. This includes copying files to the device,
            starting up an application, configuring communications channels,
            etc.
    :run: This method should perform the actual task that is being measured.
          When this method exits, the task is assumed to be complete.

          .. note:: Instruments are kicked off just before calling this
                    method and disabled right after, so everything in this
                    method is being measured. Therefore this method should
                    contain the least code possible to perform the operations
                    you are interested in measuring. Specifically, things like
                    installing or starting applications, processing results, or
                    copying files to/from the device should be done elsewhere if
                    possible.
    :extract_results: This method gets invoked after the task execution has
                    finished and should be used to extract metrics from the target.
    :update_output: This method should be used to update the output within the
                    specified execution context with the metrics and artifacts
                    from this workload iteration.
    :teardown: This could be used to perform any cleanup you may wish to do,
               e.g. Uninstalling applications, deleting file on the device, etc.
    :finalize: This is the complement to ``initialize``. This will be executed
               exactly once at the end of the run. This should be used to
               perform any final clean up (e.g. uninstalling binaries installed
               in the ``initialize``).

Workload methods (except for ``validate``) take a single argument that is a
:class:`wa.framework.execution.ExecutionContext` instance. This object keeps
track of the current execution state (such as the current workload, iteration
number, etc), and contains, among other things, a
:class:`wa.framework.output.JobOutput` instance that should be populated from
the ``update_output`` method with the results of the execution. For more
information please see `the context`_ documentation. ::

        # ...

        def update_output(self, context):
           # ...
           context.add_metric('energy', 23.6, 'Joules', lower_is_better=True)

        # ...

.. _ReventWorkload:

Adding Revent Workload
-----------------------

There are two base classes that can be subclassed to create Revent based workloads
depending on whether the workload is associated with an android Apk or not
:class:`wa.ApkReventWorkload <wa.framework.workload.ApkReventWorkload>` and
:class:`wa.ReventWorkload <wa.framework.workload.ReventWorkload>` respectively.
They both implement all the methods needed to push the files to the device and run
them.

The revent workload classes define the following interfaces::

    class ReventWorkload(Workload):

        name = None

    class ApkReventWorkload(Workload):

        name = None
        package_names = []

The interface should be implemented as follows

    :name: This identifies the workload (e.g. it used to specify it in the
           :ref:`agenda <agenda>`.
    :package_names: This is a list of the android application apk packages names that
                    are required to run the workload.


.. _instrument-reference:

Adding an Instrument
---------------------
Instruments can be used to collect additional measurements during workload
execution (e.g. collect power readings). An instrument can hook into almost any
stage of workload execution. Any new instrument should be a subclass of
Instrument and it must have a name. When a new instrument is added to Workload
Automation, the methods of the new instrument will be found automatically and
hooked up to the supported signals. Once a signal is broadcasted, the
corresponding registered method is invoked.

Each method in ``Instrument`` must take two arguments, which are ``self`` and
``context``. Supported methods and their corresponding signals can be found in
the :ref:`Signals Documentation <instruments_method_map>`. To make
implementations easier and common, the basic steps to add new instrument is
similar to the steps to add new workload and an example can be found in the
:ref:`How To <adding-an-instrument-example>` section.

.. _instrument-api:

The full interface of WA instruments is shown below::

    class Instrument(Plugin):

        name = None
        description = None

        parameters = [
        ]

        def initialize(self, context):
            """
            This method will only be called once during the workload run
            therefore operations that only need to be performed initially should
            be performed her for example pushing the files to the target device,
            installing them.
            """
            pass

        def setup(self, context):
            """
            This method is invoked after the workload is setup. All the
            necessary setup should go inside this method. Setup, includes
            operations like clearing logs, additional configuration etc.
            """
            pass

        def start(self, context):
            """
            It is invoked just before the workload start execution. Here is
             where instrument measures start being registered/taken.
            """
            pass

        def stop(self, context):
            """
            It is invoked just after the workload execution stops. The measures
            should stop being taken/registered.
            """
            pass

        def update_output(self, context):
            """
            It is invoked after the workload updated its result.
            update_result is where the taken measures are added to the result so it
            can be processed by Workload Automation.
            """
            pass

        def teardown(self, context):
            """
            It is invoked after the workload is teared down. It is a good place
            to clean any logs generated by the instrument.
            """
            pass

        def finalize(self, context):
            """
            This method is the complement to the initialize method and will also
            only be called once so should be used to deleting/uninstalling files
            pushed to the device.
            """
            pass

This is similar to a ``Workload``, except all methods are optional. In addition to
the workload-like methods, instruments can define a number of other methods that
will get invoked at various points during run execution. The most useful of
which is perhaps ``initialize`` that gets invoked after the device has been
initialised for the first time, and can be used to perform one-time setup (e.g.
copying files to the device -- there is no point in doing that for each
iteration). The full list of available methods can be found in
:ref:`Signals Documentation <instruments_method_map>`.

.. _prioritization:

Prioritization
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Callbacks (e.g. ``setup()`` methods) for all instruments get executed at the
same point during workload execution, one after another. The order in which the
callbacks get invoked should be considered arbitrary and should not be relied
on (e.g. you cannot expect that just because instrument A is listed before
instrument B in the config, instrument A's callbacks will run first).

In some cases (e.g. in ``start()`` and ``stop()`` methods), it is important to
ensure that a particular instrument's callbacks run a closely as possible to the
workload's invocations in order to maintain accuracy of readings; or,
conversely, that a callback is executed after the others, because it takes a
long time and may throw off the accuracy of other instruments. You can do
this by using decorators on the appropriate methods. The available decorators are:
``very_slow``, ``slow``, ``normal``, ``fast``, ``very_fast``, with ``very_fast``
running closest to the workload invocation and ``very_slow`` running furtherest
away. For example::

    from wa import very_fast
    # ..

    class PreciseInstrument(Instrument)

        # ...
        @very_fast
        def start(self, context):
            pass

        @very_fast
        def stop(self, context):
            pass

        # ...

``PreciseInstrument`` will be started after all other instruments (i.e.
*just* before the workload runs), and it will stopped before all other
instruments (i.e. *just* after the workload runs).

If more than one active instrument has specified fast (or slow) callbacks, then
their execution order with respect to each other is not guaranteed. In general,
having a lot of instruments enabled is going to negatively affect the
readings. The best way to ensure accuracy of measurements is to minimize the
number of active instruments (perhaps doing several identical runs with
different instruments enabled).

Example
^^^^^^^

Below is a simple instrument that measures the execution time of a workload::

    class ExecutionTimeInstrument(Instrument):
        """
        Measure how long it took to execute the run() methods of a Workload.

        """

        name = 'execution_time'

        def initialize(self, context):
            self.start_time = None
            self.end_time = None

        @very_fast
        def start(self, context):
            self.start_time = time.time()

        @very_fast
        def stop(self, context):
            self.end_time = time.time()

        def update_output(self, context):
            execution_time = self.end_time - self.start_time
            context.add_metric('execution_time', execution_time, 'seconds')


.. include:: developer_information/developer_reference/instrument_method_map.rst

.. _adding-an-output-processor:

Adding an Output processor
----------------------------

A output processor is responsible for processing the results. This may
involve formatting and writing them to a file, uploading them to a database,
generating plots, etc. WA comes with a few output processors that output
results in a few common formats (such as csv or JSON).

You can add your own output processors by creating a Python file in
``~/.workload_automation/plugins`` with a class that derives from
:class:`wa.OutputProcessor <wa.framework.processor.OutputProcessor>`, which has
the following interface::

    class OutputProcessor(Plugin):

        name = None
        description = None

        parameters = [
        ]

        def initialize(self):
            pass

        def process_job_output(self, output, target_info, run_ouput):
            pass

        def export_job_output(self, output, target_info, run_ouput):
            pass

        def process_run_output(self, output, target_info):
            pass

        def export_run_output(self, output, target_info):
            pass

        def finalize(self):
            pass


The method names should be fairly self-explanatory. The difference between
"process" and "export" methods is that export methods will be invoked after
process methods for all output processors have been generated. Process methods
may generate additional artifacts (metrics, files, etc.), while export methods
should not -- they should only handle existing results (upload them to  a
database, archive on a filer, etc).

The output object passed to job methods is an instance of
:class:`wa.framework.output.JobOutput`, the output object passed to run methods
is an instance of :class:`wa.RunOutput <wa.framework.output.RunOutput>`.


Adding a Resource Getter
------------------------

A resource getter is a plugin that is designed to retrieve a resource
(binaries, APK files or additional workload assets). Resource getters are invoked in
priority order until one returns the desired resource.

If you want WA to look for resources somewhere it doesn't by default (e.g. you
have a repository of APK files), you can implement a getter for the resource and
register it with a higher priority than the standard WA getters, so that it gets
invoked first.

Instances of a resource getter should implement the following interface::

    class ResourceGetter(Plugin):

        name = None

        def register(self, resolver):
            raise NotImplementedError()

The getter should define a name for itself (as with all plugins), in addition it
should implement the ``register`` method. This involves registering a method
with the resolver that should used to be called when trying to retrieve a resource
(typically ``get``) along with it's priority (see `Getter Prioritization`_
below. That method should return an instance of the resource that
has been discovered (what "instance" means depends on the resource, e.g. it
could be a file path), or ``None`` if this getter was unable to discover
that resource.

Getter Prioritization
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A priority is an integer with higher numeric values indicating a higher
priority. The following standard priority aliases are defined for getters:


    :preferred: Take this resource in favour of the environment resource.
    :local: Found somewhere under ~/.workload_automation/ or equivalent, or
            from environment variables, external configuration files, etc.
            These will override resource supplied with the package.
    :lan: Resource will be retrieved from a locally mounted remote location
          (such as samba share)
    :remote: Resource will be downloaded from a remote location (such as an HTTP
             server)
    :package: Resource provided with the package.

These priorities are defined as class members of
:class:`wa.framework.resource.SourcePriority`, e.g. ``SourcePriority.preferred``.

Most getters in WA will be registered with either ``local`` or
``package`` priorities. So if you want your getter to override the default, it
should typically be registered as ``preferred``.

You don't have to stick to standard priority levels (though you should, unless
there is a good reason). Any integer is a valid priority. The standard priorities
range from 0 to 40 in increments of 10.

Example
^^^^^^^

The following is an implementation of a getter that searches for files in the
users dependencies directory, typically
``~/.workload_automation/dependencies/<workload_name>`` It uses the
``get_from_location`` method to filter the available files in the provided
directory appropriately::

    import sys

    from wa import settings,
    from wa.framework.resource import ResourceGetter, SourcePriority
    from wa.framework.getters import get_from_location

    class UserDirectory(ResourceGetter):

        name = 'user'

        def register(self, resolver):
            resolver.register(self.get, SourcePriority.local)

        def get(self, resource):
            basepath = settings.dependencies_directory
            directory = _d(os.path.join(basepath, resource.owner.name))
            return get_from_location(directory, resource)

.. _adding_a_target:

Adding a Target
---------------

In WA3, a 'target' consists of a platform and a devlib target. The
implementations of the targets are located in ``devlib``. WA3 will instantiate a
devlib target passing relevant parameters parsed from the configuration. For
more information about devlib targets please see `the documentation
<http://devlib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/target.html>`_.

The currently available platforms are:
    :generic: The 'standard' platform implementation of the target, this should
              work for the majority of use cases.
    :juno: A platform implementation specifically for the juno.
    :tc2: A platform implementation specifically for the tc2.
    :gem5: A platform implementation to interact with a gem5 simulation.

The currently available targets from devlib are:
    :linux: A device running a Linux based OS.
    :android: A device running Android OS.
    :local: Used to run locally on a linux based host.
    :chromeos: A device running ChromeOS, supporting an android container if available.

For an example of adding you own customized version of an existing devlib target,
please see the how to section :ref:`Adding a Custom Target <adding-custom-target-example>`.


Other Plugin Types
---------------------

In addition to plugin types covered above, there are few other, more
specialized ones. They will not be covered in as much detail. Most of them
expose relatively simple interfaces with only a couple of methods and it is
expected that if the need arises to extend them, the API-level documentation
that accompanies them, in addition to what has been outlined here, should
provide enough guidance.

:commands: This allows extending WA with additional sub-commands (to supplement
           exiting ones outlined in the :ref:`invocation` section).
:modules: Modules are "plugins for plugins". They can be loaded by other
          plugins to expand their functionality (for example, a flashing
          module maybe loaded by a device in order to support flashing).


Packaging Your Plugins
----------------------

If your have written a bunch of plugins, and you want to make it easy to
deploy them to new systems and/or to update them on existing systems, you can
wrap them in a Python package. You can use ``wa create package`` command to
generate appropriate boiler plate. This will create a ``setup.py`` and a
directory for your package that you can place your plugins into.

For example, if you have a workload inside ``my_workload.py`` and a result
processor in ``my_result_processor.py``, and you want to package them as
``my_wa_exts`` package, first run the create command ::

        wa create package my_wa_exts

This will create a ``my_wa_exts`` directory which contains a
``my_wa_exts/setup.py`` and a subdirectory ``my_wa_exts/my_wa_exts`` which is
the package directory for your plugins (you can rename the top-level
``my_wa_exts`` directory to anything you like -- it's just a "container" for the
setup.py and the package directory). Once you have that, you can then copy your
plugins into the package directory, creating
``my_wa_exts/my_wa_exts/my_workload.py`` and
``my_wa_exts/my_wa_exts/my_result_processor.py``. If you have a lot of
plugins, you might want to organize them into subpackages, but only the
top-level package directory is created by default, and it is OK to have
everything in there.

.. note:: When discovering plugins through this mechanism, WA traverses the
          Python module/submodule tree, not the directory structure, therefore,
          if you are going to create subdirectories under the top level directory
          created for you, it is important that your make sure they are valid
          Python packages; i.e.  each subdirectory must contain a __init__.py
          (even if blank) in order for the code in that directory and its
          subdirectories to be discoverable.

At this stage, you may want to edit ``params`` structure near the bottom of
the ``setup.py`` to add correct author, license and contact information (see
"Writing the Setup Script" section in standard Python documentation for
details). You may also want to add a README and/or a COPYING file at the same
level as the setup.py.  Once you have the contents of your package sorted,
you can generate the package by running ::

        cd my_wa_exts
        python setup.py sdist

This  will generate ``my_wa_exts/dist/my_wa_exts-0.0.1.tar.gz`` package which
can then be deployed on the target system with standard Python package
management tools, e.g. ::

        sudo pip install my_wa_exts-0.0.1.tar.gz

As part of the installation process, the setup.py in the package, will write the
package's name into ``~/.workoad_automation/packages``. This will tell WA that
the package contains plugin and it will load them next time it runs.

.. note:: There are no uninstall hooks in ``setuputils``,  so if you ever
          uninstall your WA plugins package, you will have to manually remove
          it from ``~/.workload_automation/packages`` otherwise WA will complain
          about a missing package next time you try to run it.