Definition of the FPGA

Without the need of delving into hardware description languages, the FPGA's behavior can be defined using ready-made modules (easyCores). For that purpose the implementation of the abstract method defineStructure() of the class EasyFPGA is used in C++:

// pwm_fpga.h

#ifndef MYPROJECT_PWM_FPGA_H_
#define MYPROJECT_PWM_FPGA_H_

#include "easyfpga/easyfpga.h"
#include "easyfpga/easycores/pwm/pwm8_ptr.h"

/* FPGA description template for the user application */
class PwmFpga : public EasyFpga
{
    public:
        // easyCores will be instantiated in the constructor
        PwmFpga();
        ~PwmFpga();

        // here, the easyCores will be added and connected
        void defineStructure(void);

        // the easyCore getter method to be called in the host application
        pwm8_ptr getPwm8(void);

    private:
        pwm8_ptr _pwm8;
};

/* This macro is necessary for the binary generation process. Please
make sure, that the macro's parameter has the same value as the name of
this binary description class (here: PwmFpga). */
EASY_FPGA_DESCRIPTION_CLASS(PwmFpga)

#endif  // MYPROJECT_PWM_FPGA_H_

// pwm_fpga.cc

#include "pwm_fpga.h"
#include "easyfpga/easycores/pwm/pwm8.h"

PwmFpga::PwmFpga() :
    _pwm8(std::make_shared<Pwm8>())
{
}

PwmFpga::~PwmFpga()
{
}

void PwmFpga::defineStructure(void)
{
    // prior to connecting an easyCore it has to be added
    this->addEasyCore(_pwm8);

    // connect to an external pin
    this->connect(_pwm8, Pwm8::PIN::PWM_OUT, GPIOPIN::BANK0_PIN0);
}

pwm8_ptr PwmFpga::getPwm8(void)
{
    return _pwm8;
}

Communication via USB

As shown below, an arbitrary C++ application can connect to the easyFPGA board and communicate with the easyCores.

// host_application.cc

#include "pwm_fpga.h"

#include "easyfpga/easycores/pwm/pwm8.h"
#include "easyfpga/easycores/pwm/pwm8_ptr.h"

#include <memory> // for shared pointers

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    // Initialize the FPGA with the init() member. That does:
    // 1) Check if the specified binary exists or tries to create it.
    // 2) Connect to an easyFPGA board specified by a serial number,
    //    here 0, which will connect the framework to first easyFPGA
    //    board found.
    // 3) Upload the generated binary and configure it into the FPGA's
    //    RAM if this isn't already done before with this binary.
    std::shared_ptr<PwmFpga> fpga = std::make_shared<PwmFpga>();
    fpga->init(0, "PwmFpga.bin");

    // Gets an easyCore instance from the description class
    pwm8_ptr pwm = fpga->getPwm8();

    // Start communication by using the respective core API.
    pwm->setDutyCycle(0x32);

    return 0;
}