(The plugin is coded in a rush, the code is a total mess. It works though :))
While building a large circuit, are you:
- struggling to measure its run time using stop watches and great intuition?
- constantly running between the inputs and outputs, just to pull some levers and check the output?
- using your calculator while inputting numbers and converting the result to decimal?
- taking screenshots just to capture short pulses causing a glitch in your design?
If so, check out this plugin!
Using RedUtils, you can:
- group input(bit)s as a whole and set its value in decimal and hexadecimal in one command (no need to do extra conversions and toggle levers one by one).
- group output(bit)s as a whole and track its changes over time with optional automatic radix conversion.
- profile your circuit and measure its run time with ease.
- all these are done via commands, no need to fly around from one end to another, find a good location and appreciate your running circuit (and perhaps find bugs from observing how it runs)!
I am using Paper 1.14.3, other versions of Spigot or Bukkit Server variants should be OK too. Note: 1.13 should be fine too. Though I have not tested yet.
The plugin functions by providing a "wand" and some useful commands.
The core command is /redutils, or /ru for short.
First, use /ru wand to acquire the wand, which is basically just a red dye (Getting it from creative tabs is fine too).
RedUtils helps you easily manage different inputs in your circuit so that you don't have to fly around and toggle infinitely many levers.
In this example, we will use a 32-bit full-adder to demonstrate the usage of the plugin.
In RedUtils, a group of input bits together is called a "input configuration".
We first create a input configuration named input1 by typing:
/ru in new input1 slice
We are now in "slice" mode. This allows us to select all the inputs (levers) in a 1*1*n slice.
Holding the wand, we first right click the most-significant bit of our input (which is the left most lever in the pic)(be sure to click the lever, not the block beneath!).
Then, we right click the least-significant bit of out input.
If everything is fine, green particles will appear on every input lever in this slice.
(Some farther particles are not visible)
Now you have created an input configuration named "input", to check, type /ru in list
Yes, that's it!
Then it's time to input some data into our circuit.
Start simple, type \ru in set input1 bin 1
This sets the input of "input1" to 1.
Looking at the full adder again, we see:
The rightmost lever is turned on.
It is fine to use _ as a separator if your input is long:
/ru in set input1 bin 1011_1101
It is also fine to use negative numbers:
/ru in set input1 bin -1001
You can use decimals, so no more calculator conversions:
/ru in set input1 dec 23333
There are 6 inputs modes, namely:
binmode: raw binary, 0s will be padded on the leftbinPadRightmode: raw binary, 0s will be padded on the right (useful if you are inputting fractions)decmode: decimal, 0s will be padded on the leftdecFracmode: pure decimal fraction (E.g 0.114514), 0s will be padded on the righthexmode: hexadecimal, 0s will be padded on the left. (Note: You can use this for BCD input!)hexPadRightmode: ...
Additionally, you can use /ru in 0s input1, or /ru in 1s input1 to fill the input with 0s or 1s!
Very useful, isn't it?
Deleting input can be done using /ru in del input1.
Or the input configuration will be automatically deleted if the plugin detects that a lever in the config is broken or moved. Since the plugin internally stores input configs using coordinates. WE commands like //move will lead to deletion of all input configurations on the moved circuit.
Apart from the "slice" mode introduced above. There are another 2 modes to create an input config.
First, single mode is used to control a single lever. For example, type /ru in new ext_carry single. Then right-click on the lever to create a config named ext_carry.
All input set commands will apply on the single input (though it's pointless to use any advanced mode like dec). Besides, you can use /ru in toggle {name} to toggle on/off.
(After /ru in toggle ext_carry)
multi mode is used to select multiple inputs that aren't perfectly on the same y-level (so slice mode no longer works). Right click levers from the most significant bit to the least, then type /ru doneMultiSel to finish. (Currently right-clicking the same lever multiple times may lead to unpredicted behavior!)
(The case to use multi mode).
RedUtils helps you manage outputs as well. Similar to creating input configurations, type /ru out new output1 slice to create an output configuration named output1 in slice mode. (Select from the most significant bit to the least!) (Any "powerable" block is considered a valid output in the slice, including redstone wires, repeaters..., so make sure not to select extra unwanted blocks!)
(After the second right-click all valid output blocks will have green particles)
By default, all output configurations actively log any change in their state. For example, if I change the input (either manually or by /ru in set ...):
This is when the [... ticks] in the beginning of the messages starts is useful. These ticks are measured in GAME TICKS (not redstone ticks). And by calculating the difference we are able to tell the exact run time of our circuit.
If you consider large figures like [172857 ticks] annoying, feel free to use /ru resetTimer or simply /ru rst to reset the timer to zero.
But a binary output in the log is still a bit confusing. To save time, you can run /ru out fmt {name} {display mode} to set the display mode for an output configuration. For example, after running /ru out fmt output1 dec, and setting some inputs to our full adder:
The output starts to log decimal instead of raw binary, which is very useful.
By the way, you can even find out some intermediate states of the circuit. For example, the full adder outputs 98562 for 2 ticks before outputting the correct answer 116433. This can be very useful in debugging.
There are 5 output modes, namely bin, dec, decFrac, hex, hexPadRight.
Note: the difference between hex and hexPadRight is that when the output bit count is not a multiple of 4, for example, 110101, hex mode will see it as 11_0101 and converts that into 0x35, while hexPadRight will see it as 1101_01 and converts that into 0xD1.
Moreover, you can use /ru out sep {name} {interval} to use _ to separate every interval digits. For example, after setting /ru out sep output1 3:
If the interval is set to 0, no separators will be used.
If you have finished debugging your circuit, you can use /ru out {name} log to toggle active logging off so your chat message box is no longer spammed by all the loggings. Nevertheless, you can always use /ru out see {name} to manually see the value of the output (display modes apply here too).
Similar to deleting inputs (/ru out del {name}), including the automatic removal of the whole configuration when any output block in the configuration is broken. To conclude, the plugin isn't WorldEdit-proof.
You may want to use command block to execute /ru based commands for precise timings. For example, set input to 5 for 2 ticks and 7 for 2 ticks and then ... to test if your circuit is robust (This is useful when pistons are involved).
You can't directly do that. Because all the configuration information is bounded to players. Different players can have different input/output configurations and logs of their own output configs will only appear on their own screen. Command Block is obviously not a player!
You can, though, use /redutilsas {player} command or /ruas {player} to let the command block execute a /ru command as some player. For example, /ruas Steve in set some_input dec 1234 in a command block will have the same effect as Steve executing /ru in set some_input dec 1234 himself. All the logs and messages will still be sent to the player's screen, not the command block's output.
Feel free do make PRs. :)