Adding devices to netlist

There are basically two kind of devices you can add to netlist:

• coded devices. These can be found in the devices and analog folder. Typically these are logic or elementary (i.e. resistor, capacitor) devices.
• netlist language devices. These are found in the macro folder structure. Typically these are dip layouts or devices consisting of elementary devices. A good example are operational amplifier models or VCOs.

In prior netlist releases (<=0.13.0) it was cumbersome to add devices. You had to make sure to add references and code in a number of different locations.

All necessary header files are now created automatically.

Stand alone compilation

Coded devices

Just add your device code (e.g. nld_device.cpp) into the devices folder.

Switch to the build directory

cd build

and type

make generated

to create all the infrastructure code.

Macro devices

Place the device code (e.g. nlmod_device.cpp) into macro/modules.

Switch to the build directory

cd build

and type

make generated

to create all the infrastructure code.

Visual Studio build

You need to add the files manually to the Visual Studio solution.

MAME integration

In addition to the the steps above you have to add your code additions to the scripts/src/netlist.lua file.

Make sure to

cd src/lib/netlist/build
make generated

to (re)create the necessary files in the generated directory.

Background

What does make generated do?

make generated calls three python scripts:

• create_devinc.py
• create_lib_entries.py
• create_modules.py

which create the following files in the generated directory:

• nld_devinc.h
• lib_entries.hxx
• nlm_modules_lib.cpp

The information contained in these files in the past had to be included in various places and files previously. Since the information can be extracted programmatically the manual process now was replaced.