ruby-vpi 9.0.0 → 10.0.0

data/history.part.html

@@ -18,6 +18,86 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p id="fn1"><sup>1</sup> C. Gross, &#8220;Explaining Open Source Version Numbers&#8221;, [Online document], 2005 Nov 28, [cited 2006 Aug 27], Available <span class="caps">HTTP</span>: <a href="http://ablog.apress.com/?p=738">http://ablog.apress.com/?p=738</a></p>
 
 
+	<h1>Version 10.0.0 (2006-11-05)</h1>
+
+
+	<h2>Summary</h2>
+
+
+	<p>This release adds the ability to access a handle&#8217;s children and reduces the amount of code produced by the automated test generator.</p>
+
+
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
+
+
+	<p>Thanks to Matt Fischler for finding the problem of misdirected compilation errors in Verilog benches.</p>
+
+
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>The way in which Ruby-VPI and generated tests interact has changed: the design is now a <span class="caps">VPI</span> handle object and the <code>design.rb</code> and <code>proto.rb</code> files define <a href="http://wiki.rubygarden.org/Ruby/page/show/SingletonTutorial">singleton methods</a> for that object.
+	<ul>
+	<li>I suggest that you regenerate your existing tests (just run <strong>generate_test.rb</strong> again) whilst employing the service of a text merging tool (see the user manual).</li>
+	</ul></li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>You can now access a handle&#8217;s children by simply calling methods on it. In the event that a child handle has the same name as a <span class="caps">VPI</span> property, the child is given priority. However, you can always access <span class="caps">VPI</span> properties explicitly via the <code>get_value</code> and <code>put_value</code> methods.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li><strong>generate_test.rb</strong> no longer accepts the <code>-s</code> and <code>-u</code> options. Use their longer counterparts <code>--rspec</code> and <code>--xunit</code> instead.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
+
+
+	<h3>Automated test generator</h3>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>Generated Verilog benches no longer divert compilation errors from Verilog design files. That is, if the Verilog simulator finds compilation errors in a Verilog design file, it will report that the Verilog design file is at fault (instead of reporting that the generated Verilog bench is at fault).</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>The user is now notified when a backup of an existing file is made.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>Generated tests have been greatly simplified to reduce the amount of work for the user.
+	<ul>
+	<li>The design is now just a handle to the module in the Verilog bench.</li>
+		<li><code>include Vpi</code> and <code>@design</code> are no longer generated.</li>
+		<li>The tutorial and examples have been updated accordingly.</li>
+	</ul></li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<h3>User manual</h3>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>Revised the stylesheet to make disjoint sections readily distinguishable from eachother, through generous spacing and minor coloring.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>Added tips about <code>ruby-vpi/runner_proxy</code>, <code>rake -T</code>, and using <strong>kdiff3</strong> with <strong>generate_test.rb</strong>.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>Moved installation information into a new &#8220;setup&#8221; chapter.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
 	<h1>Version 9.0.0 (2006-10-28)</h1>
 
 
@@ -27,7 +107,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release improves the automated test generator and adds new content to the user manual.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<p>Thanks to Matt Fischler for helping test and debug the installation of Ruby-VPI on Windows.</p>
@@ -41,7 +121,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -93,7 +173,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release simplifies configuration of generated tests.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<p>Thanks to <a href="http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmpe126/Fall06/">students in <span class="caps">CMPE</span>-126</a> for their constructive criticism.</p>
@@ -107,7 +187,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -134,7 +214,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -167,7 +247,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -213,13 +293,13 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<ul>
 	<li>Handles now have two new methods:
 	<ul>
-	<li><code>handle.x?</code>&#8212;checks if the logic value is &#8220;don&#8217;t care&#8221; </li>
-		<li><code>handle.z?</code>&#8212;checks if the logic value is high impedance</li>
+	<li><code>handle.x?</code> checks if the logic value is &#8220;don&#8217;t care&#8221; </li>
+		<li><code>handle.z?</code> checks if the logic value is high impedance</li>
 	</ul></li>
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -249,13 +329,13 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release adds initial<sup><a href="#fn1">1</a></sup> support for code coverage analysis via the <a href="http://eigenclass.org/hiki.rb?rcov">rcov library</a>.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<p>Thanks to Mauricio Fernandez for helping me use rcov without its runner.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -283,7 +363,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release simplifies running of multiple tests, restores compatibility with Synopsys <span class="caps">VCS</span>, and better integrates with RubyGems.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -320,7 +400,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release distributes Ruby-VPI as a gem, improves portability of generated tests, and fixes a bug.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -328,11 +408,6 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<ul>
-	<li>Ruby-VPI is now distributed only as a <a href="http://www.rubygems.org">source gem</a>. You can decompress the gem without installing it onto your system by running the command <code>gem install -i output_directory ruby-vpi-7.0.0.gem</code>. In addition, you can still obtain the source code directly from the Subversion repository.</li>
-	</ul>
-
-
 	<ul>
 	<li>The test generator&#8217;s templates and the examples have been updated as follows:
 	<ul>
@@ -352,6 +427,14 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>Ruby-VPI is now distributed only as a <a href="http://www.rubygems.org">source gem</a>. You can decompress the gem without installing it onto your system by running the command <code>gem install -i output_directory ruby-vpi-7.0.0.gem</code>. In addition, you can still obtain the source code directly from the Subversion repository.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
 	<ul>
 	<li>The tools in <code>bin/</code> become available in your system&#8217;s <code>bin/</code> directory when the gem is installed.
 	<ul>
@@ -384,20 +467,27 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release adds support for the <span class="caps">GPL</span> Cver simulator, provides both binary and source packages, and explicitly defines the version numbering system.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li>The <span class="caps">GPL</span> Cver simulator is now supported.</li>
+	<li>Ruby-VPI now only needs to be built once.
+	<ul>
+	<li>You can run tests with different Verilog simulators without having to re-compile Ruby-VPI.</li>
+	</ul></li>
 	</ul>
 
 
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
+
+
 	<ul>
-	<li>Ruby-VPI now only needs to be built once.
+	<li>The <span class="caps">GPL</span> Cver simulator is now supported.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
 	<ul>
-	<li>You can run tests with different Verilog simulators without having to re-compile Ruby-VPI.</li>
-		<li>Release packages are now available in both source and binary form.</li>
-	</ul></li>
+	<li>Release packages are now available in both source and binary form.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
@@ -492,31 +582,34 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release beautifies generated tests, adds checks to find signal width bugs, and includes a new tool.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li>The test generator now uses <span class="caps">ERB</span> templates which ensures nice indentation of generated output.</li>
+	<li><code>put_value()</code> now returns the value it puts. Therefore, it is easier to chain together a series of assignments: <code>foo.intVal = bar.intVal = baz.intVal = 10</code></li>
 	</ul>
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li>The test generator now decouples Ruby-VPI paths from Verilog benches via the <span class="caps">RUBYLIB</span> environment variable.</li>
+	<li><code>put_value()</code> now verifies that the value it puts was written correctly. This helps to find bugs regarding invalid assumptions about the number of bits supported by a signal.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
+
+
 	<ul>
-	<li>A tool which converts Verilog headers into Ruby has been added.</li>
+	<li>The test generator now uses <span class="caps">ERB</span> templates which ensures nice indentation of generated output.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li><code>put_value()</code> now returns the value it puts. Therefore, it is easier to chain together a series of assignments: <code>foo.intVal = bar.intVal = baz.intVal = 10</code></li>
+	<li>The test generator now decouples Ruby-VPI paths from Verilog benches via the <span class="caps">RUBYLIB</span> environment variable.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li><code>put_value()</code> now verifies that the value it puts was written correctly. This helps to find bugs regarding invalid assumptions about the number of bits supported by a signal.</li>
+	<li>A tool which converts Verilog headers into Ruby has been added.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
@@ -534,7 +627,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release simplifies generated tests and fixes a bug.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -560,19 +653,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release adds support and documentation for rapid prototyping of Verilog designs in Ruby.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
-
-
-	<ul>
-	<li>Support for prototyping designs in Ruby, before they are implemented in Verilog, has been added.
-	<ul>
-	<li>The <em>same</em> specification can be used to verify both prototype <em>and</em> design! :-)</li>
-		<li>The tutorial in the user manual has been updated to discuss prototyping.
-	<ul>
-	<li>Prototypes have been added to the counter example.</li>
-	</ul></li>
-	</ul></li>
-	</ul>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -590,6 +671,21 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>Support for prototyping designs in Ruby, before they are implemented in Verilog, has been added.
+	<ul>
+	<li>The <em>same</em> specification can be used to verify both prototype <em>and</em> design! :-)</li>
+		<li>The tutorial in the user manual has been updated to discuss prototyping.
+	<ul>
+	<li>Prototypes have been added to the counter example.</li>
+	</ul></li>
+	</ul></li>
+	</ul>
+
+
 	<ul>
 	<li>The user manual has been revised for consistency.</li>
 	</ul>
@@ -604,7 +700,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release fixes unreadable syntax coloring in the user manual.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -612,7 +708,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -634,7 +730,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release adds a tutorial to the user manual, and improves the tools and examples.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -642,7 +738,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<h3>User manual</h3>
@@ -703,7 +799,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release enhances the <span class="caps">VPI</span> utility layer and adds new content to the user manual.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -711,7 +807,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -720,17 +816,20 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li>The <span class="caps">VPI</span> utility layer provides access to <span class="caps">VPI</span> properties of handles in a <a href="http://ruby-vpi.rubyforge.org/doc/background.organization.html#organization.vpi">simpler, more powerful way</a>.</li>
+	<li>The <code>handle.value</code> and <code>handle.value=</code> methods have been removed.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
+
+
 	<ul>
-	<li>All <span class="caps">VPI</span> properties, except delay values, are now accessible from a handle.</li>
+	<li>The <span class="caps">VPI</span> utility layer provides access to <span class="caps">VPI</span> properties of handles in a <a href="http://ruby-vpi.rubyforge.org/doc/background.organization.html#organization.vpi">simpler, more powerful way</a>.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li>The <code>handle.value</code> and <code>handle.value=</code> methods have been removed.</li>
+	<li>All <span class="caps">VPI</span> properties, except delay values, are now accessible from a handle.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
@@ -757,7 +856,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release adds a comprehensive user manual, upgrades from make to <a href="http://rake.rubyforge.org">Rake</a>, and improves the test generation tool.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -765,21 +864,24 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li>A comprehensive user manual, written in DocBook-XML, has been added.</li>
+	<li>Rake has replaced the role of <strong>make</strong>. All makefiles have been converted accordingly.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li>Rake has replaced the role of <strong>make</strong>. All makefiles have been converted accordingly.</li>
+	<li>The test generation tool now generates multiple files (runner, bench, design, spec) and makes backups of existing files. See its help information for details.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
+
+
 	<ul>
-	<li>The test generation tool now generates multiple files (runner, bench, design, spec) and makes backups of existing files. See its help information for details.</li>
+	<li>A comprehensive user manual, written in DocBook-XML, has been added.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
@@ -809,7 +911,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release adds a tool which generates test benches, and adds support for <a href="http://behaviour-driven.org">Behavior Driven Development</a> via the <a href="http://rspec.rubyforge.org">RSpec</a> library.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -817,7 +919,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -853,7 +955,15 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release adds simple ways of reading and writing values to <span class="caps">VPI</span> handles, adds documentation for the <span class="caps">VPI</span> utility layer, and fixes the pipelined <span class="caps">ALU</span> example.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>The <strong>msim</strong> Makefile target for Mentor Modelsim has been renamed back to <strong>vsim</strong>.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -899,7 +1009,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release adds support for the <em>entire</em> <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/standardstoc.jsp?isnumber=33945"><span class="caps">IEEE</span> Std. 1364-2005</a> VPI interface, and updates the examples into unit tests.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -907,7 +1017,15 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>The <strong>vsim</strong> Makefile target for Mentor Modelsim has been renamed to <strong>msim</strong>.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -936,10 +1054,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 
 
 	<ul>
-	<li>The makefiles for the examples have been simplified through the use of a common template.
-	<ul>
-	<li>The <strong>vsim</strong> target for Mentor Modelsim has been renamed to <strong>msim</strong>.</li>
-	</ul></li>
+	<li>The makefiles for the examples have been simplified through the use of a common template.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 
@@ -961,7 +1076,7 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	<p>This release fixes major bugs, adds support for Mentor Modelsim, and removes the <code>$ruby_task</code> callback.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -969,7 +1084,15 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Notice</h2>
+
+
+	<ul>
+	<li>Removed <code>$ruby_task</code> callback and ability to dynamically register system tasks from Ruby because inter-process communication is complicated at present.</li>
+	</ul>
+
+
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -982,11 +1105,6 @@ We <em>strictly</em> follow the RubyGems project&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rub
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<ul>
-	<li>Removed <code>$ruby_task</code> callback and ability to dynamically register system tasks from Ruby because inter-process communication is complicated at present.</li>
-	</ul>
-
-
 	<ul>
 	<li>Added piplelined <span class="caps">ALU</span> example.</li>
 	</ul>
@@ -1016,7 +1134,7 @@ This release adds enough Verilog <span class="caps">VPI</span> functionality to
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+	<h2>Acknowledgment</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -1029,7 +1147,7 @@ This release adds enough Verilog <span class="caps">VPI</span> functionality to
 	</ul>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>
@@ -1089,7 +1207,7 @@ This release adds enough Verilog <span class="caps">VPI</span> functionality to
 	<p>This is Kazuhiro <span class="caps">HIWADA</span>&#8217;s initial testing release of Ruby-VPI. See its <a href="http://www.ruby-talk.org/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-list/18193">original announcement</a> and <a href="http://easter.kuee.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~hiwada/ruby/memo/src/ruby-vpi-test.tgz">source code</a>.</p>
 
 
-	<h2>Details</h2>
+	<h2>Detail</h2>
 
 
 	<ul>

data/lib/ruby-vpi/vpi.rb

@@ -185,10 +185,22 @@ module SWIG
     QUERY_REGEXP = %r{\?$}
     PREFIX_REGEXP = %r{^(.*?)_}
 
-    # Enables read and write access to VPI properties of this handle.
+    # Enables access to (1) child handles and (2) VPI properties of this handle. In the case that a child handle has the same name as a VPI property, the child handle will be accessed instead of the VPI property. However, you can still access the VPI property via #get_value and #put_value.
     def method_missing aMsg, *aArgs, &aBlockArg
       methName = aMsg.to_s
 
+      # give access to a child handle if possible
+        if child = vpi_handle_by_name(methName, self)
+          # cache the child for future accesses, in order to cut down number of calls to method_missing
+            (class << self; self; end).class_eval do
+              define_method aMsg do
+                child
+              end
+            end
+
+          return child
+        end
+
       # determine if property is being written
         if isAssign = methName =~ ASSIGN_REGEXP
           methName.sub! ASSIGN_REGEXP, ''

data/lib/ruby-vpi.rb

@@ -21,9 +21,16 @@
 # Provides configuration information of the Ruby-VPI project.
 module RubyVpi
   # Initializes the current bench using the given parameters.
-  def RubyVpi.init_bench aTestPrefix, aProtoClassId
-    require 'ruby-vpi/vpi'
-    Vpi::relay_verilog	# service the $ruby_init() callback
+  def RubyVpi.init_bench aTestPrefix, aDesignClassId
+    # set up the VPI utility layer
+      require 'ruby-vpi/vpi'
+
+      Object.class_eval do
+        include Vpi
+      end
+
+      # service the $ruby_init() callback
+        relay_verilog
 
     # set up code coverage analysis
       unless (ENV['COVERAGE'] || '').empty?
@@ -38,20 +45,24 @@ module RubyVpi
       end
 
     # load the design under test
+      unless design = vpi_handle_by_name("#{aTestPrefix}_bench", nil)
+        raise "Verilog bench for test #{aTestPrefix.inspect} is inaccessible."
+      end
+
+      Kernel.const_set(aDesignClassId, design)
       require "#{aTestPrefix}_design.rb"
 
+    # load the design's prototype
       unless (ENV['PROTOTYPE'] || '').empty?
         require "#{aTestPrefix}_proto.rb"
 
-        proto = Kernel.const_get(aProtoClassId).new
-
         Vpi.class_eval do
           define_method :relay_verilog do
-            proto.simulate!
+            design.simulate!
           end
         end
 
-        puts "#{aTestPrefix}: verifying prototype instead of design"
+        puts "#{Config::PROJECT_NAME}: prototype has been enabled for test #{aTestPrefix.inspect}"
       end
 
     require "#{aTestPrefix}_spec.rb"