Managing Build Variants

Introduction to Variants

If the product you're testing has build variants, you can create test projects for them quickly and easily on XJDeveloper's Variants screen. The process is to create a baseline project first (referred to as a root project) and then to define how each variant differs from that root. In XJTAG terminology, each individual change from the root project is called a variation, and a variant is therefore a group of variations.

A variation can be a change of value, the placement of a previously unfitted device, the removal of a previously fitted device, or a change of part. It can also be a difference in the project's Constant pins, Connections & Disconnects, or in a device's configuration variables.

All variants and the root project must use the same netlist but will probably have different BOM information. The root project's netlist will therefore include all the devices used in the variants, even if they will never be placed together on the same board. The root project may therefore be for a board that will never be built.

• If you are updating your PCB rather than creating build variants, you will need to use the Revisions feature instead of Variants.

Variants need to be identified as different from their root project for several reasons:

• Connection Test needs to know about any devices that have altered the boundary scan access in the circuit.
• it allows the test list to be altered to cope with the variations.
• test coverage statistics can only be generated if the variant's project has been created.

Creating a variant project is a two-stage process:

1. The Variants screen is used to define any necessary categorisation changes or additions so that Connection Test can run.
2. The XJRunner Setup screen is used to adjust the test list for the variations.

Details of both steps are described in the following sections, along with guidance on how to run tests on variants:

1. Setting up the variant:
   • How to create a variant using the wizard or by following a manual process.
   • Varying configuration variables, Constant pins, and Connections & Disconnects.
   • Dealing with profiles in variant projects.
   • How to copy variations between variants.
   • Checking for warnings and errors.
   • How to view a variant's details.
   • How to view test coverage statistics.
2. Setting up the test list and running tests:
   • Setting up a test list for a variant.
   • Exporting XJPack files that include variants for use in XJRunner.
   • How to run a variant project.